I was very excited to receive a review unit model of the new Kobo eBook reader in the post from Borders this afternoon. The device launched in Australia several weeks ago, immediately receiving praise from both Australia’s technology community and publishing community.
As I plugged the device into my PC and started charging it, I anticipated tuning into some high-brow literature.
Would I, I ruminated, start with Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov? Or maybe War and Peace? Or what about a modern cyberpunk thriller, something like William Gibson’s Neuromancer? Then, as I loaded up Borders’ online bookstore, I changed my mind and thought I might take a more populist approach. Maybe I should check out what the rest of Australia is reading these days before I jump into the traditional fare.
So I clicked through to the “Top 50” section in Borders’ eBooks store. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by what I found.
Although Stieg Larsson’s Milennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so on) tops the list, number six is a somewhat less high-brow title: Triple Heat.
“Molly Gilbert has two secrets: a life-long dream of owning a farm and the fantasy of sharing her body with two men,” the synopsis screams. It’s accompanied by a raunchy picture of Molly and her farmhands, apparently named “Brad and Zeke”.
Next on the list is the appropriately named “Six Sexy Stories”, followed a little later by “The Wicked Night Before Christmas” and “Nothing But Scandal.”
All of the titles have the kind of covers that we assume the Federal Government is trying to ban from the prying eyes of innocent schoolchildren.
Oh dear.
Image credit: Delimiter screenshot of Triple Heat front cover.
You’re the only one in Australia who has an eBook, so enjoy it.
Not so — there are plenty of people with eBooks! I’m not alone!
Have had a Cybook for nearly 3 years now. Your comment is invalid.
I have an eBook, too.
You’re saying there’s a double standard? NO WAY!
eBooks are a popular gift choice for Mums.
Sick mind. Truly sick.
We prefer to call it “erotic fiction” rather than pr0n. ;)
HUGE market as many women love reading and writing this stuff
Don’t worry I know what it is ;) And it is somewhat more classy than your general garden-variety internet porn.
By “classy” you mean “borrrrrrrring”.
I did see a lot of these chick erotica on the Borders website. Compared to only the first two books in Asimov Foundation series.
Remember, there is more than one type of porn suitable for ebooks.
Thwor! Look at the nacelles on that Federation starship!!!
Yeah I always thought Voyager had a sleek curvaceous look while the NCC-1701-D was built like a tub of lard.
Plenty of this under the ‘Audiobooks’ category on the iTunes Store…surprisingly. Perhaps it’s how the Steve relaxes at night. No wait! It’s ‘erotic fiction’ not pr0n!
You have to wonder what Mrs Steve thinks of all this. Is she as puritannical?
Maybe Australia is finally getting a wake up call? They’ve had their heads stuck in the sand for too many years now. I personally know quite a few Aussie writers who hide under a nom de plume to write erotica or erotic romance. Many a stale marriage has come to life because the wife or husband reads a sexy story in bed, or they read it together.
Interesting. First off Porn is not spelt PRON. Secondly each to his own. Erotic writing has been around since god knows when. And when I really think about it, Caligula leaps to mind. Not a nice man, not a nice movie and ugh major pron happening there! (and yes I know I spelt it wrong) There’s nothing wrong with erotica, it’s called freedom of speech. There are warnings on these books and at the website where they’re sold, so parents know what their kids may be trying to sneak a peek at. Maybe you should read the book before passing uneducated judgement. Just a thought.
‘pron’ is a colloquial internet spelling :) And I’m not passing judgment — I think it’s perfectly legitimate and normal that people read this kind of literature. I think it’s more just amusing that it pops up in the most popular eBooks when you check out Borders’ app ;)
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