By Annalisa Quinn
NPR
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A San Francisco appeals court has ruled that a werewolf erotica novel must be returned to Andres Martinez, an inmate of Pelican Bay State Prison, after prison guards took it away from him on the grounds that it was pornography.
Although the court grants that novel in question, The Silver Crown, by Mathilde Madden, is “less than Shakespearean,” it argues that the book nevertheless has literary merit and shouldn’t be banned under prison obscenity laws. The court also notes that “the sex appears to be between consenting adults. No minors are involved. No bestiality is portrayed (unless werewolves count).
The book, which contains several lengthy depictions of fanged fornication, is described thusly: “Every full moon, Iris kills werewolves. It’s what she’s good at. What she’s trained for. She’s never imagined doing anything else ... until she falls in love with one. And being a professional werewolf hunter and dating a werewolf poses a serious conflict of interests.”
Mathilde Madden is a pseudonym for Mathilda Gregory, a journalist and Guardian contributor. She wrote in an email to NPR, “I am thrilled someone has gone to so much trouble to read something I wrote. I hope the book can live up to expectations.”
Full story: Book News: Inmate Fights For His Right To Read Werewolf Erotica