Just try to picture my research: the grueling ordeal of having to pore through book after book, story after story, filled with graphic and steamy descriptions of an endless array of sexual encounters. And all for a perfectly legitimate reason: I had to find passages that represented the quality of writing that does exist in erotic fiction. You know what I'm talking about. Good smut. To try and counter the negative perception people have that the category is made up of nothing more than a bunch of basically sleazy, let's-get-straight-to-it, tales of sexual dalliances. I guess I'm naive, but I never realized the power of well written prose to stoke the sexual fires. (Of course, my husband also now has a better understanding for my love of literature, but we're not going to go there. :) )

Anyway, after skimming through a sampling of the risque stuff, I gained a newfound understanding of why this trend was happening as more and more people discover the secret of so-called "dirty books." They're just plain fun - another form of pleasure in these hedonistic times: reading to your partner, fueling the imagination, getting turned on by the strength of images implanted in your brain through the power of words…

When I start to think of the sacrifices I must make to be able to tell the best possible story, it's sometimes hard to believe.

Karen Murray
Associate Producer, SEXTV