E. L. James‘ bestselling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey has been pulled from some library shelves in Florida. The book is being removed from Brevard County Public Libraries for its graphic depiction of S&M and bondage.

Library services director Cathy Schweinsberg explained to Florida Today: “Nobody asked us to take it off the shelves. But we bought some copies before we realized what it was. We looked at it, because it’s been called ‘mommy porn’ and ‘soft porn.’ We don’t collect porn.”

Florida resident Linda Tyndall has created a petition trying to urge the library to reconsider. The petition explains, “Because banning books is wrong, no matter what the perceived content.” (Via The Guardian)

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The Brevard County Public Library said it viewed the erotic trilogy as pornographic and not suitable for public circulation.

Talk show host and author Ellen DeGeneres shared a short skit online, attempting to read the audiobook version of E. L. James‘ steamy erotica, Fifty Shades of Grey.

We’ve embedded the video above (Completely Safe for Work)–what do you think of her charming sound effects?

Last month, James landed a seven-figure book deal and a movie deal for her bestselling title. In another post, we explored the novel’s previous incarnation as sexy Twilight fan fiction.

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Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James debuted on TIME magazine’s TIME 100 list this year, joining comedians turned writers and Steve Jobs’ biographer on the prestigious list.

TIME editor-at-large Brenda Luscombe wrote: “Six months ago she was Erika Leonard, a mother of two who dabbled in saucy stories for the Web. Now she’s E.L. James, publishing phenomenon, whose Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has deeply stirred booksellers, Hollywood and, apparently, many, many mothers. Reading may never be the same.”

The TIME 100 list also included features about Ann Patchett (written by Elizabeth Gilbert), Walter Isaacson (written by Madeleine Albright), Stephen Colbert (written by Garry Trudeau), Chelsea Handler (written by Kathy Griffin), and Asghar Farhadi (written by Richard Corliss).

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We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending April 12, 2012–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Fiction) Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore: “ In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor’s house for help? Who was the crooked little “color man” Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France?” (April 2012)

(Debuted at #1 in Paperback Fiction) Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James: “When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.”

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Vintage Books has included a disclaimer in its edition of Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James, acknowledging the book’s origins as Twilight fan fiction. Above, we’ve embedded a screenshot of the publisher’s note.

The copyright page includes this note: “The author published an earlier serialized version of this story online with different characters as ‘Master of the Universe’ under the pseudonym Snowqueen Icedragon.”

James removed the original fan fiction from her personal website, but we traveled backward in Internet time to archive the book’s lost history as Master of the Universe–it began as an X-rated version of the Twilight story. (Via Andrew Shaffer)

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Andrew Shaffer has sold his Fifty Shades of Grey parody, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, to Da Capo.

Shaffer is the writer behind the Evil Wylie and Emperor Franzen Twitter accounts, and tweeted the news: “BREAKING: Hack writer sells 50 Shades of Grey parody.” Brandi Bowles from Foundry Literary + Media represented the author.

As E L James‘ erotica bestseller (which began as Twilight fan fiction) exploded in popularity, Shaffer began to field offers from publishers for his online parody. He described the process on his blog: “In addition to completing the first draft, I’ve also spent the past two weeks fending off publishers. At first it was easy to tell them to leave me alone. I’m an Artist. My Pure Vision will not be sullied by the dirty hands of commerce. Unfortunately, as the size of the McMansion that publishers dangled in front of me became progressively larger and more ridiculous, my Artistic Integrity slowly evaporated into the California sun…”

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Erotica author E L James has sold the film rights to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy to Universal Pictures. Focus Features will partner with the studio to market and distribut the the film.

Fifty Shades of Grey began as Twilight fan fiction but became an unexpected hit with readers around the country. Follow the links below to follow the book’s journey from fanfiction.net to a major film deal.

Only one question remains: how will they adapt the X-rated book? Focus Features CEO James Schamus had this statement in the release: “At its core, this is a romance of the most emotionally resonant, but delicate, order — and we look forward to working with our colleagues at Universal to transform E L James’ vision into a great film.”

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Will the success of Fifty Shades of Grey inspire more fan fiction writers to convert their work into straight fiction?

This GalleyCat editor wrote an essay for NPR exploring the Twilight fan fiction roots of Fifty Shades of Grey, E L James‘ erotica novel that just hit the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback best seller list this week.

Last year, veteran Amazon reviewer Amanda Ryan gave Fifty Shades of Grey her highest rating, calling it “Twilight XXX.” She acknowledged the fan fiction origins: “I really loved this story. I found myself drawing comparisons to Twilight a few chapters in–really, it’s impossible not to. It’s set in Washington state, our hero and heroine are mirror images to Bella and Edward, and the intense emotional and physical attraction to one another is remarkably similar.”

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Paranormal author Jami Gold asked her readers: When Does Fan Fiction Cross an Ethical Line? Her pointed question generated more than 220 comments about Fifty Shades of Grey, an erotica novel by E L James that began as Twilight fan fiction and landed a seven-figure advance.

Gold had no disrespect for the art of writing fan fiction–she honed her craft by writing Harry Potter fan fiction.

Fifty Shades of Grey is about a young woman named Anastasia Steele meeting a man named Christian Grey; Twilight is about a young woman named Bella Swan meeting a vampire named Edward Cullen.  At Gold’s blog, a few readers listed plot similarities between the Twilight series and Fifty Shades of Grey. We’ve linked to a few examples below–what do you think?

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