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J: Who are some visual artists you enjoy who have an erotic edge?

C: Trevor Brown is probably my favorite. There are a lot of photographers I like, Phyllis Christopher, Richard Kern. I'm actually looking for erotic visual artists now so if anyone has any suggestions please email me at cara@venusorvixen.com.

J:How did you meet Trevor Brown?

C: I first contacted Trevor Brown because I love his work and I thought he would make the perfect book cover for me. I actually sent him an email and he was so cool about it. Then he came to Los Angeles for a show he was having and I flew done to pick up my artwork and meet him. He's a wonderful guy. My short story collection will also have a cover done by him.

JARBOE: What are your thoughts about 'virtual reality sex'? I'm sure you know about Real Doll. They are even making a male real doll. What are your thoughts on this!?

CARA :I'm not going to judge someone for using something to get them off or give them pleasure. If someone substitutes a doll or virtual reality sex for human companionship then they may have other issues to deal with. But there's nothing wrong with using sex toys or watching pornos to get off, so why should there be anything wrong with fucking a doll (just a larger sex toy)? Personally they creep me out and they're really expensive but that's me. And if someone is lonely the Internet may offer them a chance to connect with someone, even if it is only in a sexual way.

J:Traditionally, in the media anyway, women are supposed to need romance and an emotional connection with someone to really enjoy sex with them. Your thoughts on this concept?

C: I don't agree with this at all. Personally I don't confuse lust and love. I think women can often want just sex or pleasure just as much as men. This misconception propagated by the media is one reason for the terms "slut" and "whore" (when used in a degrading sense) and have made women feel that having sex just for the sake of getting off is bad, therefore, making them bad.

J:Also--how much of great sex is in the mind? How important is mental fantasy - even while you are with your partner?

C: I think most of great sex is in the mind. Whether it's mental fantasy or a mental connection your mind is not separate from your body. There is nothing wrong with fantasizing while you are having sex. Many people need it to achieve orgasm.

J: How do you feel about censorship on the web?

C:If something hurts somebody else then it should be questioned. Child pornography, in my opinion, is wrong. That should be censored, someone was hurt in creating that. I am a strong free speech proponent and I don't think the web should be censored more than anything else. Maybe not censoring the web will force parents to talk more openly with their children about sex. Also, if we censor the web we censor more then children, we censor everyone. Censorship is a way of not dealing with what's out there and what's going on in the world, instead of burying it, we should deal with it.

J: How do you feel about children 'discovering sex' via the internet?

C: Children are going to discover sex somewhere. It really is the parents choice to decide how they discover it. The more honestly they talk to their kids about sex and the sooner then children won't be discovering sex via the Internet. The only problem with kids discovering sex on the Internet is if they discover something that doesn't seem right, or pleasurable, or is something they don't understand. With proper sex education then they will have guidelines to judge what they are seeing on the Internet and be able to put it into perspective, because there is all kinds of sex portrayed online.

J: Do you have an opinion about the best way for a young person to learn about sex? (I grew up in such a repressed, religious, formal restrictive household that I didn't even know what a penis was until I was 14 !)

C: For one thing sexual information needs to be made available for children. Sexual information definitely needs to be made available for children, I couldn't agree with you more. If sex is portrayed in a positive and factual light then children will have high standards to expect. If sex is "dirty and bad" then if something "dirty or bad" happens they might, in a skewed way, think this is normal.

J: And finally, ( and you certainly can decline this one!) as someone who edits and reads sexy stories professionally, could you tell the readers of this site, what you objectively enjoyed about my little ode to the religious life, The Eucharist, which is featured in your imprint's collection entitled: Viscera. Some of my fans 'got it' but others definitely didn't! I realize the humor in my work is less than comforting or obvious....

C: First of all, The Eucharist was extremely well written: short, sweet and sexy. I love the idea of making fun of those who are repressed and supposed to be holier-then-thou. The story was perfect for Viscera in the very fact that it was uncomfortable. It did exactly what I wanted to do, turned people on, creeped them out and made then cringe.