LOS ANGELES — Adult star Ashley Blue has grabbed mainstream attention in a Forbes article that spotlights the release of her new book, “Girlvert: A Porno Memoir” that comes complete with a strand of the star’s pubic hair.
The 50-copy limited hardcover "art" edition costs $200 and puts Blue — who authored the book under her real name, Oriana Small — in the company of other sexy scribes including Jenna Jameson whose bestseller “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star” is still selling and more recently Sasha Grey’s “Neu Sex.”
Blue, best known as JM Productions’ “Gilvert,” even nabbed an endorsement from writer James Frey (author of “A Million Little Pieces” and “Bright Shiny Morning”) who said, “Oriana Small has pushed herself to the outermost extremes of what the body and mind are capable of — all before turning thirty years old — and now she's made it an authentic read for the rest of us to marvel at, elevating the depravity and denial inherent in the pornographic arts to a singular literary experience."
The book is also available as a standard paperback at a list price of $18, but the limited edition available from publisher A Barnacle Book at RareBirdLit, comes with other goodies to delight porn fans including a signed letterpress cover, a 5x7 litho of Blue that’s not in the book, a Polaroid by her photographer husband Dave Naz, a plywood slipcase and an invitation to a “XXX Nite with Oriana Small and Friends.”
But the gimmick that’s causing a buzz is the jacket that’s “handmade in Japanese paper by designer Ted Nava, including one bulbous Oriana Small pubic hair plucked by Small herself and inserted into each sheet of dust jacket paper as it dries.”
According to Forbes, the idea was conceived after Blue heard about Max Hardcore’s jail sentence. Blue and her publisher Tyson Cornell then came up with a “Pubes for Prisoners” campaign to promote the book.
The paperback edition has reportedly sold 2,100 pre-orders, and the $200 limited edition is nearly sold out. By indpendent publishing standards, the book looks like a success.
