More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory

Why should you read More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory?

First published in 2014, More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory, is one of the original “poly bibles” that has been guiding polyamorists for more than 10 years. There aren’t many books on the subject that are older than this one, except for maybe The Ethical Slut. Originally authored by Franklin Veaux, and Eve Rickert, it was updated in 2022 with a new forward by polyamory psychotherapist Jessica Fern. 

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Wait, what’s this about drama with the authors?

Grab some popcorn, because this is an interesting story. When this book was first published by Veaux and Rickert in 2014 it was very well received by the ENM community and quickly became very popular. It was widely recommended at poly meetups, and online on reddit, and other polyamorous forums. That was until Rickert and Veaux’s other partners came out about the abuse. 

Before the book, author Franklin Veaux had a long established website by the same name. He’d been writing on the subject of polyamory and nonmonogamy since the nineties, when it was still a very unpopular topic, however aside from his personal experience we’re not sure what qualified him as an expert on relationships. 

In 2019, his coauthor Eve Rickert and several other women who had been in relationships with Veaux came forward about abusive and coercive behaviors from Veaux. There was also some controversy about how personal stories and anecdotes used in the book had been edited to reflect a more positive experience and some didn’t feel that the finished product authentically represented their stories. 

Another author named Kali Tal, who has published extensively regarding psychological trauma and abuse wrote a very detailed Medium post that revealed the evidence against Veaux. You can still find that archived post here: https://web.archive.org/web/20190812145807/https://medium.com/@kalital/my-life-belongs-to-me-reading-the-polyamory-narratives-of-franklin-veaux-against-the-84be142aa8a1 

Eve Rickert eventually went public with her own story and criticisms about the book on her own blog, MoreThanTwo.ca, and in the polyamorous community the book fell out of popularity and was generally seen as a potential tool for abusers. 

Since then it seems that the rights have been granted to Rickert as this title is now under the control of Rickert’s publisher Thorntree Press, and a new forward was added in 2022, written by very popular polyamory author Jessica Fern. In January 2023, Rickert also released “The Relationship Bill of Rights” which was an important element of the original book into the public domain. Rickert has also curated a series of shorter guides called “More Than Two Essentials” which draws on topics from the original text. 

Second Edition Coming in Sept 2024

That’s right, we’re finally going to be getting a revised second edition of More Than Two minus Franklin Veaux. Eve Rickert (with Andrea Zanin) are scheduled to release More Than Two: Cultivating Nonmonogamous Relationships with Kindness and Integrity on September 2, 2024! 

Expect this revised edition to be available in hardcover, kindle, ePub, PDF, and audiobook, and as soon as it’s available for pre-order, we’ll be adding it to our site!