"On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as Her Young Lover" As a fan-fiction writer I am, of course, familiar with fiction based on real people--including erotic fiction. It is a line I hesitate to cross myself but I have not thought about it much beyond that. If I were, somehow, to find myself a character in such fiction I dare say I would not be pleased.

The title of this post relates to a book with a first run of all of 50 copies at $10 a pop. The rambling essay-slash-tale written by Richard Meros relates to Helen Clark (pictured), who has been Prime Minister of New Zealand for the last six years. Meros's 80 rambling and poorly punctuated pages seem to be little more than a grab for attention--gratuitous not in being about sex but in being a plea of 'look at me, look at me' based almost entirely on another person's fame.

Which, of course, he is getting. Bemused and somewhat disgusted attention driven largely by the blogs of his close associates, but attention all the same. The wider media seems strangely tolerant because of course this is being presented as 'literature'--and literature must never be stifled or questioned. Unlike, of course 'Teh p0rn'.

And here I am giving him some more attention. The only salve to my dignity is that I didn't actually stoop to buying a copy.  ¶ posted at 7:49 PM by Emily Veinglory