The photographs in this gallery
are all original artwork shot by Amelia G
and Forrest Black of Blue
Blood and exclusive to Eros Zine for this fine
holiday season, 2005.
Click the image to enlarge.
I first encountered Amelia G through Blue
Blood, the magazine she and Forrest Black published starting
in 1992 -- in other words, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
In those days, the idea of combining horror, goth, sci-fi, comix,
firearms, gaming, pornography and fetishism was just about unheard
of. In fact, there were only a few dozen of us doing it.
Back then, I had like two professional publications plus a couple dozen pseudonymous porno novels and a substantial wad of published gay leather porn. The latter two categories I rarely bothered to tell anyone about, mostly because I kept writing porno books and stories and then forgetting about them as soon as I'd cashed the checks. I was far from being a high-profile writer. But the fact that I was so quickly welcomed into the fold -- despite my dorky eyeglasses and the fact that disks by Billy Joel sat between Jarboe and Joy Division on my CD shelf -- was testament to the fact that the goth/fetish/porn/BDSM/sci-fi/horror crossover community, in those days, was a very, very small world.
To be sure, sci-fi/horror and sex had enjoyed a long, lush flirtation, as had goth and horror -- the phenomena would explode over the next ten years precisely because fetish, fashion and fantasy are so undeniably right for each other. The BDSM community -- in San Francisco, at least -- was already overrun with comic-book-obsessed freaks of all genders whose pasts included frenzied adolescent wanks spurred on by everything from John Norman's Gor novels to Ziggy Stardust to Boris Vallejo to the Borg Queen to Frank-N-Furter to Darth Vader's erect syringe to Japanese anime to Philip Jose Farmer's Flesh. But at the time, the explicit connection of perversion, counterculture and science fiction/fantasy/horror drew puzzled looks from some fans -- and quivering streams of drool from others.
Blue Blood, along with Cecilia Tan's Circlet
Press, Lisa Palac's Future Sex and Nancy Kilpatrick's
The Darker Passions, among others, paved the way. Following
close behind in a hurricane of mouth-breathing fanaticism were
about ten bazillion pervy nerd boys and saucy geeksluts secreted
after hours behind the gates of Ren Faires everywhere and locked
in basements trying to rewire their N64s to shock their nutsacks.
May the dark gods of science fiction fandom and eternal safe,
sane and consensual torment just, oh, shower love upon you all.
It makes me misty.
Anyway, screw the visit to the old folks' home. Let's talk monsterfucking.
I caught up with Amelia for a late-night chat on horror and hoochies, porn and perversion.
Eros Zine: Slasher movies or monster movies -- which is sexier?
Amelia G: I have a huge monster-fucking fetish, so I'd have to say monster movies. If you love something so weak that it could not hurt you, then it is meaningless that it does not hurt you. I think the notion of something which is so powerful it could destroy you - but chooses not to do so - is very sexy. Really it is a paradigm for love and I find that very hot. Slasher movies don't do it for me, but we have in-depth BarelyEvil.com interviews with the girls in the members area of the site and one scream queen says in hers that she has masturbated to I Spit On Your Grave. Some day I'll get up the nerve to ask her which part.
Eros Zine: Is the imagery of horror movies something that's inherently sexy, or is it just the desire to go to extremes?
Amelia G: The physiology of fear and aggression and sexual arousal is all pretty similar. Whether someone watching a scary movie identifies the way it makes them feel as being turned on may have a lot to do with how cute the person they are sharing popcorn with is. Now I'm craving buttery salty popcorn.
Eros Zine: Blood, guts, horror, crime....what's the erotic appeal of all that dangerous stuff?
Amelia G: In addition to the general biology of being turned on, there is the excitement of breaking the rules. Our society tends to instill in us the notion that sex is naughty. We take the idea that sex is naughty to heart, but this makes us find all sorts of other transgressive misbehavior sexy. Of course, people are turned on by this sort of thing to varying extents. I know, for myself, I will get all hopped up by something as small as someone standing up for him or herself when it is against the rules to do so. I love love love doing guerrilla photography and shooting in places where we could get caught. People run the whole spectrum of how much naughtiness it takes to trip their meter and how much naughtiness is too much for them.
Eros Zine: For you, is Halloween more about dressing up in any costume, or about spooky imagery and costumes specifically?
