FUTURESEX

I was going to send you a message but saw that you only accept from friends. I was checking out your book which sounds very interesting. I will put it on my watchlist for now. I had this crazy idea for a book that yours sort of reminded me of... I've been trying to get some threads running for erotica writers, if you're interested in coming to post on them.

Hi, there – this is a review from AudreyB. I am often accompanied on my reviews by my English teacher alter-ego, The Grammar Hag. If I say anything you don’t like, it was probably her idea.

Let’s agree at the outset that I don’t typically read books with ‘sex’ in the title. But Andrew W. recommended your work, and I really liked the boost I enjoyed when he recommended mine. So I think it’s only fair I check out the other books he likes. Don’t panic; I won’t deliver you a sermon. You never know. I thought Diary of a Bad Housewife was brilliant.

I do love your cover. It sends a powerful message.

You make a number of assertions without footnotes. Are you planning to support your remarks? Not a nit; just curious.

OK, so here’s something you didn’t expect me to say. Sex is warm and wonderful and intimate and messy. But the writing in the first chapter is dry and boring. I’m not suggesting you whip out the italics like Helen Gurley Brown, but having a sort of playful, let’s have a go sort of tone would be, er, attractive to readers interested in sex.

In Chapter 2, after the anecdote, your writing becomes a bit friendlier. I really think this is the kind of voice you want to achieve.

You know, I have read recently that we fall in love with people based on how they smell. So Patricia is right to make sure Simon will like the odor of her dress.

Holy cow; this book is interesting. Poor Pru!!

And thus ends today’s lesson on why it’s always a good idea to read outside one’s comfort zone. An excellent, fascinating topic and book. Well done!

~AudreyB
Forgiveness Fits

And now shelve for real.

I was surprised at the detail. There's a lot of thought in this, things I probably wouldn't have considered.

I'm not sure the little anecdotes work. They sound like a tech writer wrote them. I don't suggest scrapping them and I can't put my finger on it, but they need something. Or not... maybe that's exactly what you wanted so the sex stories illustrate without dominating the futuristic points youre trying to illustrate. Yeah, the more I think about it I see you don't want the gushy sex steaming scenes.

I'm putting this on my watchlist for future shelving. Nice book cover BTW.

Hello Dick-
book- Futuresex--

A book for the lovers of the furture indeed-
Certainly give food for thought on all things sexual-
I like the reference to the movies ie Coocoon and Logan's run, tow very fantasy sci films which in the case
of Logans run was way ahead of it's time,.
Anyways read the four chapters as was impressed, oh sorry chapter showed error and did not show
good luck
tom bye
book 'from hugs to kisses'
Mine different genre however please glance, you might chapter 16 where i go to heaven, fantasy; well

FUTURESEX
I read all four chapters of this. It’s interesting and enlightening and makes a reader think about an area of life almost taken for granted. You have a great writing style for this type of book: clear and to the point so always easy to read (and often amusing like the reference to a 4-hour orgasm). I think you’ll find a big audience for this. Highly rated and added to my shelf. Wanttobeawriter: Who Killed the President?

I haven't commented previously, but I agree with the others that the book is thought-provoking. Last century, you can find ads offering the latest in electrical mechanical devices to help relieve women's tensions, some offered by doctors, some by inventors. Who would have imagined we women would use vibrators and wrigglers and other machines instead of lovely cocks?

I also agree the writing (the little stories) could use a romance writer's touch. (elle, meet dick…) The vignettes sound like government training videos and need to connect with the reader.

But that's minor compared to the ideas and the imagination that thought these up is really something, like a one-man think tank. It's genius, really brilliant. So smart he might be right.

In 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote the landmark Future Shock. 32 years later, Dick Burton has taken on the daunting task of FutureSex.

The style is similar to the technique pioneered in popular psychology books: The author creates fictional vignettes and goes on to explain how the particular subject affects the outcome.

The author has put considerable thought into the book, coming up with a comprehensive number of ideas and predictions. As we know from predictions in the 1950s, fruition is hard to come by, yet Dick Burton's forecasts seem reasonable.

The author tries hard to reach across the divide (Men are from Mars…), but I'd like to see the author partner with a woman to write the fictional accounts so as to reach feminine ears. That quibble aside, the writer has done well tackling a monumental subject.

Having left FutureSex as the last of my books to read today, I absorbed all 4 of the available chapters. FutureSex is an intriguing book, well thought out, and potentially a best seller.

I happily endorse it.

