Porn valley- Oh, the stodgy world of fiction. Even in its most risqué forms, it rarely converges with the cynical, sex-sells approach of the porn industry (Judith Regan notwithstanding). But now comes Vivid Entertainment-the megalithic porn outfit whose forays into print media have been, until two years ago, largely confined to the covers of dirty DVDs-to rattle the cage a bit.
Vivid has produced, with Thunder’s Mouth Press, a series of erotic novels in an attempt to leverage the “Vivid Girls” brand. Vamp and Day of the Dead, which were released earlier this week, are ostensibly written by porn stars, while also featuring those same stars as the stories’ protagonists, and are full of elocutions as ridiculous as any uttered in adult entertainment: e.g., “I unbutton my jeans, which isn’t easy with a stiletto on your head.”
But despite Savanna Samson’s name appearing on the spine, title page and cover of Vamp (along with two come-hither photos), she insists that she is not the author.
This candid revelation came during a phone chat with the entertainer, who has been promoting the novel-set in a “nightclub devoted to the pleasures of the flesh”-along with a remake of the classic 1970s skin flick, The Devil in Miss Jones. A ballet student, avid opera fan and co-writer of How to Have a XXX Sex Life (published, yes, by ReganBooks), Samson discussed her forays into literature as we tried to identify lessons the publishing industry might take from the business of adult entertainment.
The Book Standard: Are you really the author of Vamp?
Savanna Samson: No, I am not. I am only a character.
TBS: But your name is on the cover. Doesn’t that confuse people?
SS: Yeah, I’m not happy about that-that wasn’t the deal. Even the Thunder’s Mouth website has me as the author. When I write a book, it will be my book. This is someone’s fantasy; it’s not my fantasy. I was paid to be a character in the book.
TBS: So what is your book going to be about?
SS: It’s completely out of the ordinary. It’s about what men want and what women need. It’s not a how-to book or a novel of any kind. It’s just something that’s asked of me often.
TBS: So what is it that men want and women need?
SS: All sorts of things. A lot of it is sexual, but I always felt that I could adjust to any situation, and I think that if women could be more like that, their relationships would last longer and both sides could learn to give and take.
TBS: Do you at least like Vamp?
SS: It’s taken me a long time to get through it because it’s turned me on so much.
TBS: Do you often read erotic novels?
SS: No. When I was young I would look through my mom’s books for anything that might be sexual in nature because of my curiosity. For me, a John Sandford book with Lucas Davenport as detective-that’s masturbation material.
TBS: But why should anyone buy a book when there is perfectly good porn available?
SS: I think with porn, we tend to get jaded. [But with a book], you’re reading and your mind is working and you’re using your imagination. It’s really a turn-on once you turn on your mind like that and let it run wild.
TBS: I get the sense from the way the book is marketed that Vivid has total control over you. Is it hard to work on things that interest you outside of porn?
SS: Vivid has opened so many doors for me and given me so many opportunities, so I don’t want to break away from Vivid.
TBS: A lot of people in the publishing industry are worried about the impact book digitization will have. Back in the ’70s, the original Devil in Miss Jones played in mainstream theaters. Now people can get their porn on DVDs and the Internet. How has digital media changed porn?
SS: I wouldn’t have had a chance back then to do the things I’m doing now. With the Internet and the invention of the VCR, [sex] is more open and out on the table.
TBS: Can we look forward to Vamp, the movie?
SS: As I read the book, I’m like, ‘We’ve got to do Vamp, the movie.’ But it would have to be a series of movies, because in the book every room you go into is another orgasm. How many guys can have that many orgasms in one night?