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Join WAMS Radio on Thursday July 15th at 1 PM EST as we chat with A COUNTRY GIRL author Jeanne Ainslie. WAMS dives into a genre that most people tend to shy away from, Erotic Literature. The book is about a girl named Angela and her sexual awakening.
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I'm Burke Allen. Today, we're talking about sex and more specifically sex in literature. Erotic literature with author Jeanne Ainslie and she first started writing erotic literature, gosh 30 years ago--over 30 years ago. Her first book Angela was a best seller, the sequel some 30 years later is A Country Girl and it is available at bookstores everywhere and of course at acountrygirl.com and if you'd like to join in the conversation, we would love to hear from you. Our number is 718 506 1944. Jeanne, first of all welcome to the program and congratulations on writing the sequel to Angela, A Country Girl.
Thank you very much Burke and I am really happy to be on your show.
I read about it you know and I just thought it was fascinating, all the information that you had included about sort of the trials and tribulations you went through in writing that first book and then of course coming back and writing A Country Girl. How is it that a young beautiful lady like yourself some 30 years ago gets into the world of erotic literature?
Well, Burke you have to go back to why I got into it in the first place and that was in 1970 and I was an inexperienced writer and trying to get my short stories published and not getting anywhere except nice favorable rejection letters so I decided to write a best seller and I was encouraged by a certain book at the time, Penelope Ashe Anonymous and I thought, well, I can do the same. And so I set about to put down on paper all those fantasies that had been in my head for the last 10 years, based on crushes of real people and in fact I wrote that first book in about 30 days, it was just a tour de force and then a couple of months, you know, polishing it up and so forth. So, I didn't decide 30 years later to get into that field. I had this what I considered to be a little gem because it was a bestseller, sold over 61,000 copies with Dell paperback original back in the days when paperbacks were ¢35 a copy. So, I had this book that I wanted to get back into the market. You know, because I love the book.
Sure.
And that's why I decided, okay to get it back into printing with Blue Moon and it did very well there and then Blue Moon no longer exists so I was faced with a problem, how do I get this bestselling erotic novel back to the readers and that's why I went to Dell's publishing, so that's sort of the history. The book for me is like a love affair and I would never give it up and I just persisted through all that time.
We're talking with Jeanne Ainslie. She is a best-selling writer of erotic fiction and the old attitude, of course, Jeanne is that sex sells. Clearly in your case it has, for over 30 years.
Yes.
Why? Have you ever thought about it and I'm sure you have down through the years. What is it that attracts people to erotic literature? Why does sex sell?
That's like asking about the birds and the bees. I mean, sex is a basic component of our lives. It sort of drives so much of our interests and so forth and then people have curiosity. You like to basically to read erotica and good erotica not just the porn kind of stuff that is sort of insulting in certain ways. People want to get excited. I mean, getting, being excited is fun and they are curious about sex and they want to learn what to do and how to do it, but I think mainly it's just the pleasure of reading and getting stimulated and being taken to places that you haven't been and maybe fantasies that you've never even thought of. It just expands your universe as does any other good fiction. Erotica is just one niche subsection and you know but that's what good literature should do.
We're talking with author Jeanne Ainslie about erotic literature and her latest book, A Country Girl, which is a sequel to her bestseller, Angela. I recently read reviews of erotic literature to prepare for our conversation today, and Jeanne I was fascinated. Instead of doing, you know, the sort of one to four stars, it was steamy, steamier, steamiest and "Wow! I need a shower!" that kind of thing. So where does A Country Girl fit into all that?
I'll tell you --I guess if you don't mind Burke I just want to correct, it's Jeanne Ainslie not Ashley.
I'm so sorry.
That's okay. That was Penelope Ashe, who attended the New York Times bestseller that inspired me. Yes I just wanted to let your listeners know I am Jeanne Ainslie and where does my book stand? Well, I'll tell you today, many many years later, I'll pick it up and I'm just sort of overwhelmed that, well, it's--I can't believe that I had the courage and you know, to write so honestly and that kind of thing so I would put it at--excuse me--you gave your ranking, I put it at 10 for steaminess, it's a kind of book that you certainly can't read it all at once. You have to stop and start to maybe take a break. (laughing) (crosstalk) you know what I'm saying.
When there's imagination--is that what happens during that break.
Yes, yes. And also that's why it's so good to read to your partner and I've had a lot of feedback about my book from directors and writers and the same, all the same comments about basically how hot it is. So yes, it would be very good for your listeners to read to each other but they wouldn't get too far, maybe a couple of pages and then they've had to put it on the bookstand or the...
Or put it on the bedside.
Beside the bed. (laughing) Yes, yes.
Jeanne Ainslie is our guest today. The book is A Country Girl. It's available at acountrygirl.com. And when you wrote your first book, Angela back in 1975 did people around you treat you differently? Were you sort of, you know, looked at in a different light, maybe looked down on in your area? I know that it must have been, especially some 30 years ago, a big step out for you.
Burke, that wasn't a problem. I was totally undercover. We're talking back in the 70's. We didn't have the Internet then. That kind of literature was, if you wanted to go to bookstores, if you knew about it, you could find it. But I wrote under a pseudonym and Diane Black was the pseudonym and I had a husband, parents, two children, one actually at the time when I wrote the book, so it was a secret endeavor. I sat at my little wooden kitchen table and wrote this. These were all my fantasies and I was writing to that one person, that one reader. It was a communication, me to that reader and as it turned out there were over 61,000 readers. But no, I was completely underground and then people would get curious and ask and I wouldn't even tell them the title or anything because I want to keep the two worlds separate. But then when we reached the age, or the time we are in now, with the Internet and explosion of information, the cat's out of the bag. I was out of the closet and you can't hide in a bookstore and no one knows who you are because you are writing under a pseudonym and I decided, and I was encouraged actually by my children and adult children, to use my real name. I didn't want to cause any problems with them. So that just shows the progress of time, communication. I originally wrote in a different age where this exactly what you say people might, you know, eyebrows raised. They have a curiosity but you're in that sort of zone and now it's not a problem whatsoever and but that's--I didn't have that problem then. I was very protective, (laughing) but the Internet took that away.
I think those days are behind me, the days when...
Oh they are behind you totally, totally. No place to hide anymore.
The author is Jeanne Ainslie, the book is A Country Girl, that's available at acountrygirl.com and Jeanne Ainslie's book is a story of Angela, a country girl and her sexual awakening. And it is the sequel to her bestseller Angela that was written and released by Dell back in 1975. Now you wrote this as a very--this first book as a very young lady and of course you came back and touched on these themes as a more matured lady, were there writers that influenced you in the meantime that perhaps you weren't exposed to when you wrote that first book and who are they?
Uhm...that's a really good question. Actually, I came to the first book Angela, so called slowly formed as a writer. My background is science but I love literature and art and I taught myself how to write and I did that by taking--studying intensively all my favorite authors like Hemingway, Faulkner, etc. So when I was writing Angela, I knew my craft and at that time, the writers of influence were already in my mind. I have an absolutely--my favorite writer, and he is a wonderful man, is James Salter. He was a strong influence. Back in 1966, he wrote A Sport and a Pastime and I read that book and I thought--Oh, is it -- you know this was sort of opened the door, like yes, I can be bold like that. So, the influences came a long time ago and not to say that I'm not receptive to any new information but all that took place before and yes--so that's--it wasn't like years later that I was awakened to something. I was awakened back then.
If you're a fan of erotic literature, there's an excerpt of A Country Girl at the website acountrygirl.com and it is indeed very steamy and here is a great question that came in to us via email Jeanne and I'll pass it along to you for your thoughts. Is there a difference and if so, what is the difference between erotica, which you write, and porn?
Okay. That's something I've thought about a lot. There is definitely a difference. Erotic and porn, they use the same words, same explicit words to arouse sexually and they are both about sexual desire, anticipation, and arousal. The difference is that porn is stimulating our erogenous zones and erotica engages our imagination in sexual fantasy. What drives the language in erotica is passion and intoxication. Now, porn lacks magic and imagination and porn is about instant gratification and it can be derogatory to women. Erotica connects. Porn disconnects. Erotica celebrates sexual union. The erotic is a mutual relationship whereas porn is object oriented. The other is seen as object. There is no love in porn and no infatuation. So, I don't know if that gives you an idea of the same words trying to arouse so forth but--
A very clear delineation between the two and I think you used your case very well.
Thank you, thank you.
We have about 30 seconds left and I have to ask the question that's on my mind. How much of you and what happens in your erotic literature is you? How much of the author is in these characters like Angela?
(laughing) 100%. I'm Angela and I chose that name. No, I have to clarify that though, 100% of me and I chose the name Angela, this is going a way back 1970 because she was an angel to men and Angela wasn't a popular name at that time. But the thing is, you have to write from life, you have to be authentic, the emotion, the feeling. You can't get that passion and that intensity if it is not real but what you do, you make up the story line and for instance, in my book, nothing is as it seems. It's like Alice in Wonderland. You pick and you choose and that's a mix of reality and fantasy and that's what the writer does. So, there is authenticity, emotional authenticity in the book. You can't write that kind of stuff if you don't feel it. But you change around and you change what really happened and this is where leap into the fantasy. I set it up with a reality base because all the characters were based on real life people that I had crushes on and I was thinking about it for 10 years before I wrote that. But then, I went into the fantasy so the reader will never know what happened and what was imagined but I, the author, know.
And if you want to know more about A Country Girl and author Jeanne Ainslie, the website is acountrygirl.com and if you'd like a personally-autographed copy, there is actually a phone number that our listeners can call to get one, is that right?
Yes. My toll-free number that they'll find on the website and I can give it to you now its 877 7303 JOY and JOY being 569 and I'll send the readers, your listeners, a personalized-signed copy and my book is also available in any of the bookstores and Amazon but they won't get that personalized copy. And just a little caveat here, when Blue Moon went out of print, A Country Girl, I was stunned that on the internet it was selling for which is crazy like $165 (laughing).
Wow!
I still have some copies of Blue Moon in a box and my cover and I think, "Ah! I should put them on--"
Put them on eBay.
Yes exactly, exactly. So you know there is some value to having a signed copy from the author.
And I couldn't agree more and I wish you much success with A Country Girl and with your literature and you've been fantastic with answering our questions very frankly and honestly. Jeanne Ainslie is the guest. The book is A Country Girl. The website is acountrygirl.com. Jeanne thanks for being on WAMS today.
Thank you very much Burke. (song playing)