The Inside Reader: Cat Grant

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell

I think that Cat Grant is one of the few authors writing bisexual romance that I read, and this says a lot, since it's not usually my cup of tea. Cat Grant's romances are almost classical, meaning that they are true and clear good erotic romances, and I assure you, it's not easy to write them. And reading Cat Grant's Inside Reader list, I had the chance to understand it even better, writing "good" erotic romances is not something that comes easily.

Elisa’s Inside Reader column

Thank you, Elisa, for inviting me to contribute to your Inside Reader series. Instead of picking my Top Ten Gay Novels, I thought I’d do something different, and talk about my Top Five Most Useful Reference Sources.

1) Opening Up – Tristan Taormino. This book was an invaluable resource for me in writing my Courtland Chronicles ménage series. Taormino conducted over 120 interviews with a wide range of non-monogamous people of varying ages, sexualities, and approaches to relationships. Deals with the entire spectrum of issues surrounding polyamorous relationships – managing jealousy, coming out, safe sex, legal and financial concerns, raising children in a polyamorous household, etc.

Paperback: 346 pages
Publisher: Cleis Press (May 1, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.cleispress.com/book_page.php?book_id=221
ISBN-10: 157344295X
ISBN-13: 978-1573442954
Amazon: Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships

Relationship expert and bestselling author Tristan Taormino offers a bold new strategy for creating loving, lasting relationships. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over a hundred women and men, Opening Up explores the real-life benefits and challenges of all styles of open relationships—from partnered nonmonogamy to solo polyamory. With her refreshingly down-to-earth style and sharp wit, Taormino offers solutions for making an open relationship work, including tips on dealing with jealousy, negotiating boundaries, finding community, parenting, and time management. Opening Up will change the way you think about intimacy.

Also worth reading:

The Ethical Slut – Dossie Easton & Janet W. Hardy
Open: Love, Sex and Life in an Open Marriage – Jenny Block
The Threesome Handbook – Vicki Vantoch

2) SM 101: A Realistic Introduction – Jay Wiseman. A pretty damned comprehensive overview of the BDSM scene. Covers a wide variety of practices, including bondage, spanking, erotic role-playing, etc. I especially love its focus on safety techniques and safe words. Learn the difference between “submissive” and “masochist.” (This is a huge pet peeve of mine re: most BDSM-themed erotica. So many authors get it wrong!) At 400 pages, it’s a bit daunting for the uninitiated, so I’d advise working through it a chapter at a time.

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Greenery Press (CA) (December 1998)
Publisher Link: http://www.greenerypress.com/101.htm
ISBN-10: 0963976389
ISBN-13: 978-0963976383
Amazon: SM 101: A Realistic Introduction

The long-taboo subject of consensual BDSM (bondage/discipline,dominance/submission, sadomasochism) is coming "out of the closet" - much to the delight of the millions of adults who enjoy engaging in bondage, spanking, erotic role-playing and similar consensual practices. Jay Wiseman's SM 101 has taught the fundamentals of safe, exciting SM to tens of thousands of people of all genders and orientations!

If you’re in the mood for more in-depth research, check out: www.fetlife.com. It’s Facebook for the kinky set. There are forums on every BDSM and/or alternative lifestyle topic you can think of – and even a few you’ve probably never imagined! You’ll need to join to participate in discussions, but people are usually cool with newbies asking questions, as long as you’re respectful.

I’d also recommend reading The Marketplace series by Laura Antoniou, if you can get your hands on them. Amazon shows only two of them, The Slave and The Trainer, as currently in print. It’s the Gone with the Wind of BDSM fiction, and a great look into the mindset of kinky folk.

( books from 3 to 5 )

About Cat Grant: I've been writing off and on ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I still remember my very first 'published' story, a Jonny Quest adventure I penned in sixth grade. My teacher liked it so much, she had one of the other students illustrate it. That other student went on to become a Hollywood horror-film director.

I've poked around in many different genres. I've written fan fiction for a number of different TV shows, tried my hand at horror and fantasy, but in the end I came back to what I enjoy most - writing about the intimate relationships between men and women, and how love doesn't always happen the way we expect.

Back in 2004, when I became unable to work outside my home, my incredibly supportive husband suggested that I turn this setback into an opportunity, and pursue my dream of becoming a published author. Several years - and untold buckets of sweat later - that dream's finally coming to fruition.

Triad by Cat Grant
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Lyrical Press, Inc (June 1, 2010)
Publisher Link: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=188
ISBN-10: 1616501839
ISBN-13: 978-1616501839
Amazon: Triad

It's three times the pleasure - ten years on!

Eric Courtland, his wife Ally and husband Nick have been living the sweet life for the past decade, tucked away in their luxurious Tuscan villa. But when a family crisis brings them back to the States, blackmail and an unexpected revelation threaten the delicate balance of their marriage.

Weathering this storm may take everything they have - and still tear them apart.

The Inside Reader: Cat Grant

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell

I think that Cat Grant is one of the few authors writing bisexual romance that I read, and this says a lot, since it's not usually my cup of tea. Cat Grant's romances are almost classical, meaning that they are true and clear good erotic romances, and I assure you, it's not easy to write them. And reading Cat Grant's Inside Reader list, I had the chance to understand it even better, writing "good" erotic romances is not something that comes easily.

Elisa’s Inside Reader column

Thank you, Elisa, for inviting me to contribute to your Inside Reader series. Instead of picking my Top Ten Gay Novels, I thought I’d do something different, and talk about my Top Five Most Useful Reference Sources.

