I recently attended a writers' convention in the rather snooty Guildhall in London, where I got chatting to a reasonably nice chap called Robert who claimed to specialise in politics and economics. Yes, I know! (Yawn). I proudly (and rather provocatively) mentioned to him that my forte was erotic fiction, imagining that he would be either shyly embarrassed and politely acknowledge me before quickly excusing himself, or be over-enthusiastic and press me for more lurid details. However, he seemed to take a genuine creative interest, and we ended up discussing writing styles, plot devices, techniques, target readership, editorial and other relevant matters that authors need to deal with. Like, in my case, what constitutes 'erotic', what is titillating, what is juvenile lavatory-wall graffiti, and what is just plain bad writing. I freely admitted to him that I would be useless waxing lyrical about politics or economics, suggesting that he would be equally inept at producing well-written commentary on the vagaries of human sexual behaviour. But he seemed to believe that to become proficient in his particular field necessitated skills and knowledge of the subject far more demanding than writing 'saucy stories', as he put it, which was a trivial pursuit requiring scant literary skill.
I bristled with indignation, but judiciously resisted the urge to knee him in the groin. Instead, I rather rashly challenged him to write some decent erotica and compare it to my attempt at explaining economics. Fortuitously, and before we could actually come to blows, the event photographer came between us and snapped us both displaying hurried polite smiles. For no particular reason other than for social networking, we eventually exchanged email addresses and went our separate ways - in my case, towards the bar.
I thought very little more about the occasion, until a few days later I received an email from Robert, the young academic in question, who apparently had taken up my challenge. I can say no more about it, than simply reproduce his pathetic effort verbatim, hoping you, dear reader, will excuse the crude nature of it and the coarse vocabulary. Expletives are deleted. My comments are in parentheses:
Oh Kara (the name I owned up to), I have become obsessed by your photo, and stare at it almost constantly. I drool over it even as I write. It's the one that photographer took of the two of us. You remember the one? Where you are wearing that blue sparkly low cut top with what looks like a leather skirt. (It IS a leather skirt, I don't do imitation.)
My **** twitches every time I view that picture, and goodness knows how many times I have ****** off while fixated by it. I imagine myself screwing the **** off you - my firm **** sliding up your juicy ***** and your fabulous **** inviting my hands to massage them and my mouth to suck on those gorgeous *******. Your long hair, wretchedly unkempt, (excuse me?), falls wavily down and over your shoulders like some wanton gipsy woman and you leer at me, open mouthed, encouraging every thrust my rock hard **** can muster up. My ambition is to fill you with hot ****, until you overflow and it oozes back out of your hairy **** (!!) and onto your tummy and thighs. Then you take my wet *-****** into your mouth and deep throat it, as deep as you can without gagging, licking it clean and swallowing the tasty remnants of my ***-load. Then you stuff your silky used panties into my mouth and sit on my face forcing me to breathe in the intoxicating feminine aromas from your delicious *****. You beg me to eat you out and my tongue responds by massaging your ***-hole then pummelling the sweet spot around your ****. Your moaning drives me wild, so I am determined to cater for all your needs, and drive my tongue into your *******.... Even as I write I am ******* off, just thinking about you lying on your bed, on your back, legs apart, knees in the air, begging me to totally **** your brains out.
Yours sincerely, Robert... ps. How did I do?
My immediate reaction, besides breaking into a cold sweat, was to move the email straight to the 'trash' folder and go have a shower. Was this guy serious? It was like some pubescent half-brain had been let loose with a dictionary of crude insulting expressions and unleashed his verbal diarrhoea directly onto me. It was neither erotic nor literary. It was just drivel, and rude. But... Somehow I couldn't get it out of my brain.
I needed at least to acknowledge receipt of his awful attempt to produce a suitable adult narrative, but at the same time, did not want to encourage him to continue soliciting my attentions. I decided a stinging, but witty put down, would fit the bill. So I replied...
"Robert.. One should not split an infinitive. ('to totally **** my brains out - tut tut. ')."
And left it at that, anticipating that my terse reply would be interpreted as an aloof 'don't call us, we'll call you' rejection, and that would be the end of it. Admittedly, were I to spout forth on economic forecasts and government debt, my efforts would also justifiably be trashed by anyone knowledgeable in the subject. But... I still couldn't get it out of my brain.
He subsequently wrote back, seemingly blissfully unperturbed by my curt comment, and suggested we meet up for dinner somewhere, and signed off 'yours lustfully, Rob.'
'Yours lustfully'? Again, he was being presumptuous, and, to be honest, inexcusably insulting of my moral standards. Or was I over-thinking it? Adult sex is normally the end result of a series of dates, romantic encounters and fun together. Even then, things tend not to get down and dirty until after a couple of wines and the lights go low. Knowing already all his waking thoughts about the desire to ingratiate himself with my lovely body (understandable, I grant you) seemed to nullify the spontaneity of any lustful union.