Gram Ponante profiles three books worth reading, two that tell us about how we got here and one that wonders why we stay.
interviews
“Porn & Philosophy” or: The Myth of the Gape
Why have I never received any spam about being Nietzsche’s Übermensch in bed, or helping her acheive orgasm through the Kant or Clitomachus?
BDSM
“At Louche Ends” with Maria Alexander [interview]
Maria Alexander talks about BDSM, spirituality, and “At Louche Ends,” her collection of poems. “It’s safe to say that this volume can be taken as one long drink of my sexuality,” she says.
interviews
“Stripper Quotes”: Boobie-loving best buddies blog a book
If their lives were a buddy movie, it would have a triple-X rating. Now Tim Case and Mike South, veteran pornographers, strip club managers, and straight-shooting old world gentlemen, have compiled a decade of blog posts and dressing room banter into the entertaining blook “Stripper Quotes And Other Stories From the Sex Industry”
classic
John Holmes tells his own story in “Porn King”
No book has done more to complicate the legacy of the late John Holmes—to his favor—than “Porn King,” his fascinating work of semi-autobiography re-released by his widow, Laurie Holmes.
art
Sam Benjamin: How do you clean up after an “American Gangbang”?
I wanted Benjamin to leave porn for good and marry his colonic irrigationist, like a House At Gape Corner Kenny Loggins.
classic
Adding “Inches” to John Holmes biography
Gram recommends the recently updated biography “John Holmes: A Life Measured in Inches”
art
Gram’s Summer Reading List for Porno-Americans
Gram recommends five device-ready books for your summer betterment
classic
Book launch and documentary prove John Holmes still isn’t “Exhausted”
Nearly a quarter century after his death, interest in John C. Holmes isn’t “Exhausted,” and you get the feeling Holmes wouldn’t have had it any other way.
geekery
Aynal Architecture: “This Ain’t The Fountainhead”
“This Ain’t The Fountainhead” is the only porn movie that comes with a building
Today in Porn Valley
Book: Women need “A Billion Wicked Thoughts,” but men need just one
According to the book, “Women’s sexual interests are plastic and change frequently.” Houston, we have validation.
Gram Is There
“Facts of Life” media convergence breaks Internet
“A Porn Valley Odyssey” is burning up Amazon’s Kindle Store and Geri Jewell just announced she’s gay. Coincidence?
classic
Johnny Wadd’s meatier “Flesh”: An Interview with Bob Chinn
Gram speaks with Bob Chinn on his book-based reboot of Johnny Wadd
BDSM
Gothic.net party: Sinister, Malice
Perhaps the Old Ones, tittering behind the clouds from their blighted mansions of non-Euclidean geometries, had a tentacle in my being spared the L.A.P.D.’s latest scam.
Gram Is There
Gram’s New Book—Making “The Facts of Life XXX”
Did you know that it is the Director who dictates on what part of the pornstresses’ person the ropey volley is deposited? I felt like a slightly-less-disgusting Babe Ruth.
art
“And Then Her Mouth” saves the best for last
Some of these dirty stories will make you laugh out loud, which makes them dirtier
geekery
“Money Shots!” Shooting nudes and keeping cool with Michael Charles
“Some women are comfortable being sexy right out of the gate, sexy and naked in person,” Michael Charles says. “And they can be a dream to work with. But it’s a skill to bring that look or emotion out with your camera, so that it translates to a webpage or a magazine.”
business
The Korn/Porn connection: Saving Us from Ourselves
“Save Me from Myself” is a little like “The Devil in Miss Jones,” in which Miss Jones finds herself in Hell having not really enjoyed the life that got her there.
Porno-Americans