New Boots and Panties

Rehanging the cover art gallery

I always loved that Ian Dury and the Blockheads album title. It was naughty without being vulgar. Like his classic “Sex and Drugs and Rock’n’Roll” - it’s all fun and games as long as you don’t get addicted to any of it. Some people can handle their cocaine and crushes better than others.

The point being, Love Addict Sex Romance and Other Dangerous Drugs has been freshly released in paperback, thanks to Amazon’s new AI-powered publishing platform. This is a print version of the 2019 ebook, which was a bit of an update from the 2011 HCI Press original. One of these days I’ll do a fully updated edition of LOVE ADDICT that includes everything from Only Fans to sentient fleshlights, but it seems like as soon as I write a chapter they invent something else. I mean, people are already marrying their chatbots.

For the time being, though, the original LOVE ADDICT is a thorough (if lighthearted) examination of the history, science and emotional toll of sex and love addiction, which hasn’t changed since it was written. It’s enlivened by some personal stories — my own and some people way more famous than me — plus a road map for recovery. After all, what’s the point of telling you exactly what kind of quicksand you’re caught in if I have no suggestions on how to extricate yourself? Sexbots may sprout new body parts bi-weekly, but the twelve steps have been remarkably consistent and effective for almost a century.

The nice thing about physical media is that if we ever find ourselves in the same city, I would be delighted to personally inscribe your book. I can’t do that on your Kindle.

So that’s the news. I will write something fresh soon, probably about this brave new world of relationships with bespoke AI. Is it still fantasy addiction if the fantasy talks back? How different is that from the pleasant parasocial relationships I have with podcasters from Dan Savage to Kara Swisher? Or one of those long-distance situationships that consists mainly of exchanging text messages? Because unlike the podcaster or (often) the long-distance love object, the AI at least “knows” it’s in a relationship with you…