The Harlequin Blog

Inquisitive clit lit newbies could do worse than have a peek at the Harlequin blog, which offers a beginners guide to erotica: just name your kink and they’ll provide recommendations from their impressive oeuvre, whether it’s BDSM, ménage à trois or historical bodice rippers.

The Erotic Review

Billing itself as ‘an antidote to the dumbing down of sex’, The Erotic Review seeks out witty, intelligent literature, art and theatre for the more discerning erotica fan. The site is brimming with columns, features and intelligent discussion to stimulate the brain as well as the body.

Mills & Boon

No, not just for frustrated housewives any more. M&B have upped their game and released an eBook series entitled Twelve Shades of Surrender, presumably as a 50 Shades mummy porn counter-attack. Aimed at the modern woman, the books don’t pussyfoot around and retain their inspiration’s sub/dom themes. Classic bonkbusters dragged into the 21st century. Nice.

The Story of O

Originally a BDSM-flavoured French histoire, influenced by a series of highly charged letters to the author’s lover, the controversial tale was subsequently made over in the 70s by Italian artist Guido Crepax and is now hailed as one of the great classics of erotic graphic novels.

Literary Classics

Sex in literature is no new phenomenon – authors have been slipping rudity between the pages for centuries. Think DH Lawrence’s controversial Lady Chatterley’s Lover, John Cleland, William Burroughs, Anais Nin’s diaries, Shirley Conran’s bonkbuster Lace: these are the ones responsible for blazing a trail towards a world that allows 50 Shades to be published. Er, thanks guys.