1) Opening Up – Tristan Taormino. This book was an invaluable resource for me in writing my Courtland Chronicles ménage series. Taormino conducted over 120 interviews with a wide range of non-monogamous people of varying ages, sexualities, and approaches to relationships. Deals with the entire spectrum of issues surrounding polyamorous relationships – managing jealousy, coming out, safe sex, legal and financial concerns, raising children in a polyamorous household, etc.

Paperback: 346 pages
Publisher: Cleis Press (May 1, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://www.cleispress.com/book_page.php?book_id=221
ISBN-10: 157344295X
ISBN-13: 978-1573442954
Amazon: Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships

Relationship expert and bestselling author Tristan Taormino offers a bold new strategy for creating loving, lasting relationships. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over a hundred women and men, Opening Up explores the real-life benefits and challenges of all styles of open relationships—from partnered nonmonogamy to solo polyamory. With her refreshingly down-to-earth style and sharp wit, Taormino offers solutions for making an open relationship work, including tips on dealing with jealousy, negotiating boundaries, finding community, parenting, and time management. Opening Up will change the way you think about intimacy.

Also worth reading:

The Ethical Slut – Dossie Easton & Janet W. Hardy
Open: Love, Sex and Life in an Open Marriage – Jenny Block
The Threesome Handbook – Vicki Vantoch

2) SM 101: A Realistic Introduction – Jay Wiseman. A pretty damned comprehensive overview of the BDSM scene. Covers a wide variety of practices, including bondage, spanking, erotic role-playing, etc. I especially love its focus on safety techniques and safe words. Learn the difference between “submissive” and “masochist.” (This is a huge pet peeve of mine re: most BDSM-themed erotica. So many authors get it wrong!) At 400 pages, it’s a bit daunting for the uninitiated, so I’d advise working through it a chapter at a time.

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Greenery Press (CA) (December 1998)
Publisher Link: http://www.greenerypress.com/101.htm
ISBN-10: 0963976389
ISBN-13: 978-0963976383
Amazon: SM 101: A Realistic Introduction

The long-taboo subject of consensual BDSM (bondage/discipline,dominance/submission, sadomasochism) is coming "out of the closet" - much to the delight of the millions of adults who enjoy engaging in bondage, spanking, erotic role-playing and similar consensual practices. Jay Wiseman's SM 101 has taught the fundamentals of safe, exciting SM to tens of thousands of people of all genders and orientations!

If you’re in the mood for more in-depth research, check out: www.fetlife.com. It’s Facebook for the kinky set. There are forums on every BDSM and/or alternative lifestyle topic you can think of – and even a few you’ve probably never imagined! You’ll need to join to participate in discussions, but people are usually cool with newbies asking questions, as long as you’re respectful.

I’d also recommend reading The Marketplace series by Laura Antoniou, if you can get your hands on them. Amazon shows only two of them, The Slave and The Trainer, as currently in print. It’s the Gone with the Wind of BDSM fiction, and a great look into the mindset of kinky folk.

( books from 3 to 5 )

About Cat Grant: I've been writing off and on ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I still remember my very first 'published' story, a Jonny Quest adventure I penned in sixth grade. My teacher liked it so much, she had one of the other students illustrate it. That other student went on to become a Hollywood horror-film director.

I've poked around in many different genres. I've written fan fiction for a number of different TV shows, tried my hand at horror and fantasy, but in the end I came back to what I enjoy most - writing about the intimate relationships between men and women, and how love doesn't always happen the way we expect.

Back in 2004, when I became unable to work outside my home, my incredibly supportive husband suggested that I turn this setback into an opportunity, and pursue my dream of becoming a published author. Several years - and untold buckets of sweat later - that dream's finally coming to fruition.

Triad by Cat Grant
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Lyrical Press, Inc (June 1, 2010)
Publisher Link: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_12&products_id=188
ISBN-10: 1616501839
ISBN-13: 978-1616501839
Amazon: Triad

It's three times the pleasure - ten years on!

Eric Courtland, his wife Ally and husband Nick have been living the sweet life for the past decade, tucked away in their luxurious Tuscan villa. But when a family crisis brings them back to the States, blackmail and an unexpected revelation threaten the delicate balance of their marriage.

Weathering this storm may take everything they have - and still tear them apart.

I was in an Hollywood movie!...

... well, not exactly me, but Jesse, my friend was, and guess what? He had the sweater I brought him from Italy for his birthday / thank you gift last September,

at the 0.28 sec, the guy with the light blue sweater is Jesse Archer, and that same sweater is the one I brought him from Italy :-))) He told me he brought a couple of options and the wardrobe people chose to use my sweater! I have a career as movie stylist.

And just now Jesse wrote to tell me that he is working on some Kate Hudson film today and he is going to bring it for wardrobe, too. If they choose it for the second time, I think it will become his signature look!

I was in an Hollywood movie!...

... well, not exactly me, but Jesse, my friend was, and guess what? He had the sweater I brought him from Italy for his birthday / thank you gift last September,

at the 0.28 sec, the guy with the light blue sweater is Jesse Archer, and that same sweater is the one I brought him from Italy :-))) He told me he brought a couple of options and the wardrobe people chose to use my sweater! I have a career as movie stylist.

And just now Jesse wrote to tell me that he is working on some Kate Hudson film today and he is going to bring it for wardrobe, too. If they choose it for the second time, I think it will become his signature look!