Alison Tyler (born 1972) is an American author, editor and publisher of erotica, living in Northern California. She has authored over 20 explicit novels, hundreds of short stories and has edited more than 40 erotic anthologies.
Tyler began writing professionally in the early 1990s selling stories to Penthouse Variations and Playgirl. Her first novel was published by Blue Moon when she was 23. Tyler went on to write twelve novels for Masquerade Books before moving to Virgin Books' Black Lace and Cheek imprints in 1999.
Her short story fiction appears in a range of anthologies, including titles edited by Violet Blue, Stephen Elliott, Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Tristan Taormino, Zane and Tyler herself. She has edited numerous erotic anthologies for Cleis Press and Pretty Things Press, the small publishing company Tyler runs.
Tyler writes in an intimate, semi-autobiographical style, focussing on themes of female submission, spanking, bondage, bi-sexuality and group sex. In August 2006, Tyler began blogging intensely about a former BDSM relationship, described by The Guardian as "a sulphurous personal memoir of past sexual activities which put Belle de Jour's timid exploits in the shade." Initially intending to write confessionally each day for a month, Tyler continued with her story for 16 months, gaining a broad and loyal daily readership.
Described as a "trollop with a laptop" by East Bay Express , Tyler continues to blog regularly and in 2008 established Trollop Salon, an online forum profiling authors and artists she admires.
Tyler's work has been translated into several languages and her short story fiction appears in her collections Blue Sky Sideways, Bad Girl and Exposed. Her non-fiction includes Never Have the Same Sex Twice: a Guide for Couples (forthcoming) and The Other Rules, an erotic parody of Fein and Schneider’s The Rules. In 2007, Tyler began editing a series of 26 alphabet-themed anthologies for Cleis Press, beginning with A is for Amour. The series is scheduled for completion in 2010 with Z is for Zippers.
Tyler is an upbeat supporter of non-mainstream sexualities, erotic fiction and pornography, asserting, "People try to make you feel bad by saying, 'You write porn.' But I won't feel bad for it."
