I wanted to take a few minutes to address the questions that I’ve been fielding a lot lately about the 50 Shades of Grey series by E.L. James. Let me start by saying that I haven’t read this story in years, and I never read the whole trilogy. I read it, before it was published, back when the author and I (and a bunch of other really amazing writers) were all begging for positive comments together on the forums and free websites, trying to figure out if we could write, and crawling our way into our debut novels.

I also want to say that I’m very proud of E.L. James. She has succeeded in what many authors only hope to do by finding an audience that is motivated to buy and talk about her book. I think it’s fantastic that people are discussing her novel on television and all over the web. I haven’t picked the trilogy up in its current form, but I probably will some day, because I think it’s important to be familiar with what’s working in the writing world.

This series though has done some interesting things in the industry, and I’ve been getting a lot of mail as a result. For the first time in at least a decade we now have an example BDSM novel by which a standard has been set. It’s happened before: Story of O was the standard for decades, Secretary had a pretty good run for a couple of years, and within the BDSM community there are always favorites that circulate. The trouble with some of these books, though, is that when they attract the attention of non-readers, or more specifically non-BDSM readers, they become a measuring stick. If this book is my understanding of the color grey then all other books have to fall somewhere in the black or white category by comparison.

I appreciate Amazon’s referral system. They try to recommend books that you will like based on books that you already own and data from thousands of other book owners. It’s a great way to sell novels, and I love it because it gives new indie authors a fair shot at being read. Unfortunately the process is executed by a computer, not a human, so it has a few flaws. In this case Generational Sins is often recommended to readers of the 50 Shades series even though the two books are not particularly alike. I understand this mathematically. Both books are listed in the erotic romance category under BDSM (there aren’t subcategories for newbie and hardcore violence). E.L. James and I also shared much of the same audience when our books were new, so many of the early people that bought my book also bought hers, linking us more solidly. I’ve picked up a few new fans as a result of this connection, and I’m grateful for that, but I’ve also picked up a few reviewers who are clearly, and understandably, overwhelmed by my book.

The BDSM world is a very big one, and while the whole term is considered taboo by much of the vanilla world, even within the community there are further taboos and different levels of play or lifestyle. It is true to say that a parakeet and a hippopotamus are both zoo animals, but I think most of us would agree that the two have little in common. Books at opposite ends of the sadomasochistic spectrum aren’t necessarily alike in any way. 50 Shades scratches the surface of this world, but many other books (including my Generational Sins) have gone much deeper. Writers like Kitty Thomas and Annabel Joseph are on the more extreme end, while Cherise Sinclair falls somewhere in the middle, and Leah Brooke somewhere closer to tame. That’s how I would rank that small handful of authors anyway, but your level of intensity would very much depend on your personal preferences. If you consider anal sex extreme, then they are all possibly outside of your reading comfort zone. So the first question to ask, when trying to determine what to read, should be: which book has become your measuring stick?

If 50 Shades was your first BDSM novel, please don’t read Generational Sins second. The jump from a newbie submissive who thinks that a playroom is for video game systems, to an experienced submissive who cannot process emotional pain without extreme physical pain is too large of one for the average reader. The warning labels attached to my book are there for a reason. Generational Sins is about family violence, mental illness, and the darkest side of love imaginable. I put the opening chapters on my website for a reason as well. Please read the samples before deciding if you want to buy the book.

I don’t apologize for the graphic sexual violence in my book. It’s a story of hope written out of a very dark place, and it paints a picture of survival through unusual, raw, earthy means. There are themes of guilt, greed, inheritance, abuse, manipulation, and other guttural emotions. It is a fiction story, but I think it tells the truth about the dark natures that we battle every day. It’s not a “feel good” book, and it wasn’t designed to make you want to go out and buy fuzzy handcuffs. I wrote it because I know that I have readers who can identify with these emotions–in it we can see an enlarged version of ourselves and our greatest fears.

Having said all of that, I hope that more readers will begin to explore other writers as a result of this series. Please feel free to use the comment area to leave suggestions for other readers with books that fall anywhere along the spectrum. As always, also feel free to ask any questions that you may have. I would love to see this become an open and safe place where writers and readers can discuss their questions about books, sex, S&M, or anything else that comes to mind.

Until next time,

Sam