Monday, May 2, 2011
The Perfect Girl
I initially created my short story, The Perfect Girl, in an appropriately old-fashioned medium, scribbled longhand on a stack of lined writing paper. The steampunk genre was new to me but fascinating – a pastiche of pseudo-Victorian imagery complete with elements of Conan Doyle and Jules Verne, high adventure with anachronistic gadgetry. In The Perfect Girl a gentleman brings a mysterious veiled young lady to Mrs James’ high-class bordello. He appears to be instructing her in the pleasures of the flesh, keen to mould her to his ideal of erotic perfection. The unfolding scene is described by earthy, witty “Crepe de Chine”, a whore who, like all whores, is not quite as she seems. But neither is the willowy young lady who issues not a sound and submissively complies with her master’s somewhat eclectic instructions…
Excerpt
The room was very quiet and rapidly becoming stiflingly hot. Victoria withdrew, stumbling slightly on the fringe of the thick Turkey rug. Mr Friday caught her arm to steady her and again she nodded, a small, curt inclination of her head. I wondered what was next as he referred to his watch again. My breasts and pussy throbbed, fully aroused but painfully neglected. I needed release. Perhaps he was observing the effects of intense stimulus followed by deprivation on the common or garden bordello slut. I tossed my curls and moved my hands towards my quim. I could smell myself, an intoxicating mix of strong musk and lily of the valley scent. It wouldn’t take much to send me over the edge of pleasure… I thought of the wide voluptuous mouth behind the modesty veil. I imagined full moist lips against my fat shiny bud, teasing, kissing, licking, sucking, bringing me to the climax of my twenty years. But no.
The Perfect Girl appears in Carnal Machines, an anthology of steampunk themed erotica just published by Cleis Press.
Order a copy direct from the publisher
Explore the online journals of other Carnal Machines authors in a Grand Tour:
May 1 D. L. King
May 2 Teresa Noelle Roberts
May 3 Kathleen Bradean
May 4 Jay Lawrence - you are here
May 5 Kannan Feng
May 6 Essemoh Teepee
May 7 Elizabeth Schechter
May 8 Delilah Devlin
May 9 Tracey Shellito
May 10 Renee Michaels
May 11 Elias St. James
May 12 Lisabet Sarai
May 13 Janine Ashbless
May 14 Poe von Page
The Perfect Girl is a light-hearted variation on the Greek myth of Pygmalion, the inspiration for My Fair Lady via the earlier work of playwright George Bernard Shaw. Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he created from ivory. As I have a particular interest in Victorian London and the role of women “on the edge of society” I decided to set the story in a brothel. Those interested in exploring this world should read The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles, which is both an historical romance and a social comment of the time.
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Sounds delicious, Jay! Can't wait to get my copy of the book.
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