MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI worked for many years in book publishing as an editor (including titles by William Golding, Peter Ackroyd, Oliver Stone, Michael Moorcock, Peter Ustinov, Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Paul Ableman, Sophie Grigson, Marc Behm, Cornell Woolrich, etc…) and launched the Murder One Bookshop, which he owned and ran for over 20 years. He now writes, edits and translates full-time in London.
He was born in London and educated in France, and his books have been translated into many languages. From an early age, he was always fascinated by popular culture and his writing and editing has criss-crossed all areas, from science fiction & fantasy to thrillers and, inevitably, erotica.
He conceived one of the genre’s first major contemporary anthologies THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF EROTICA which has since been followed by a further 20 volumes, and four books devoted to erotic photography. In addition to over 90 collections in other genres, he has also edited the SEX IN THE CITY series, and run the EROS PLUS and NEON lists, alongside crime imprints BLACK BOX THRILLERS, BLUE MURDER and MAXCRIME.
He has been a columnist for TIME OUT and the GUARDIAN, and contributed to most major newspapers and magazines, and is a regular arts commentator on British TV and radio. He also ran London’s annual crime film and literary festival CRIME SCENE and is a consultant for several overseas film festivals. He has won the Anthony and Karel awards for his contributions to, respectively, crime fiction and SF & fantasy. He also writes a monthly book review column for Crime Time.
He is past Chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association.
His erotica has always proved controversial and somewhat dark and idiosyncratic. His short story collections are LIFE IN THE WORLD OF WOMEN, FOOLS FOR LUST and as e-Books A WASHINGTON SQUARE ROMANCE, WE MATE IN THE DARK and THE MUSIC OF BODIES. His novels include IT’S YOU THAT I WANT TO KISS, BECAUSE SHE THOUGHT SHE LOVED ME, ON TENDERNESS EXPRESS (a trilogy since reissued as SKIN IN DARKNESS), THE STATE OF MONTANA (which sold to Hollywood), KISS ME SADLY, CONFESSIONS OF A ROMANTIC PORNOGRAPHER and I WAS WAITING FOR YOU. He has been called by the TIMES ‘the King of the erotic thriller’.
His latest release is ‘Just a Girl with a Gun’ (2023).
In October 2019, he was given the Crime Writers’ Association Red Herring Award for lifetime achievement.
In 2023, he will be acting as Executive Producer on the new ‘Factory’ TV series based on the novels by his late friend Derek Raymond, being produced by the FX Network (The Living Dead) in the USA and Hardy, Son & Baker (Taboo, A Christmas Carol) in the UK to feature actor Tom Hardy.
Since May 2024, he has acted as Editor-at-Large for Bedford Square Publishers/No Exit Press, acquiring crime & thrillers, narrative non-fiction and books in translation.