Circlet Press
Encyclopedia
Circlet Press is a Cambridge, Massachusetts
publishing house founded and managed by Cecilia Tan
. It specializes in science fiction erotica, a once uncommon genre, and its publications often feature BDSM
themes.
Tan founded the house in 1992 after researching the markets for publication of her own stories, which combined science fiction plotlines with explicitly sexual themes. At the time, science fiction publications turned away such material as unsuitable for their audience, and most publishers of erotic material were hard-core pornographers and uninterested in any material whose plotlines extended beyond the simple formula encounter story (in which two people meet and sex ensues).
The ground-breaking combination of sex-positive, woman-centered erotica with science fiction and fantasy themes came as a result of Tan's editorial vision that rather than combine the worst clichés of both genres, the mixture could instead expand the boundaries of what was possible in each. Science fiction had developed a somewhat deserved reputation for being dismissive or neglectful of human character development issues like love, lust, attraction, and family issues, while erotica was definitely ripe for something beyond the encounter formula. Placing stories into a science fictional or magical context allowed writers for Circlet Press to remove their stories from their contemporary political context and sidestep issues such as feminism, AIDS, and sexual identity politics.
Circlet Press has been identified with a peer group of start-up "alternative sexuality" publishers and businesses, including Greenery Press
, Daedalus Publishing
, Black Books
, Obelesk Books, Blowfish
, and JT's Toys (now called The Stockroom). Their arrival also coincided with the burgeoning of a women's erotica movement, evidenced by the publication of many upcale trade paperback anthologies such as Herotica, Best American Erotica edited by Susie Bright
, On A Bed of Rice (ed. Geraldine Kudaka), Slow Hand (ed. Michele Slung), and many others coming from the mainstream publishing houses.
Lesbian bookseller Gilda Bruckman, who for years headed one of the leading women's bookstores in the US (New Words, formerly in Cambridge, MA), said, in support of the idea that Circlet's efforts were part of a growing trend in women's erotica, "I think the younger generation of women who see themselves as feminists... feel that it's central to their being. It's having control of the expression of one's sexuality, not being restricted to societal norms."
The effect that Circlet had on the mainstream science fiction seems to be twofold. One, the house nurtured a new generation of writers who were emboldened to use genre elements in their erotic fiction and erotic elements in their genre fiction. Two, by mapping out new territory, Circlet expanded what was possible, and acceptable, in sf/fantasy. The first tentative forays into "spicier" material by many of the mainstream science fiction imprints bore fruit in the form of strong sales and good reviews for titles such as Polymorph by Scott Westerfeld
and The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
. Tan spoke on many panels at science fiction conventions such as the World Fantasy Convention, World Science Fiction Convention, Philcon, Arisia, Boskone, and Lunacon about mixing and cross-pollinating genres.
With erotica forging the way, the influx of romance into sf/f was not far behind, as writers like Catherine Asaro
and Laurell K. Hamilton
built readerships that included sf/f readers, mystery readers, and romance readers. Hamilton's "Anita Blake
" books have grown sex-focused and explicitly sexual, and legions of "paranormal romance" writers and readers have followed in her wake.
Reviews praising Circlet's efforts appeared in Publishers Weekly, Lambda Book Report, Feminist Bookstore News, and many other publications.
Circlet Press's books have been nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards, Independent Press Awards ("Ippy" awards), the Benjamin Franklin Awards, the Spectrum Awards, and many others.
Authors published by Circlet Press include:
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
publishing house founded and managed by Cecilia Tan
Cecilia Tan
Cecilia Tan is a writer, editor, sexuality activist, and founder of Circlet Press, the first press devoted primarily to erotic science fiction and fantasy. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the director of media relations for the New England Leather Alliance...
. It specializes in science fiction erotica, a once uncommon genre, and its publications often feature BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
themes.
