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 What better time to talk about Virgin then the first week of the new year? No, not literal virgins, for which a certain demographic of sick bastards and royalty (redundant?) have a propensity. You know, Virgin, the most easily recognized name in British commerce in the new millennium. It would be fairly silly at this point to wax poetic over the genius of Sir Richard Branson, and to do so would be skipping over well-trodden territory. As possibly the most charismatic bald man England has produced this side of Patrick Stewart, Branson has established his Virgin brand at every level of commerce, from airlines to music to cell phones. It's not surprising that Branson also runs a publishing house bearing the Virgin name. What is fascinating is the four lines of Virgin books which specialize in content that falls well short of virginal. So, along with putting out Gareth Gates —Right From The Start, the publishers are also responsible for Drawn To Discipline, the torrid tale of a sexually assertive woman who eventually turns her passion to domination. Virgin's erotic menu is served up by four distinct lines —Black Lace, Nexus, Idol and Sapphire. Here's a wrap-up of the different genres of erotica they cover:  Black Lace. This line started publishing in 1993, when sophisticated yet sexy literary material aimed at women was pretty scarce in Britain. "Before Black Lace," Virgin's website reads, "if women wanted to read explicitly sexual material written by women, they had the choice of The Story of O, the same Anais Nin novels they'd read a hundred time before, or their sex came with shopping via the big, bad materialistic '80s women's 'bonkbuster.'"Despite the snuffling dismissal of certain uptight Sunday tabs, Black Lace addressed a huge vacuum in English literature and quickly established themselves a major force in publishing. Specializing in books written by women for women, Black Lace soon found that these women weren't interested in breathy, Victorian fiction, but rather in contemporary tales that modern women can relate to. Black Lace's current bestseller is Wicked Words 7, the latest in the highly popular anthology series that draws from authors in both the U.K. and U.S. Erotic with an attitude and a healthy serving of wit, WW7 will please those who like sassy, sexy fantasies.  Nexus. When Virgin launched their Nexus line in 1988, the world was a much different place, and erotic fiction didn't have anything close to the hip quotient it commands today. Nevertheless, Nexus forged ahead by publishing smart fiction focused on the themes of domination, submission and discipline.Over the next 15 years, Nexus not only dominated this niche, but helped establish it in the first place. By using the world's finest fetish photographers for their cover art, they proved that erotic fiction needn't be adorned in sleazy, salacious packaging to be successful. Nexus' most popular title right now is Penny Birch's Nurse's Orders, the saucy tale of a girl who, after a hard day on the job, finds that only "one thing really allows her to relax —a shower, powder and cream for her bottom, pulling on an adult sized nappy and curling up in her bed without a stitch besides." Birch's latest promises to be her most deliciously lurid piece to date.  Idol. The latest of Virgin's lines of erotica, Idol specializes in homoerotic fiction stories that "mix romance with steamy sex and strong plots."Saying that Idol has broken new ground in English publishing is an understatement. Their arty, subtle covers have allowed them previously unlikely access to many mainstream shoppes, while maintaining a standard of fiction that crackles with homoerotic energy. With characters running the gamut "from cowboys, gangsta rappers and security guards to boy bands, cops and soldiers," they guarantee a wide appeal to English gay men. Idol's most recent bestselling offering is Booty Boys, the story of private dick Alton Davies, and his encounter with popular rapper Banji-B, who demonstrates that sometimes there's more to gangsta hip-hop than meets the eye.  Sapphire. Obviously, England was a very different place when Bernie Taupin wrote "All the Girls Love Alice," his dicey 1972 tale of lesbian mishaps among a young girl and "two middle-aged dykes in a go-go." Sapphire reflects a more modern landscape of lesbian fiction, and has been catering to this continually emerging lifestyle since 1999.With novels both scintillating and sophisticated, Sapphire's material ranges from kinky to vanilla, with heroines heralding from both the past and the future. Sapphire's releases by necessity address a cutting-edge readership that is young, hip and well-educated, and demand their fiction to be as interesting and indulgent as they are. Some of Sapphire's most popular titles have included All That Glitters and Rika's Jewel, which happens to be by one of our favorite writers, Astrid Fox.
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