Amelia G: One of the really exciting things about costumes is that they allow you to explore parts of yourself which might not normally be on display. But, like the song says, for me "every day is Halloween." I remember the first time I went into town with friends to celebrate the holiday and it was fun and I was wearing something odd and slutty and all, but it was mostly just another day. I was sort of melancholy about it until I realized that it meant I had gotten to the point where I dressed like my fantasies all the time. I do enjoy both over-the-top outfits and spooky imagery all the time. Around Halloween, I still sometimes get like I hear regular folks get around Xmas. I just want everything to be so so so very perfect.
Eros Zine: Why do you think there's such a crossover between goth and fetish?
Amelia G:Hey, are you blaming me for this? When I first started publishing Blue Blood magazine in print from the basement of a punk rock group house, the fetish old guard were not very welcoming to freaks in painted leather jackets and eyeliner. Independent bookstores were an important outlet for Blue Blood and I spent a lot of time assuring the fetish store people that their customers might like photos of weirdos and assuring punk store people that their customers probably really were just that pervy. There was a great deal of debate over what constituted "true fetish" which I found totally surreal. This was the same sort of debate which came up years later as the online gothic scene sort of diverged from its punk roots to become something sort of separate. Ironically, over time, a lot of the girls who originally sported very deathrock looks have migrated to a more sleek latex fetish style and have become some of the most in-demand models for the top fetish fashion magazines. Yesterday's warring tribes are today's fondest allies. Besides, both the traditional gothic look and the traditional fetish look imply a certain dark sensuality with a hint of power exchange. I find both very sexy and I know I am not alone in this.
Eros Zine: Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Blob, the Abominable Dr. Phibes and the Creature from the Black Lagoon walk onto the set of a porn movie. Which one does the director point at and say "You! Get some wood, pal, you're on in five minutes!"?
Amelia G: I thought I should get some assistance on this question, so I put it to the Blue Blood Community forums. The boards have a wide variety of quirky individuals posting actively, so I figured this would be a goodie. Members were split over who would be ideal. It was pointed out that the blob might not be able to do what was needed. Proponents of the Wolfman felt that he could get the girls howlin' all night and show the world the true meaning of doggy style. The lone voice in favor of Dr. Phibes felt he had the ladykiller savoir faire, could compose way-out music for his scene, and would have all his lines dubbed anyway, so it wouldn't matter if he couldn't handle the dialogue. Those rooting for Frankenstein felt that he'd be the best endowed and already had the mentality of the average male porn star. Plus, one poster who actually does direct relished the idea of being able to yell "it's alive, alive!" But, whatever the director wants, you just know everybody is going to want to hit Dracula.
Eros Zine: Vampire erotica -- "done" or "do me"?
Amelia G: I wrote my Thesis on Cross-cultural and Historical Vampire Legends as a Paradigm for Aggressive Human Sexuality. The idea of the alluring yet potentially destructive monster appears to be hardwired into the human psyche. We like the idea of having the power to be desirable no matter what horror we might bring and we like the idea of being so filled with desire that nothing can decrease the strength of our want. It doesn't matter how much vampire knick-knacks and such are merchandized to undeath, the fundamental archetype there is still going to be pretty hot, both the lust for being overwhelmed and the lust to be overwhelming.
Eros Zine: Let's rip off SCREAM, shall we? What's your favorite scary movie? How about your favorite porn movie? (If they're one and the same, you get some candy. If not, you get an apple stuffed with razor blades and/or a rock.)
Amelia G: Unless I can count fine cinema like The Hunger or that ZZ Top video with Faruiza Balk as porn, I'm going to have to admit that I just don't care enough for traditional 818 Valley porno vids to have a favorite. At Cambodia, my old punk rock group house, we once had a double feature showing of Edward Scissorhands and Edward Penishands. Hands down, best line out of both movies put together was: "Don't touch me. I'll squirt." Nobody said they thought either flick was hot, but some couples did leave the party early.
Eros Zine: If you could attend a Halloween fetish ball with one movie or comic book monster, who/what would it be?
Amelia G: Monster is such a subjective term. I'm thinking Miriam Blaylock from The Hunger or Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen.
Eros Zine: Which of your models would you most like to join in the eternal throes of an unholy damnation?
Amelia G: I intend the whole Blue Blood crew to have VIP seating in the same section of course! I asked the Blue Blood Community folks who they would choose and got either lists of six to eight or more hotties or posts like, "The Blue Blood stable has too many outstanding birds to pick just one." I'm getting a humorous literal mental image of birds in a stable, but this is what happens when an international audience gets to talk to one another. That's right, you end up having to deal with some European slang. Think what our VIP section in Hell will be like. Most likely a pretty spectacular party actually.
Eros Zine: So it sounds like they'll all be there -- save me a seat.
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