A note from Maxim Jakubowski

From time immemorial, prose has celebrated the joy of the senses and addressed the joys and complexities of sex. Think ‘The Song of Solomon’ in the Bible or The 1001 Nights, through to Chaucer, Boccaccio and the often shocking sensual nightmares of the Marquis de Sade.

So where does the line between what is considered erotic and what might be termed pornographic stand? Some argue that if titillation is the only object of the exercise, then it falls into the realm of the latter. But then one must be careful to distinguish between titillation and provocation, and who would deny that D.H. Lawrence, for instance, with LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER seriously attempted to combine both elements, while still offering social commentary and a deep examination of human feelings and attitudes to sexuality.

More modern practitioners of erotica like Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Anne Rice with her ‘Sleeping Beauty’ trilogy (as Anne Roquelaure) and others have pushed the envelope further, and I would argue that we are right now in the middle of a veritable Golden Age for literary erotica, where no sexual subject is taboo and can be written about with both sensuality and delicacy and an attention to serious characterisation. Naturally, some will always find such books shocking. but I daresay none of those I have selected for your further perusal could be found guilty of being exploitative.

So, stretch your fictional limits and dip, with caution, into this ocean of pleasure!