Susan Wright: Author and Activist
Posted at 3:40 PM Jul 16, 2008
Susan Wright writes science fiction novels and nonfiction books on art and popular culture, some of which have a heady dose of sex. Susan is currently the Spokesperson for the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, a national organization committed to protecting freedom of sexual expression among consenting adults.
Naked City editor Audacia Ray had some questions for her about writing sexy stories, activism and live performance. Susan is reading at the In the Flesh erotic reading series at Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street, this Thursday July 17th at 8 pm.
Audacia RayWhat is the relationship between being an author of sexy fiction and being involved with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom?
Susan Wright: I write about what I know - which is BDSM and sexual freedom. These things permeate my stories and characters. Also, since I'm an activist, I like to put my main characters in situations in which they must act for what they think is right. I confront them with hard situations, like I face every day, in which they have to stand up for themselves against conformist or mainstream opposition. I think that makes for a great story.
Three more questions and their answers after the jump.
AR: Where do you get the inspiration for the characters and scenes in your sexy fiction novels?
SW: I get inspiration from all sorts of people and situations. I'm always talking to people who are in trouble and being persecuted because of their sexual orientation and behavior. I see how people react so differently to the extreme stress in their lives - losing their job, facing media attacks, being outed to everyone. I also do a lot of talking to vanilla professionals like police officers, attorney generals, reporters, psychologists, and lawyers, so their reactions to these various situations are very illuminating. I think working with people under these conditions has taught me a lot about human nature.
AR: In addition to being an sex fiction writer, you've also written several books in the Star Trek paperback series. How are the communities around sexy fiction and sci fi writing different? How much do they overlap?
SW: Erotica and sf-f overlap a fair bit. When I was growing up, I was a big fan of Robert Heinlein's books - I Will Fear No Evil, Friday, and Stranger in a Strange Land - to name a few. Those all contained sexual situations that were brand new to me - polyamory and genderbending, in particular. I loved it! Today Laurel K. Hamilton is successfully combining sex with her sf-f stories. I haven't had any objections from my editors about making my books very sexy, and in fact they've asked for even more sex in my books so I've given them that in my next urban fantasy duology Confessions of a Demon and Demon Revelation, coming out in 2009.
I've written 9 Star Trek novels, and I was their first writer to include an openly gay couple in a Star Trek book. The Best and the Brightest featured a lesbian couple as they went through Starfleet Academy. My editor John Ordover was very receptive to including gays, and Paramount agreed - as long as I didn't say the word "gay". They wanted me to portray this couple as if in the future being gay or straight doesn't matter in the least. I liked doing that. I also wrote Dark Passions, which is basically the bad girls of Trek. The two Dark Passions books are set in the mirror universe, so I made Seven of Nine and Kira Nerys lovers, with Deanna Troi also having a fling with Kira. It was fun to write and I still get reader mail about those two novels - even though they are now out of print, used books are being sold on Amazon.
AR: When you do a public reading of your work, like you're doing this week at In the Flesh, how do you pick what you're going to read?
SW: Since it's an erotica reading, I'll pick one of the sexy passages. People are there to hear something juicy, so I'll give them that. I'll read something from my latest two books, a fantasy duology - To Serve and Submit and A Pound of Flesh published by Penguin Group. These books are set in the 11th century and feature BDSM and Viking themes. The heroine is a "true submissive" who sets out to destroy the evil masters of pleasure houses.
