What Are You Working On?
Writers on their works in progress

M. Christian

writer and anthologist

M. Christian (website) is the author of the critically acclaimed and best selling collections Dirty Words, Speaking Parts, The Bachelor Machine and the upcoming Filthy. He is the editor or co-editor of 20 anthologies including Amazons, and Confessions (all with Sage Vivant), and Blood Lust (with Todd Gregory). His short fiction has appeared in over 200 publications including Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Transgendered Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica, Best Bondage Erotica and -- well, you get the idea. His first novel, Running Dry, is available now from Alyson Books, with his second, The Very Bloody Marys, coming from Haworth in 2007.

 
What are you working on?

Oh, crap -- how to start? Lemme see -- working on a mainstream/straight erotica novel my agent requested (about 3/4 done with that); putting together the last details on my fourth collection, Filthy, that will be coming from Alyson books in 2007; just about to start an erotic techno-thriller for a British publisher; and planning out a novel, called Me2 I just signed to do with Alyson books.

Between all of this are other projects that are still brewing, doing publicity pre-planning for two anthologies that are coming out from Thunder's Mouth -- Amazons and Garden of Perverse I did with Sage Vivant -- as well as my second novel, The Very Bloody Marys, that's coming out from Haworth, and putting together materials for classes and other fun things.

 
Alyson signed you to do a novel before you'd even written a word of it? This is a relationship many writers would envy.

I'm lucky, I guess, in that I've never had to write a book before selling it. All of my novels, so far, I've managed to sell on either a short outline or a sample chapter. I'd like to say that I've pulled this off because I'm such a brilliant writer (yeah, right), but it really has more to do with the fact that I've worked my publishers for a long time. I did quite a few anthologies and collections with the likes of Haworth and Alyson, and got some inroads with the publisher of the erotic techno thriller with a friend who I've worked with many times.

Me2 is about identity: are we unique -- and what happens when one person discovers he may not be. The book has been lurking in the back of my mind for a few years now and I'm very jazzed to have a chance to finally write it.

 
What are you trying to do with this project that you haven't done before? What challenges are you overcoming?

Each one is very different, which is how I like to work. The mainstream erotic novel is... well, mainstream and erotic. The techno-thriller is darker, with an interesting-to-work-with story-telling technique, and Me2 is going to be really nuts with lots of layers and interesting philosophical implications.

 
What has been rewarding about this particular project?

All of my projects make me stretch in all kinds of ways -- different setting, characters, styles, tones -- you name it. The best thing in the world, for me, is to work on something that pushes my boundaries and teaches me something new about myself or writing. Running Dry, for instance, was my first novel and it taught me a LOT about how to handle a story of that length and complexity.

 
What's next?

I have contracts for every one of my projects except for the mainstream erotica thingie. If anyone is interested in that one they can contact me at zobop at aol dot com and I can put you in touch with my agent. The technothriller should be done by June (or July), with Me2 being done by November -- if all goes well (fingers crossed).

Links

M. Christian's list of books he's edited or written on amazon.com

Interview by William Dean at the Erotica Author's Assciation website.

M. Christian interviews himself on his book The Bachelor Machine.

published 17 Jan 06 on Too Beautiful. email copyright 2006 Mark Pritchard, Bernal Heights, San Francisco