Tan founded the house in 1992 after researching the markets for publication of her own stories, which combined science fiction plotlines with explicitly sexual themes. At the time, science fiction publications turned away such material as unsuitable for their audience, and most publishers of erotic material were hard-core pornographers and uninterested in any material whose plotlines extended beyond the simple formula encounter story (in which two people meet and sex ensues).
The ground-breaking combination of sex-positive, woman-centered erotica with science fiction and fantasy themes came as a result of Tan's editorial vision that rather than combine the worst clichés of both genres, the mixture could instead expand the boundaries of what was possible in each. Science fiction had developed a somewhat deserved reputation for being dismissive or neglectful of human character development issues like love, lust, attraction, and family issues, while erotica was definitely ripe for something beyond the encounter formula. Placing stories into a science fictional or magical context allowed writers for Circlet Press to remove their stories from their contemporary political context and sidestep issues such as feminism, AIDS, and sexual identity politics.
Circlet Press has been identified with a peer group of start-up "alternative sexuality" publishers and businesses, including Greenery Press
Greenery Press
Greenery Press is a publishing house based in Emeryville, California specializing in books on BDSM, polyamory and sexuality, with over 50 titles in print. Most titles are non-fiction, but a smaller number of fiction titles and memoirs are published under the Grass Stain Press name...
, Daedalus Publishing
Daedalus Publishing
Daedalus Publishing is an American publisher of erotic literature based in Los Angeles, California. Subjects range from leathersex to alternative sexual practices, such as BDSM...
, Black Books
Black Books
Black Books is a British sitcom television series created by Dylan Moran and Graham Linehan and produced by Nira Park, first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2000 to 2004...
, Obelesk Books, Blowfish
Blowfish
The blowfish, or Tetraodontidae, is a fish in the Tetraodontidae family.Blowfish may also refer to:* The Blowfish, a satirical newspaper at Brandeis University* Blowfish , encryption algorithm...
, and JT's Toys (now called The Stockroom). Their arrival also coincided with the burgeoning of a women's erotica movement, evidenced by the publication of many upcale trade paperback anthologies such as Herotica, Best American Erotica edited by Susie Bright
Susie Bright
Susannah "Susie" Bright is an American writer, speaker, teacher, audio-show host, and performer, all on the subject of sexuality....
, On A Bed of Rice (ed. Geraldine Kudaka), Slow Hand (ed. Michele Slung), and many others coming from the mainstream publishing houses.
Lesbian bookseller Gilda Bruckman, who for years headed one of the leading women's bookstores in the US (New Words, formerly in Cambridge, MA), said, in support of the idea that Circlet's efforts were part of a growing trend in women's erotica, "I think the younger generation of women who see themselves as feminists... feel that it's central to their being. It's having control of the expression of one's sexuality, not being restricted to societal norms."
The effect that Circlet had on the mainstream science fiction seems to be twofold. One, the house nurtured a new generation of writers who were emboldened to use genre elements in their erotic fiction and erotic elements in their genre fiction. Two, by mapping out new territory, Circlet expanded what was possible, and acceptable, in sf/fantasy. The first tentative forays into "spicier" material by many of the mainstream science fiction imprints bore fruit in the form of strong sales and good reviews for titles such as Polymorph by Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld
Scott Westerfeld is an American author of science fiction. He was born in Texas and now divides his time between Sydney, Australia and New York City, USA.-Books:...
and The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
Anne Bishop
Anne Bishop is an American fantasy writer. Her most noted work is The Black Jewels trilogy. She lives in upstate New York. She won the Crawford Award in 2000 for the first three novels in her The Black Jewels series: Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of the Darkness.-The Black...
. Tan spoke on many panels at science fiction conventions such as the World Fantasy Convention, World Science Fiction Convention, Philcon, Arisia, Boskone, and Lunacon about mixing and cross-pollinating genres.
