50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James is threatening a Coventry-area housewife with legal action for throwing 50 Shades-themed sex toy parties. Says James' agent: "You can’t just hijack something someone else owns." Which is, to say the least, a little ironic. (50 Shades previously on the blue. Also.)
posted by mightygodking on Sep 8, 2012 - 127 comments

Katrina Lumsden reads the Fifty Shades of Grey books so you don't have to:
Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Freed
(contains animated gifs)
posted by Artw on Aug 5, 2012 - 189 comments

By late May, more than ten million copies of E.L. James’s Fifty Shades trilogy, an erotic romance series about the sexual exploits of a domineering billionaire and an inexperienced coed, had been sold in the United States, all within six weeks of the books’ publication here. This apparently unprecedented achievement occurred without the benefit of a publicity campaign, formal reviews, or Oprah’s blessing, owing to a reputation established, as one industry analyst put it, “totally through word of mouth.” [Grey Area: How ‘Fifty Shades’ Dominated the Market]
posted by vidur on Jul 30, 2012 - 101 comments

'What Exactly Is '50 Shades of Grey (And What Can You Expect From The Movie?)': Fan-fiction is the written word equivalent of taking two naked dolls and mashing them together to make what you think sex looks like when you’re 10 years old. And it’s written at that level. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Jul 6, 2012 - 252 comments