Alan Moore has a thing for the erotic...

Not one, but two Alan Moore books dealing with eroticism in 2009!

Alan Moore has never been a writer afraid of confronting taboo subjects in his projects. He takes great delight in serving up graphic material, but never to be simply gratuitous and shocking. Moore sees art in the erotic where many simply can't (religious types) or refuse not to (religious types). He has more in common with, say, a Greek sculptor of the human form in motion and the eroticism of antiquity than a sexual automaton like John Holmes.

The most recent of the two books is 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom. The cover is truly stunning in its color scheme and the mystical symbols it utilizes. Inside Moore presents a basic two-page timeline of erotic freedom, with important dates such as the 5th Century B.C. in which the Greeks create a
catalogue of pornographic renderings, or the 1895 trials of Oscar Wilde.

He then moves onto 'Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography,' which is his point-of-view concerning the subject. Moore shines a non-Christian, non-Abrahamic flashlight on the subject, and it certainly makes for interesting reading. Within, there are also reproductions of a range of sculptures, paintings, books, etc., that should serve as a good basis for further research into erotic studies (if you're so inclined).

The other book is a collaboration between Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie titled Lost Girls, which is a huge graphic novel that tells of Lewis Carroll's Alice, J. M Barrie's Wendy and L. Frank Baum's Dorothy in the time just before World War I, as they are all staying in a Swiss hotel.

You can imagine where Moore will take this, both with the potential menage a trois possibilities, and the subverted retellings of each character's respective fictional worlds. Gebbie's illustrations have the look of crayon or colored pencil, which gives the visual component of Moore's story a very feminine quality that evokes classroom illustrations in a way.

Two very different books that aim to retake pornography and eroticism from modern smut puddlers and holy rollers alike.

(Click here to order 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom)