An arsenal of eroticism

Small Canadian press publishes two new books celebrating the complexity of sex

Macho Sluts: A Little Sister's Classic by Patrick Califia (Arsenal Pulp Press) 336 pp

“Why should anybody buy a book of lesbian S/M smut that was originally published in 1988, especially if the author is now using male pronouns and sporting a rather impressive beard, if I do say so myself?”

The foreword to this new edition of Patrick Califia’s Macho Sluts stamps out a single, wonderful tone that stays with you through the whole work. It is, as editor Mark Macdonald so aptly calls it, one of “outright, unbridled glee.” Macho Sluts proved to be one of the seminal books of its time – a thoughtful, well-written, unflinching look at fetish sexuality and gender that proved to be not only nimble and clever, but steaming hot. This new edition is worth the purchase if only for the incredible new foreword from Patrick Califia himself. Among other things, he chronicles the writing of the work, its astonishing mixed reception of fiery critical adulation and hate, and the issues he later faced transitioning from the female Pat to the male Patrick Califia. By itself it’s a piece of biography vibrant with strength and colour, but it comes attached to a collection of erotic tales that to this day remain a fabulous portrait of the complex joys of sex.

“We felt that these books should be, wherever possible, a first of their kind.” Mark Macdonald is the editor of Little Sister’s Classics, an imprint with Arsenal Press whose mandate is to release the “lost” classics of queer literature, those works that resonated with the culture of their own time. When he approached Arsenal publisher
Brian Lam, it was with the goal of producing “editions that would be treated with academic respect.” Lam echoes that sentiment, telling me “there was an excitement, editorially, because these books had proved themselves in their own times.”

Their second release, under no imprint, is a collection of very short, powerful works that range from an autobiographical essay on the erotic genre to a tale told as a graphic work. As an anthology, I Like It Like That is complex and sort of alchemical – it combines separate reagents, which by themselves would be simple erotic snapshots, to create a compelling look at gay male love and lust.

These books are a unique and interesting creation by a smart mid-sized Canadian press, one which I regret to say will almost certainly never see the light of a Chapters bookshelf, but might be found in your local bookstore. Just ask for it.

As appeared in the Ottawa XPress – Aug. 27, 2009
http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/books/books.aspx?iIDArticle=18138