Interview by Carlos Detres

Lynsey Griswold has quickly become a favorite around The Whiskey Dregs editing room (which is really any place where I can fit a laptop). Her short stories “The Old Goat Man”, “Triple Vision” have become literary favorites and ”Expiration Dates” will be featured in our upcoming chapbook.

Her work has always punched me in the gut. Lynsey weaves surrealism, absurdism, and humor into her writing that merits recognition as clever and entertaining stories. Her quick wit, craftsmanship, and ability to relate subjects such as isolation with ridiculous skill has made me a fan.

Our readers may know only of her fictional exploits but it’s Lynsey’s obscenely funny and casually educational column for McSweeney’s, “The Conflicted Existence of a Female Porn Writer” as well as her contributions to faux porn rag, Whack! Magazine that have generated approbation for her work.

Lynsey sympathized with our cause and accepted our invitation to read at BLACK INK. She and I sat together, at different times, in different rooms, and different computers (thanks to the miracle of the internet) and had a discussion via email. Here are the results.

1. How did you begin to write about sex?

I’ve been writing for adult magazines for about two and a half years now. I never planned it; I had just moved back to New York after a two year stint in several other places, and I needed work. A friend knew someone who ran a porn rag and was looking for a writer, and I figured, “Why not?” I was broke. I started doing DVD reviews freelance. Since then a few other jobs have come up at other magazines. I’ve started work on a sex-related book, also rather randomly, and have been researching human sexuality for that book. One day I woke up and realized that I was a sex writer!

2. Were you the little girl who would build orgies of barbie doll bodies like they were Lincoln Logs?

I wouldn’t say Lincoln Logs, exactly. The idea of orgies hadn’t occurred to me yet. But my Barbies definitely got it on–in pairs. I called it “mating” because that was the term I’d been taught.

3. How did you come to be involved with McSweeney’s?

Working in the porn industry has been a difficult experience for me because although I believe that women should be free to do whatever they want with their bodies, and although I love sex and porn and feel that our society puts too harsh a taboo on these things… The situation being what it is, there is a lot of really upsetting adult material out there. It’s tough to be a feminist and be exposed to it. I’d been wanting to write about the issues I was having with it, and McSweeney’s was having a column contest. They were kind enough to like what I submitted to them, and the rest is history.

4. Your sex column has been pretty successful. What is a highlight from your infamy?

Right now, I’m not at liberty to talk much about it because nothing is concrete yet, but there’s been some interest from several places in expanding the column into different mediums.

5. You’re also a contributor for Whack! Magazine. Could you discuss your role and the theme of this hedonist publication?

Whack! Magazine started out as kind of a a ruse–a marketing ploy for another project. But our “provocative periodical for the cultured degenerate” has taken on a life of its own in the past few months. Who could resist a raucous yet intelligent mix of porn reviews, interviews, commentary, and satire? I’m the editor in chief, and as the only woman on the staff, I’m working to make the magazine more friendly to women and fans of less mainstream porn by doing product reviews of sex toys from a female perspective, interviews with porn performers that discuss more than just sex and porn, and reviewing films from alt and queer producers.

6. Any other upcoming projects you can share?

Lots of ‘em. But I’m a secretive type.

7. What’s a secret you’d be willing to reveal?

Haha, you sneaky bastard! How about this: some say I come across as a hip young sex writer, but my favorite thing to do on a Friday night is stay in, watch Planet Earth on DVD, and play Scrabble. I’m a closet dork.

BLACK INK takes place on Saturday, April 10
Doors open at 7:30pm
Readings at 8:00pm
@
ANGELS AND KINGS
500 East 11th Street
New York, NY 10009
212.254.4090