8FOLD/META: Sex and Language in Jolt City # 8

Tom Russell milos_parker at yahoo.com
Fri May 18 00:05:24 PDT 2007


SEX AND LANGUAGE IN
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                    // # 8


   I very seldom write introductions or disclaimers
for my recent work, instead reserving them for
reprints and revisions.  I have a tendency to get
long-winded when I switch into essay-mode, and I want
to avoid that.
   I want my stories to stand on their own, to require
no explanation or apology.  At the same time, I
recognize that this month's installment of JOLT CITY,
"Panic in a Pretty Box!", is sufficiently different
from any other issue of JOLT CITY and, indeed,
anything I've written-- hell, just about anything
that's ever been on RACC before-- that I feel it
requires something amounting to a statement of intent.

   My intent, in each and every issue of JOLT CITY, is
to provide thought-provoking, sense-shattering
entertainment, chock-full of mystery, suspense,
humour, action, and interesting, compelling, realistic
characters.  First and foremost among these
characters, of course, is Martin Rock, the Green
Knight himself.

   I personally think I've done some pretty decent
work with Martin Rock.  I think I've given the
spotlight to various aspects of his personality
without him feeling too compartmentalized; that is, I
think it all congeals into one cohesive and believable
person.  Feel free to disagree with me: I think I'm
fairly receptive to criticism and I do enjoy a
spirited discussion.
   In each issue of JOLT CITY, I try to explore
another aspect of Martin Rock, moving him further and
further from an archetype and closer to a
psychologically complex and specific human being.  And
this month's issue is no different in that respect.

   What's so different, then, about this eighth issue?
 Well, to put it bluntly, it has some sex in it. 
Okay, a lot of sex.  Sex that's described frankly,
depicted graphically, and in the unromantic language
of men's erotic literature.
   Is it pornography?  No, because the aim of
pornography is solely that of arousal; the aim of this
issue of JOLT CITY, like all those before it, is to
provide thought-provoking, sense-shattering
entertainment, chock-full of mystery, suspense,
humour, action, and interesting, compelling, realistic
characters.
   In "Panic in a Pretty Box!", certain aspects of
Martin Rock's psyche and his past are explored through
his sexual interactions with three very different
women.  As always, I strive to focus on character
development and exploration.

   Why, then, do I use "the language of men's erotic
literature"?
   I could have employed the conventions of women's
erotic literature: that is, to be euphemistic.  "He
touched her mounds gingerly as she readied his rod of
love; she parted her roast-beef curtains so that he
could drive his pleasure-piston deeper and deeper into
her hungry chasm."
   But that sort of elegant variation is not only
ridiculous, but also dishonest.  It's not dealing
frankly or maturely with the subject matter, or with
the human sexual act.
   I also could have used the proper anatomical names
for body parts.  "He touched her breasts gingerly as
she readied his penis; she parted her labia majora and
labia minora so that he could insert his penis deeper
and deeper into her hungry vagina."
   But these words are cold and they, too, engender
snickering.  They're really just another way of
talking around the act rather than allowing it to be
immediate.
   And so, I went for the most honest language
possible.
   
Let's take a couple of quick glances at the RACC FAQ:


  "1.2 What isn't RACC for?

  ... Erotica, no matter how much spandex you
  put in it.

  ...

  2.3 How 'bout them imprints?  What's up with
  that?

  ... Note that if a story could reasonably be
  posted to alt.sex.stories, you've probably 
  strayed a bit far from this group's interests."

And this, of course, raises the inevitable question:
isn't this story kinda sorta in violation of the FAQ?
   I don't think so.  I think the "group's interests"
lie in well-told, character-rich stories, with a
predilection towards the tales of costumed heroes. 
And I'd like to think that this installment-- like all
installments of JOLT CITY-- accomplishes that.  How
well I succeeded is up to the reader.
   At the same time, I know this story won't be to the
tastes of all readers.  If you don't want to read it,
if it makes you feel uncomfortable or if you're too
young to be reading such things-- then DON'T!  Skip
this one and come back next month.
   That's not to say this one is a lark or a filler
issue.  It's not.  Things happen in this issue of JOLT
CITY that will change the life of Martin Rock forever!
   And, yes, unlike the Big Two, I _mean_ it.  Things
really will never be the same, and it starts here,
and, yes, it's tied inextricably to the sexual
content.  I don't think I would have done a story with
this level of sexual content otherwise.

==Tom


Tom Russell

=====

"Personality is everything that's false
in a human being."-- Sam Shepherd

turtleneckfilms.blogspot.com
associatedcontent.com/user/53373/tom_russell.html
youtube.com/profile?user=therussells


 
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