With erotica forging the way, the influx of romance into sf/f was not far behind, as writers like Catherine Asaro
Catherine Asaro
Catherine Asaro is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of the Skolian Empire.- Biography :...
and Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell Kaye Hamilton is an American fantasy and romance writer. She is the author of two series of stories. Hamilton is known for her New York Times-bestselling Anita Blake series, featuring a professional zombie raiser/supernatural consultant for the police as the protagonist in a world where...
built readerships that included sf/f readers, mystery readers, and romance readers. Hamilton's "Anita Blake
Anita Blake
Anita Blake is a fictional character in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. Subsequently, she has also appeared in the Dabel Brothers/Marvel Comics adaptation of her first novel, Guilty Pleasures....
" books have grown sex-focused and explicitly sexual, and legions of "paranormal romance" writers and readers have followed in her wake.
Reviews praising Circlet's efforts appeared in Publishers Weekly, Lambda Book Report, Feminist Bookstore News, and many other publications.
Circlet Press's books have been nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards, Independent Press Awards ("Ippy" awards), the Benjamin Franklin Awards, the Spectrum Awards, and many others.
Authors published by Circlet Press include:
- Catherine AsaroCatherine AsaroCatherine Asaro is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of the Skolian Empire.- Biography :...
- Hanne BlankHanne BlankHanne Blank Born in Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S., Hanne Blank is a historian, writer, editor and public speaker. She has also edited and written erotica but is retired from that genre....
- Francesca Lia BlockFrancesca Lia BlockFrancesca Lia Block is the author of adult and young adult fiction, short stories, screenplays and poetry, most famously the Weetzie Bat series. Block wrote her first book, Weetzie Bat, while a student at UC Berkeley; it was published in 1989 by Harper Collins. She is known for her use of imagery,...
- M. ChristianM. ChristianM. Christian is an author and anthologist working in a variety of genres including horror, science fiction, erotica and crime. Much of his work combines sexual themes with the horror or science fiction genre.-Selected bibliography:Among his works are:...
- Amelia G
- Evan Hollander
- Raven Kaldera
- Nancy Kilpatrick a.k.a. Amarantha Knight
- MidoriMidori (author)is a prominent human sexuality writer, speaker, and sex educator based in San Francisco, California. Her writings and contributions have appeared in many books and magazines...
- Mary Anne MohanrajMary Anne MohanrajMary Anne Amirthi Mohanraj is an American writer, editor, and academic of Sri Lankan birth.- Background :Mohanraj was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka but moved to the United States at the age of two and grew up in New Britain, Connecticut. She attended Miss Porter's School and the University of...
- Yvonne NavarroYvonne NavarroYvonne Navarro is an American author who has published over twenty books. Of those twenty, the titles AfterAge, deadrush, Final Impact, Red Shadows, DeadTimes, That's Not My Name and Mirror Me were solo novels, or fiction created solely by her...
- Carol QueenCarol QueenCarol Queen is an American author, editor, sociologist and sexologist active in the sex-positive feminism movement. Queen has written on human sexuality in books such as Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture...
- Lawrence Schimel
- Simon SheppardSimon Sheppard (writer)Simon Sheppard is a writer of gay erotica and a sex-advice columnist from San Francisco. He is the author of many highly acclaimed works of gay erotica/pornography, including the books Sodomy!, Kinkorama: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Perversion, In Deep, and Sex Parties 101...
- Dave Smeds, aka Reed Manning
- Jennifer Stevenson
- Cecilia TanCecilia TanCecilia Tan is a writer, editor, sexuality activist, and founder of Circlet Press, the first press devoted primarily to erotic science fiction and fantasy. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the director of media relations for the New England Leather Alliance...
External links
- official site
- Feminist SF Erotica
- Speculative Literature Organization reference
- Spectrum Award Nomination
- Strange Horizons profile
- New Bedfellows: Sex & Science Fiction, a dialogue between M. ChristianM. ChristianM. Christian is an author and anthologist working in a variety of genres including horror, science fiction, erotica and crime. Much of his work combines sexual themes with the horror or science fiction genre.-Selected bibliography:Among his works are:...
and Cecilia Tan - Nerve.com essay