quote [ Let me tell you that there is nothing more embarrassing than going through your raw manuscript, reaching a sex scene and seeing that the editors ripped the ever-loving piss out of it. Having the anatomical impossibilities of your seemingly mind-blowing smut pointed out is enough to make even the most hardened of hard-core-porn writers cringe. ]

quote [ What I take from this is that it?s harder (as Henry finds it harder in my novel) to talk about what we quite unhelpfully call ?kinks? or ?fetishes? than it is to talk about homosexuality. Homosexuality has a lineage, a cultural and historical tradition, which has always been incredibly helpful when you are making a case for legitimacy. ]

quote [ If you?d never seen a deep-sea anglerfish, would you think it was a friendly fellow Earthling? Or would its grotesque visage, its gaping mouth and the glowing lantern protruding from its forehead, suggest farther-flung origins? ]

quote [ When the womb began to appear in printed images during the 16th century, it was understood through analogy: a garden, uroscopy flask, or microcosm of the universe. Rebecca Whiteley explores early modern birth figures, which picture the foetus in utero, and discovers an iconic form imbued with multiple kinds of knowledge: from midwifery know-how to alchemical secrets, astrological systems to new anatomical findings. ]

quote [ In the past, this straightforward voyeurism has occasionally been paired with political critique. ]

quote [ The world of indie romance has been upended by allegations that an author faked her own suicide and now wants to return like nothing happened. ]

quote [ That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat." ]

quote [ It took me years to fully realize why my mother loved her spooky books so much. Those horror stories gave my mother the courage to leave her abuser. ]

quote [ [?] keeping up with your children and/or grandchildren. ]