Six contributors to Best Lesbian Erotica Volume 5 tell us about how they think about erotica as queer writers. The book came out on Dec 8, so can get your personal and gift copies in time for the holidays.

“One way we can change the narratives around our sexuality and our erotic bodies is by taking up space as sexual beings and celebrating other women and femmes doing the same.” This zine is on it.

“The path of least resistance is to write off 50 Shades of Grey as harmless fluff, but frankly, after editing over one hundred novels full of distortions and abuse, I don’t think I could respect myself if I did so.”

No, I do not know Virginia Woolf’s official stance on bras. However, let’s put it this way: she wrote that a woman needed five hundred pounds and a room of her own to write fiction—not five hundred pounds, a room of her own, and an uncomfortable, expensive, and otherwise constraining undergarment. Enough said.

No matter what your reasons are, or where your piece winds up, we think it’d be cool if you got to write about sex with us.

“While we can’t see what’s going on beneath the table, their physical reactions reveal that there is definitely a vibrator involved.”

“The questions quickly became, what is BDSM? And what is lesbian? I’m not sure I know the answer in general, but I figured out a context for this anthology to be born into, some parameters about kinks and fetishes and gender.”

“Oh, to be ready for it, unf*cked, ever-f*cked.”

She found out from her friend, ‘Kay Ryan you won a Pulitzer,’ on the phone. She won for her volume “The Best of It.”

I don’t want to write my essay, so here’s some Charles Bukowski poems.

You really need to know about Dorothy Porter. She was an Australian poet, an out lesbian, and basically awesome.

“You must nurture the kiss. Turn out the lights. Notice how it illuminates the room. Hold it to your chest and wonder if the sand inside hourglasses comes from a special beach.”

“I like his poetry because it’s kind of all over the place without being noisy about it.”

Did you know that Rilke’s Mom initially raised him as a girl? True story.

Once upon a time I hated Sylvia Plath. Now I don’t! How did this happen? The answers lie inside this post…

In which five of us talk about our favorite poet ever. “Those of us who think we know / the same secrets / are silent together most of the time.”