Kristan's short story 'Metrics' is in our Cyber Smut anthology. Join us at our virtual launch on 15 September. For pre-orders visit: gutspublishing.com/books
What inspired your short story ‘Metrics’?
Basically, I loathe Twitter. I’ve dated several people who had a following on Twitter and shared everything with it. The following became like an extra entity in the relationship – a selfish, hungry, childish little beast that had to be appeased constantly, that was volatile and mean and bitter. It made for a pretty interesting time, having that kind of nasty, nebulous cloud-being along for the ride.
“Metrics” is my first attempt at writing about that – about sex and social media. I hope I’ll write more about it in the future – I certainly think there’s more to say on the subject.
What do you think about being published in an anthology called Cyber Smut?
I love it. And not just because I was really into cyberpunk for a while. It encapsulates something: not quite porn and not quite erotica. It makes me think of the kind of dirty stories I’d look for on the early 2000s internet. And that’s very much a good thing.
In your bio it says you travel extensively. Where have you been recently? How many countries have you visited? What inspires you to travel?
Recently… that’s a tricky one. I haven’t been able to travel this year, due to pandemic-related restrictions. If I’d been able to I probably would have spent a little bit of time this year in Berlin and Prague – both cities that I love, and which seem to have an almost endless supply of weirdness and magic.
I’ve never kept track of the countries I visit. I’ve been to most of Europe, though. America, Canada, Japan. I’m interested in anywhere that isn’t home to giant bird-eating spiders.
I don’t really know what makes me want to travel – I just know that going to new places and exploring makes me really happy. That said, lockdown has been an opportunity to get to know my home city of Edinburgh. It’s a different kind of exploration.
Tell us about your obsession with psychology and sociology—how does this impact your writing?
It comes down to an interest in what people want, and what makes them want those things. Which, given the nature of what I write (filth) is pretty pertinent. Writing dirty stories is a way of exploring other people’s brains and trying to understand them.
How do you define a ‘sex nerd’?
For me, a nerd is someone who has an unusually deep and granular interest in something it isn’t necessarily considered cool to have a deep and granular interest in. Sex and kink fit that description; lots of people are interested in having sex, but very few people think it’s cool to want to understand it.
Tell us more about your blog. How did you get started with it? Who is your audience?
I started Lascivity a few years ago. At first I posted mostly smut, which was reasonably well-received. After a while, though I also start writing sex guides. I was tired of not being able to find information about kink stuff that wasn’t overly-opinionated, unclear, or super out of date.
Most people who read the blog are there for the guides. And that’s great – I enjoy answering questions and helping people navigate kink stuff immensely. And it’s rewarding too. I do still post a whole bunch of smut, though.
Do you feel anonymous online? Have you ever had any issues with your online life intersecting with your ‘real’ physical life?
I feel anonymous enough. I’m not too worried about people finding out my “real” identity, or that I write about sex. Anyone who knows me in the real world knows that I write about sex – they probably just don’t know to what degree.
That said, I do put at least a little effort into keeping my identity secure. I’ve had a few people who took a really unwelcome level of interest in me in the past, and I learned the hard way how best to deal with that.
If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
Tall. Kinky. Bemused.
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Kristan X is a writer, sex nerd and the (somewhat twisted) mind behind the professionally-filthy sex blog Lascivity. He's based in Edinburgh, but travels extensively. He reads a lot. He's obsessed with psychology, sociology, games of all kind, true crime and tech.