Hi Dick,
This is a very thought provoking, morally challenging, seductive, and entertaining piece of literature that is, for the most part, very well written and edited. Having said that, let me prefix this critique by saying that I am an American, and that you will have to research my suggestions to see if they apply in the UK, from whence I assume you are writing.There are five recurring punctuation problems that I want to make you aware of, as an (American) agent or editor will find these difficult to forgive. 1) Your use of dashes is incorrect. I don’t mean your hyphens, but your dashes, which set off phrases within a sentence. In your book you use hyphens (short dashes) for them and put a space on either side. What you want to do is use long dashes, which you can find either on your “insert symbol” dropdown chart, or as a shortcut in Word by holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys while you hit the Minus key on your keypad. And again, do not put a space on either side of a dash, but connect it directly to the surrounding words! Thus, in your pitch and in the opening of your book it should not be, as you have, “some of it is fiction, but only because it hasn’t happened – yet,” but “some of it is fiction, but only because it hasn’t happened—yet.” 2) Often with your quotes you use single quotation marks when you should go ahead and use double. Singles are used only when you quote a quote inside a quote, such as “ Joe said, “Why did you say, ‘Look out!’?” You also have this in chapter 4 with the ‘Sa-am?’ and ‘Sally’ quotes. 3) Your use of ellipsis dots ( . . . ) is incorrect. The mistake you are making here is that you are not using the correct number of dots and you are not putting a space between each of the dots. For example, in that same place in chapter 4, you should have not ‘Sally…..’ but “Sally. . . .” (Use three dots for your ellipsis if it is in the middle of a sentence, and if at the end, use the ending punctuation with no space, then three dots with spaces.) Thus, two paragraphs later you have “something else altogether….” When it should be “something else altogether. . . .” 4.) You need to review your use of punctuation in relation to parenthesis and quotation marks. Always (with only one exception, namely, when the parenthesis are inside a sentence but what is inside the parenthesis is also a complete sentence,) put the punctuation inside the quotations or parenthesis. You are inconsistent on the former and usually incorrect on the latter. (It may sound like I’m nitpicking, but editors need to know that you can produce clean copy, and will usually not bother to read a manuscript that has these types of errors in it.) 5.) You use two instead of one space between sentences, which is incorrect now that typewriters are dead, and computers are living. (It messes up typesetting directly from the computer file, and I think you will also find it makes the reading smoother and less choppy.) Just google “writing one space or two” to get the overwhelming opinion and ethe explanation on this.
But as I say, Dick, I think you have a very well written, interesting, and marketable book here, but when I saw all these technical issues, I wanted to spend some time with you in the hopes that I could help move you along. If you found this crit helpful, please be kind enough to go to my book and check out the first few paragraphs to see if I can’t hook you. I have gotten some excellent reviews and have gained 2164 ranking points in the last ten days, so I should be able to help your talent-spotter status if you want to hop on for the ride. Thanks; and I sincerely hope this information is of help.
Best wishes,
Eric
The Second Symbol

To me, as a complete non scientist and technophobe, all this sounds nightmarish. And while I am convinced that your theory is based on genuine scientific advances, the cynical part of my brain is saying 'Who's going to control all this? Who's going to make a profit?' Hope you might address in a future chapter how the notional consumers of these new enhancements are also going to have self-empowerment, That part of it, sadly, will need more evolutionary advances in human will power, imagination and compassion. Thought provoking and easy to read, glad I came and checked it out! One point - you talk in one chapter about 'dogging our sexual encounters' which might be slightly distracting to some readers... how about 'ambush' or 'haunt' instead?

this is sooo good. Great writing.

Intriguing! This is a really well-written, interesting book so far! I have to confess that during your nano chapter, I immediately thought about Stargate SG1's Replicators, out of control nanite-type creatures bent on taking over everything. lol! Lots of information put out in an easy to digest, pleasant read. Really great job here! You'll be posting more, yes?

There are certainly some interesting and engaging concepts here. The world has, as you rightly point out, expanded phenomenally in the last fifty/sixty years. No one then could ever have imagined what the world would be like now. How much technology has shaped the future and how it continues to do so. There is nothing to say that your ‘predictions’ won’t happen … and therein lies the enigma and the anticipation. What will the next fifty/sixty years reveal? An intriguing question.

This is a thought-provoking piece of work. You write well, your scenarios are interesting and engaging and encourage discussion, if not within groups certainly within oneself.

Highly starred.

Btw - I like the cover ;)

Hi Dick,

I was just off to bed (its 3am) when I saw the title to your book and immediately, I had to read ... First off - the pitch is great - had me interested from the go.
I love the premise of this, for me, it balanced comedy, thoughtful science, sex (hurrah!) and serious questions perfectly. I think a lot of it can be viewed as dry, but, (maybe I was reading it wrong ... ) I viewed it as your humour coming through in an easy-to-explain way.

Really enjoyed, rated 6 stars at WL'd. Very unique.

Hi Dick and welcome,
I hope you can get a chance to read parts of my college caper crime story that takes place at the Oktoberfest.
Thanks
Kirk
"How to Steal a Lion"

Hi Dick

Will definitively have a nose through this as I have a few spaces on my book shelf and WL. Would you be so kind as to have a quick look at my book - The List. Feel free to leave a comment.
ta very much.

David J Baron

Hi DB,

This has a winner of a title and the premise is brilliant. And, of course, the subject matter is fascinating.

I really enjoyed the 'fiction' cameos - the writing is excellent, in all respects and the erotica is very well done. It is a shame that there doesn't appear to be a story thread to connect them, but viewed as a series of flash fiction shorts, they are difficult to fault. And of course FF is very much in fashion.

The 'non-fiction' sections, although interesting, engaging and well-enough written, suffer by comparison to the story material. Given the subject matter, the 'textbook' style feels a bit 'dry' at times; in my view it could do with a 'lift', more authorial voice. I can understand that it is a difficult balance to achieve as you don't want it to end up as 'Carry On Sci-Fi'.

This is a unique read and it has a lot to recommend it.

Good luck,

Terry