A new erotic literature imprint has been launched in Scotland by independent small press publisher 8d Press

The little.black.books series features limited edition artisan physical pocket-size books, numbered and dated. Each slim volume contains one story written by up-and-coming female writers from around the world. The series was inspired by world-famous diarist and erotic writer Anais Nin and celebrates women’s sexuality and sensuality in explicit prose.

8d Press publisher and founder, Jo Chumas, who runs 8d Press from the Heritage Quarter in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland said the time was right to reintroduce to the world the sensuality of women’s erotic experiences.

“The little.black.books series has been inspired by the erotic writings of Anais Nin, and to some extent Henry Miller who wrote erotica in Paris in the 1930s,” she said. “Erotic literature has been a massive part of European literature for centuries. We know that women’s erotic experiences are always underplayed and overlooked, rendered invisible or mocked as outrageous. This is just wrong. The best writing is the sensory type, and the stories we have already published in the little.black.book series are wonderful examples of how women experience sex and longing in their own lives. Sex and desire are part of life, part of living. Women are still, to this day, seen as accessories to the cause. We are mothers, friends, employees, wives, girlfirends or partners. We can never simply just be; there is always an agenda attached to our lives, and it’s usually someone else’s agenda.”

The little.black.books series is registered with the British Library as a periodical series, as a new piece of pocket erotica will be released every three weeks. These chapbooks (little artisan books of a smaller size measuring just 11.3cm wide by 16cm tall, and hand-bound) are available for purchase on the 8d Press website and make great letter-gifts for the more broadminded.

Jo said: “We have to be very careful with who we select as our writers for the littlle.black.books series. We only accept women writers who can write in the ethereal style that represents our brand, and we only publish writers who use the word ‘erotica’ in its true and natural sense, subtly and playing tribute to the story as the primary medium, with sensuality and sexuality used as punctuation in the story. We do not publish pornography.”

Numbers 1 through to 5 are now out and each features one story by one different female writer. 8d Press anticipates publishing another 20-30 chapbooks in the series by the end of 2022.