Feature: WNW talks with Carrie Cuinn, the woman behind the Cthulhurotica anthology

By Elizabeth Milo and Sarah Schiavoni
(image credit: Dominique Signoret)

Cthulhurotica - n. (kə-THoo-loo-rot-i-kuh) – an anthology of Lovecraft-inspired erotica; a new branch of “weird erotica.”

WritersNewsWeekly recently spoke to Carrie Cuinn, the woman behind Cthulhurotica, “An Anthology of Lovecraftian Lust.” As an emerging new genre of weird erotica—erotica based in science fiction and fantasy—Cthulhurotica has received some raised eyebrows about its choice of inspiration. Will too many tentacles keep readers from enjoying the stories? Creator Carrie Cuinn stands by her decision to pull together an anthology all about the sexual encounters of these Lovecraftian characters: “For us, Cthulhurotica is the logical extension of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who often mentioned female characters that he never explored.” Cuinn views this anthology as an opportunity for writers to explore the lives of minor characters in the Cthulhu tales and expand on Lovecraft’s stories. Cuinn is also quick to clarify that this is erotic fiction, not porn. The submission guidelines call for stories that “entice, flirt, and tease,” not stories that are violent or demeaning. Cuinn says, “there is a difference between sex, and sexy.” Although when people hear a name that includes “erotica,” they may assume that these stories are going to be hard-core, but the anthology is attempting to veer away from just that. Cthulhurotica is going to bring a new quality to Lovecraft’s works and characters and explore the vast world of the Cthulhu mythos. This anthology is trying to branch out from what is expected and bring a little love back into these Lovecraftian tales.

WNW: We’ve heard of Star Trek Slash fiction, Harry Potter fan fiction, and countless anime spin-offs created by fans, but why Cthulhu and the stories of H.P. Lovecraft?
Cuinn: Until this question, I had never considered whether what we’re doing with Cthulhurotica could be “fan fiction”. That’s like saying anyone who writes about zombies is writing George Romero fan fiction. In the United States, where we’re located, fan fiction is considered a derivative work of a currently copyrighted piece. It generally exists outside the canon of the original literature, and is rarely professionally published. H.P. Lovecraft’s works are no longer under copyright protection, and in addition there is a precedent of established writers continuing to expand the Cthulhu Mythos (most notably by August Derleth, Lovecraft’s friend, and the man who coined the term “Cthulhu Mythos”). To me, this kind of expansion is on par with Caleb Carr’s Sherlock Holmes novel, The Italian Secretary, or Seth Grahame-Smith’s addition of zombies into Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice.

WNW: In your brief explanation of the anthology, you told us you hope to expand on the stories of the female characters in Lovecraft’s tales; would you say you are trying to bring gender equality to his stories?
Cuinn: Absolutely. Whether it was a symptom of the time he lived in, or a personal choice, Lovecraft rarely included positive female characters in his stories. Asenath Waite, from “The Thing on the Doorstep” was actually an evil old man wearing a girl’s body like a suit, and his other major female character, Lavinia Whateley from “The Dunwich Horror” was merely a servant of a greater evil. Lovecraft usually limited his women to a mention that the main character had a wife, one who faded from the story a sentence or two later. To be fair, Lovecraft didn’t just limit female sexuality – none of his characters are romantic or sexual either. He simply left it out. We don’t want to only expand the role of the female in the mythos, we also want to include a spectrum of gender and sexuality models, to better reflect today’s society.

WNW: How do you see your anthology fitting into the relatively small world of Cthulhu fiction already out there? How will your anthology differ from or expand on other Cthulhu fiction?
Cuinn: Most writers who want to work in the Cthulhu mythos are drawn to it by its surreal qualities and the ability to explore madness. For Lovecraft, the moment of enlightenment in his stories usually drove his characters out of sanity and into a place both glorious and terrifying. By adding elements of sex and romance into that, we can touch on those places where lust and madness meet. Humans are often attracted to what they know is bad for them, and how much worse can you get than dark gods and slithering monsters?

WNW: How would you define “written porn” versus “erotica”? How explicit will the stories that you accept be, compared to, say, romance novels?

Cuinn: Pornography exists to show us sex. It’s graphic, and it rarely involves a plot more detailed than a broken sink or a pizza delivery. The point of porn is to get to the sex. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s in a different category. Erotica includes sex as part of a larger story that has to have a theme, a plot, and character development. When you read a story where two characters kiss and then retire behind a closed door, you know what they’re doing in the bedroom, the writer’s just choosing not to share it with you. In erotica, the writer leaves the door open a crack, and you get to glimpse the best moments.
As far as what we’re planning to accept – that’s going to be open until all of the submissions are in. The level of sex we’re comfortable with is just past “romance novel” but not all the way to “porn”. In other words, what could you get away with doing and still be able to say, “We didn’t have sex,” with a straight face? It’s possible we’ll accept stories on the condition that they tone down the sex a bit before publication, but it’s unlikely we’ll accept anything that needs major revisions (or additions) of plot.

WNW: Do you expect more humanoid on humanoid stories, or humanoid on tentacle romance?
Cuinn: I hope it’s a good mix of both!

WNW: Do you expect Cthulhu to become a Zeus-type character -- coming down to Earth for copulation?
Cuinn: So far none of the submissions we’ve received have actually featured Cthulhu, though it’s always possible. Cthulhu is more of an icon, the symbol of a mythos that includes a wide variety of characters and monsters. And, technically, it would be “rising up to the Earth” since current reports put him in R’lyeh, somewhere deep in the ocean.

WNW: This idea of collecting H.P. Lovecraft-inspired erotica is certainly quirky. How do you hope to garner attention for this anthology when it’s released and draw in a wide audience?
Cuinn: Because it is quirky, people are starting to take notice, and we’ll back that up by delivering an anthology full of beautifully crafted stories. I like to tease my writers that the thought process behind their submissions is, “Cthulhurotica? Oh, that’s too weird for me. Well, I can see how it would work for some people, but not me. Actually, I do have an idea…” and I’ve been told repeatedly that’s how it’s worked for them. I think that readers will approach it the same way. Once they see that it’s more than a quirky theme, that the book has great stories and helps to develop this longstanding fictional universe, they’ll read it and recommend it to others. I will continue the same level of marketing that I am currently doing (which is a combination of persistence and politeness) to keep our name on everyone’s minds.

WNW: Do you think that this Cthulhurotica anthology will draw its audience from current Cthulhu fans, or draw in new fans from other erotica fan groups?
Cuinn: I’m guessing that we’ll mostly appeal to those interested in the mythos to begin with, but also to fans of this new genre of “weird erotica” I see popping up all over.

WNW: Are you planning to tackle more anthologies in the future? Are there other mythical creatures or book series that you’d like to build upon outside of the realm of H.P. Lovecraft?
Cuinn: Along with my own writing, I do plan to edit another anthology some day. I enjoy taking a vision, releasing it onto the population, and waiting to see what comes back to me. Since I create mainly speculative fiction in my own writing, it will probably be on a similar theme, something I’m already invested in. My current loves are space, zombies, mad science, post-apocalyptic stories, and alternate history, which give me a lot of room to run wild.

Want to learn more about this project and its creator? Interested in submitting a story for consideration for the anthology? Visit the Cthulhurotica website for information and submission guidelines. Cthulhurotica is currently accepting submissions, but the submission period ends September 15th.