Sometime in the later part of 2024 I decided on a personal imprint for all my self-published works: Lavande Mistral Press.

Partly this is a nod of the head to the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of literary erotica himself, Donatien Alphonse Francois, the Marquis de Sade. He is the only other writer besides me crazy enough to combine philosophy with explicit descriptions of sex and to use his erotica as a form of thought experiment. I'm walking in his massive footsteps. He was born and raised in Provence. The chateau in the background is supposed to be the Chateau Lacoste, his chateau. Lavender is a symbol of Provence.

Of course, what I write is far more concerned with establishing enthusiastic consent than his writing ever was. I don't like his libertine philosophy. Quite frankly, the man was a jerk. He was imprisoned on sexual assault charges, and he got what he deserved. The charges were politically motivated, but so what?

My other reason for choosing Lavande Mistral Press as my imprint was that I'm fond of lavender. I'm also fond of wind, and there are few regular winds more dramatic than the Mistral, the "masterly wind" that blows from the Alps and Cevennes through the Rhône Valley and into Provence.