vLounge

Doin' It Well

by: Kim Rose | Feb. 23, 2007

 

Everyone’s doing it.

For hours at a time, uninterrupted. In bed before lights out. Working up a sweat in dark corners. Within stolen lunchtime moments. During commutes to and from work. Even in festive groups.

And if you’re not reading erotica; even cracked a cover and just stuck your head in for a peek (or peak!), you’re probably not reading.

They are the titles that can’t seem to stay on the bookstore shelves. The books that you curiously thumb through in the middle of store aisles. The titles that make you blush, with covers that feature flesh, smooth brown skin on skin, muscles and intertwined legs. Books that cause a hot flash or a pelvic tremor and have readers everywhere clamoring for more. What is it about black erotica that has us so turned on?

Well for starters, erotica has helped galvanize the current black book explosion because, well, y’all are freaky! And since dollars make sense, sex sells. The messengers of the genre are crafty one name scribes like Zane and Noire. The titles beckon colorful cultural awareness: Brown Sugar. Brown Skin Books. And while ethnic authors have long been masters of transcribing sexuality in literature (who could forget the groundbreaking Erotique Noir (Anchor)?), the current black book market is a slave to trends. Next to the gritty, ubiquitous street fiction tales, the black erotica genre is not far behind in popularity, book sales, and intrigue.

So go ahead—don’t be ashamed to slip between someone’s sheets. Vixens are doing it out in the open, books held at conspicuous eye level on crowded subways. On park benches. In window seats at Starbucks. And there’s no telling what they’re doing behind closed doors.

Check out Zane’s Strebor Books: streborbooks.com

Carol Taylor’s Brown Sugar Books: brownsugarbooks.com

Steamy excerpts from Brown Skin Books: brownskinbooks.co.uk