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The Change
“One day, quite suddenly, you realize you are changing.
For me, it began in the middle of a cappuccino, sitting at my regular cafe, in the morning, just before the day became too hot. I sat silently, peaceably at the same table as a stranger. He was staring out over the courtyard, to where the gardener's efforts had ceased and the busy street began.
He was middle-aged, balding, and somewhat overweight: a very plain man, a quiet man, thoroughly unremarkable. Some might even say he was ugly.”
The Change, a long short story, is an exploration of anonymity, objectification and the pleasure of being bought and paid for.
Words: 7,628
For me, it began in the middle of a cappuccino, sitting at my regular cafe, in the morning, just before the day became too hot. I sat silently, peaceably at the same table as a stranger. He was staring out over the courtyard, to where the gardener's efforts had ceased and the busy street began.
He was middle-aged, balding, and somewhat overweight: a very plain man, a quiet man, thoroughly unremarkable. Some might even say he was ugly.”
The Change, a long short story, is an exploration of anonymity, objectification and the pleasure of being bought and paid for.
Words: 7,628
ebook
First published July 27, 2009
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About the author
Remittance Girl
29 books425 followersRemittance Girl is a writer of erotic fiction. NOT ROMANCE OR EROTIC ROMANCE. Most of my work is short stories, but I do write some longer pieces – serials, novellas, etc. I live as an expat in a small Southeast Asian country, where I teach, write and grow orchids. I live with a cat called Seven. Although writing is not my main profession, it is the focus of my life. I hope that shows in the quality of my work.
As a writer, I feel very strongly that the erotica genre has suffered greatly over the years from a lack of quality, good editorship, and a dearth of publishers willing to put new material out there. It seems to have been appropriated by two literary camps: romantic fiction and pornography. These days most erotic fiction is either a romance novel with the spicy bits left in or, on the other side of the spectrum, stroke fiction with the solitary and express purpose of providing guided masturbatory fantasies.
This is sad, because I think erotic fiction, as a genre, should be neither and both those things, but it ought to be more, as well. I have no objection to representations of romantic entanglements in erotica, just as I have no objections to them in a sci-fi novel. Nor do I have any objections to a reader finding that a specific story arouses them to the point of wanting to masturbate. That’s also fine. But there are perfectly good genres where either of those reader desires are fulfilled specifically.
I believe that erotica, as a genre, should deal with the theme of erotic desire and, ideally, how desire informs, changes and manipulates the lives of the characters who are desirous. If erotic fiction can be this, then I think it has the potential to be an important cultural product, and should be proudly included in the literary cannon.
Some of you will have cleverly noticed that Remittance Girl is not the name I was born with. I decided to use a pseudonym because it is in keeping with the tradition of the Victorian pornographers. I could have chosen a name that sounded like a name, but where would be the fun it that. This is my identity for my writing, and for my online persona. I’ve had it for many years now.
The name itself is a reference to a “remittance man”. Wikipedia describes a remittance man thus:
Remittance Man
In the 19th century, the English usage of the word usually referred to money sent from England – the opposite direction to today’s usual usage of the term. A remittance man was an exile living on money sent from home. Within Victorian British culture, this often meant the black sheep of an upper or middle class family who was sent away (from the UK to the Empire), and paid to stay away. These men were generally of dissolute or drunken character, and may have been sent overseas after one or more disgraces at home.
If you wish to contact me, please email me at remittancegirl(at)gmail(dot)com
As a writer, I feel very strongly that the erotica genre has suffered greatly over the years from a lack of quality, good editorship, and a dearth of publishers willing to put new material out there. It seems to have been appropriated by two literary camps: romantic fiction and pornography. These days most erotic fiction is either a romance novel with the spicy bits left in or, on the other side of the spectrum, stroke fiction with the solitary and express purpose of providing guided masturbatory fantasies.
This is sad, because I think erotic fiction, as a genre, should be neither and both those things, but it ought to be more, as well. I have no objection to representations of romantic entanglements in erotica, just as I have no objections to them in a sci-fi novel. Nor do I have any objections to a reader finding that a specific story arouses them to the point of wanting to masturbate. That’s also fine. But there are perfectly good genres where either of those reader desires are fulfilled specifically.
I believe that erotica, as a genre, should deal with the theme of erotic desire and, ideally, how desire informs, changes and manipulates the lives of the characters who are desirous. If erotic fiction can be this, then I think it has the potential to be an important cultural product, and should be proudly included in the literary cannon.
Some of you will have cleverly noticed that Remittance Girl is not the name I was born with. I decided to use a pseudonym because it is in keeping with the tradition of the Victorian pornographers. I could have chosen a name that sounded like a name, but where would be the fun it that. This is my identity for my writing, and for my online persona. I’ve had it for many years now.
The name itself is a reference to a “remittance man”. Wikipedia describes a remittance man thus:
Remittance Man
In the 19th century, the English usage of the word usually referred to money sent from England – the opposite direction to today’s usual usage of the term. A remittance man was an exile living on money sent from home. Within Victorian British culture, this often meant the black sheep of an upper or middle class family who was sent away (from the UK to the Empire), and paid to stay away. These men were generally of dissolute or drunken character, and may have been sent overseas after one or more disgraces at home.
If you wish to contact me, please email me at remittancegirl(at)gmail(dot)com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 18, 2019
This.
"After a lifetime of doing the right thing, I was about to do something really, truly wrong."
That exact moment when life takes you by surprise and you suddenly find yourself doing something you had never expected of yourself. And you realize that you are not who you thought you were all these years. Or maybe you secretly knew it all along. But whatever the case, you will never be the same again.
What a great short story The Change is. This is erotica as it should be. Intelligently-written, exciting, with a mildly disturbing edge. As I said in my review for Remittance Girl's novella, Gaijin, in so few pages she manages to paint such a powerful and intriguing picture. And yet she leaves much room for your own imagination to fill in the details, to run wild...
This is my second story by this author, and again her originality made this an absolute joy to read. I’m moving on to Beautiful Losers right away.
Damn, I’m definitely on a Remittance Girl roll here and I’m loving every minute of it. What a find!
"After a lifetime of doing the right thing, I was about to do something really, truly wrong."
That exact moment when life takes you by surprise and you suddenly find yourself doing something you had never expected of yourself. And you realize that you are not who you thought you were all these years. Or maybe you secretly knew it all along. But whatever the case, you will never be the same again.
What a great short story The Change is. This is erotica as it should be. Intelligently-written, exciting, with a mildly disturbing edge. As I said in my review for Remittance Girl's novella, Gaijin, in so few pages she manages to paint such a powerful and intriguing picture. And yet she leaves much room for your own imagination to fill in the details, to run wild...
This is my second story by this author, and again her originality made this an absolute joy to read. I’m moving on to Beautiful Losers right away.
Damn, I’m definitely on a Remittance Girl roll here and I’m loving every minute of it. What a find!
July 17, 2014
What a delicious, deeply erotic tale. Intelligent, very literate and challenging on so many levels.
A short story by Remittance Girl I'd recommend to everyone!
A short story by Remittance Girl I'd recommend to everyone!
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February 3, 20213.5
Remittance Girl writes so provokingly. This book was such an interesting read. I wish it was longer. I would have like to learn more about the motivations of the characters.
Remittance Girl writes so provokingly. This book was such an interesting read. I wish it was longer. I would have like to learn more about the motivations of the characters.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews