When reviewers have sex issues.

Dear Reader,

I'm sure a lot of bookish stuff about Halloween is slipping into your inbox, but today I thought I'd share some moments when I've read reviews about sex in my books.

Okay, yes, there is a promotion for my comedy Halloween themed book, Grayson's Magical Mishaps below, and other group author promotions with a spooky theme, but I know you'd rather hear about sex than horror.

There have been several times when I've been surprised how reviewers have critiqued sex in my novels. The oddest was for my dystopian tale, Social Media Central. Basically the reviewer said the sex scene was bad. I scratched my head thinking, "What sex scene? There are no sex scenes in that book."

For the record, most of my works are 'fade to black', although I've been embracing sex scenes more in newer projects depending on the style of the story.

When the audiobook version for The Midnight Man was reviewed, the critic felt there was too much sex. Again, I scratched my head. The novel begins with a sex scene so the reader can discover how unhappy Stan is in his current relationship. But that's it. No other sex scenes.

When the reviewer emailed me with the link, she wrote how graphic sex scenes weren’t her preference. And even though her review praised both the narrator’s talent and my writing, her sex comment obviously irked me. I wrote to her but she still wrote back believing there were a lot of sex scenes.

When I told my narrator, he responded:

“I do find it unusual what they wrote about sexual content as I didn’t think it was particularly that vivid or detailed. There’s certainly more graphic writings. That being said I’m very grateful for their kind words both towards my narration and towards the depth of your writing."

I've also had a couple of weird issues with Bookfunnel, when just for being a gay author, I've been kicked off a couple of promotions. The organisers cited they didn't want erotic novels, yet again, there were no sex in those novels.

But these are only a few of the drawbacks I've had as a novelist. And it's the risk you take when a reviewer puts their own spin on your work.

Now that I've got that off my chest, it's time to chat Halloween. I had a lovely review posted by writer, Laurie Bell, recently for my tale of a wizard who conjures up all sorts of weird things when he sneezes.

Enjoy your Halloween.

Kevin xxx

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