Eroticon 2017: Meet & Greet

Every year, I enjoy reading through all the other Meet & Greet posts in the run-up to Eroticon, and every year, I agonise, hesitate, and generally grumble about writing my own. But here we are again, and so here it is!

(P.S. If you want to know a little more about me, you can check out the Q&A posts I’ve done to mark various blogging milestones, as well as this 2016 profile piece from Fuck.com)

NAME (and Twitter if you have one)

Exhibit A (and @EA_Unadorned). I’ll tell you my real name at the conference – only Tabitha Rayne gets to call me ‘Mr A’ to my face.

What are you hoping to get out of Eroticon 2017?

This is my fourth Eroticon, but my mindset going into it will be the same as it was for the first three. It’s a chance to meet friends old and new; to talk about erotica and sex in a welcoming, positive environment; and to listen to fantastic lectures and presentations by some of the smartest, most creative people in the business. Anything beyond that is a bonus, frankly.

This years schedule at Eroticon is pretty full on but which 4 sessions do you already have marked down as ones you want to attend?

I’ve been answering that question in some form ever since I started attending Eroticon, but I think it’s harder this year than ever! The schedule is really strong, and I’ve already identified at least three time slots where I’m basically going to have to toss a coin to determine which session I attend.

That said, there are a handful of speakers I definitely won’t miss. Malin James is a partner of mine, and someone I love dearly, but even if neither of those things were true, her session on flash fiction would be one I’d have to attend – she’s a master of the genre, and I can’t wait to hear her talk about it. Ashley Lister is someone I’d pay to recite names from the phone book, so I can’t imagine his session on story plotting will be anything less than brilliant.

Then there’s Kate Lister, whose Whores of Yore Twitter account I adore (he’s a poet, etc…); I don’t know that I’ll make it to both her sessions, but I’ll certainly go to at least one of them. Finally, Tabitha’s life drawing class last time was brilliant fun, and as someone looking to do more life modelling this year, I’m pretty sure I’ll hit that up again on the Saturday afternoon.

Tell us one thing about yourself that not many people know?

I failed my first driving test within about 90 seconds, before we’d even made it out of the test centre. I was a little nervous, and when the examiner asked me to turn right at the end of the driveway, I moved without thinking into the ‘right-hand lane’ of what was very much a two-way stretch of road… Not my finest moment, and certainly far more embarrassing than taking my clothes off in public has ever been.

If you made the papers, what would the headline be?

I shudder to think! I made it into the local paper a few times in my hometown – for sport, public speaking competitions, and charity fundraising (sample headline: “Triathlon opens door to Cambodia” – that’s the good shit right there) – but these days I suspect that nothing good could come from being brought to the media’s attention. Unless it’s something like “Local man scoops huge Euromillions jackpot”. I could live with that.

If you could have one skill for free (I.e. without practice/time/effort) what would it be?

Assuming we’re not talking superpowers here, the ability to play the piano or violin (don’t care which) to a high/professional standard. I have no musical ability whatsoever, so that would just make me ridiculously happy.

Complete the sentence: I love it when…

…one thing leads to another.