Advance Press for Fairy Tale Lust

Fairy Tale Lust received some early press last fall in Louise Ridley's article Rise of the Fantasy and Fairy Tale for the London Evening Standard. Brenda Knight (associate editor at Cleis Press), Mitzi Szereto (author and Cleis Press anthologist) and myself, along with other industry professionals, were interviewed for the piece. Here is a snippet of the article:

Brenda Knight at Cleis Press, which is publishing In Sleeping Beauty's Bed, says that they are releasing the book with an eye on the world's financial crisis.

"We anticipated a longing for escape from the current reality of the bad global economy," she says.

"We also know true escapism involves fantasy, and there is nothing more fantastical than fairy tales."

Sex continues to sell in economic slumps; retailers say erotic fiction seems to be "recession-proof".

Statistics for the first half of this year show the sector is booming - up 17 per cent year on year when the book market as a whole is down.

US author Kristina Wright is the editor of Fairy Tale Lust, a collection of erotic stories which will hit the UK early next year.

"If the bookstores in London are any indication, the British aren't stuffy at all," she says.

"A preference for fairy tales may be because the canon of British literature is filled with myths and legends and there is a comfortable familiarity with the genre."

She feels that her collection of stories that "run the gamut from playful to intense" demonstrates the versatility of fairy tales.

Wright points out it's not surprising that money worries put us on the road to escapist fiction: "Nothing is more comforting than reading a favourite fairy tale, and nothing is more satisfying than indulging one's sexuality. There is a reason why there is a baby boom after every economic downturn."