Here’s a bit of good news for those of us who like to read the steamy stuff.
Did you know that Indiana passed a law (which was to take effect July 1, 2008) requiring sellers of “sexually explicit materials” to register with the secretary of state, pay a $250 fee, and provide details about the material they were selling? Hmm, can anyone say “censorship”?
Yes! On July 1 a U.S. District Judge (Sarah Evans Barker, bless her heart) struck down the law. Several bookstores, the Museum of Art, and the Indiana ACLU challenged the law in court, and they won.
The now-defunct law was supposedly targeted toward businesses that specialized in pornography (you know, that’s the stuff that no-one can define but you’ll supposedly recognize when you see it). However, the wording of the law was so general that it would arguably have included countless works of art as well as many romance novels – and no doubt every single title published in our Aphrodisia line.
For more information, check out stories in IndyStar.com (http://tinyurl.com/4nvage) and Publishers Weekly (http://tinyurl.com/5747tu).
The State is reportedly still trying to find a way to deal with “pornographic businesses.”
In this day and age, when so many romance novels (even ones in traditional lines) are sizzling hot, where heroines and heroes are having sex with vampires and werewolves, where ménages have expanded from trois to quatre and show no signs of stopping, where masturbation, sex toys, anal sex, nipple clamps, and bondage are increasingly the norm, where women are writing and reading male-male sex, I have to ask, What on earth is pornography, and what’s a pornographic business? Does the concept of “porn” have meaning any more?
Is there some kind of line that should be drawn somewhere? And if so, how?
I do notice that most publishers of erotica and erotic romance have drawn their own lines. Such as, no sex with a minor – even if it would be historically correct (like in the days when most girls were married by the time they reached the age of majority), and even if it’s perfectly acceptable in young adult fiction. Then there’s the issue of sex with shapeshifters. I’ve heard some people say, it’s fine as long as the shifter is in human form. Others say, a shapeshifter romance is kind of like Beauty and the Beast: the human has to accept “the beast” in beast form, which means making love with him/her in that form.
Is this complicated or what? Quite honestly, I don’t know what to think. The idea of kiddie porn appals me. But so does the slippery slope of censorship. What’s the solution? How do we protect the innocent but still honor freedom of expression?
I know you’re not embarrassed to read spicy books or you wouldn’t be here at our site.
But are you embarrassed to buy them? Do you order online? Do you slink around the bookstore? Here in Canada, Aphrodisias are shelved under Erotica, not Romance, so you have to go into a whole different section and basically proclaim, “Hello, my name is Susan and I read erotica.” (Which, actually, I rarely do. Especially not literary erotica. I much prefer erotic/spicy romance. But here it’s shelved as erotica.) I admit, in the beginning I was nervous about browsing the erotica section – and partly it was because there were so few books and the covers were, uh, kind of freaky sometimes. But that was before we Aphrodisiacs, and our colleagues at Heat, Red, Spice and so on began to dominate the shelves with our pretty, shiny, sexy covers.
Do you pick up your erotic romance and hide it under another book, then linger near the cashiers until you see a friendly looking female who might – gasp! – even read this stuff herself?
How about reading spicy books in public? Do you read your erotic romances at home, as a private pleasure? Or do you proudly carry them around in public, cover visible, and read them on the bus? (And if you do, do you ever get comments?) Personally, I’m not big on reading sexy stuff in public. It’s not so much that I’m embarrassed to be seen with it, as that it’s hard to really get deeply into the story and enjoy it fully (if you get what I mean ).
As for you writers, are you embarrassed by what you write? I bet most of us will say no. If we were embarrassed about it, we wouldn’t do it. But what do you say when, after you’ve told someone you’re a writer, they ask you what you write? My answer is usually, “Spicy contemporary romance.” It’s not because I’m embarrassed but because I think the general public doesn’t really understand what “erotic romance” means. They think “porn”, and that’s definitely not what I or my fellow Aphrodisiacs write. I figure, “spicy contemporary romance” gives the normal reader a much more accurate picture. If they ask, “How spicy?”, I’ll grin and say, “Pretty darned spicy,” and they get the picture.
So, now it’s your turn to fess up. Are you embarrassed? Or proud and bold?
The last week has been totally off kilter for me. I'm still trying to process everything and put it into an ordered state in my mind. And that's a hard thing to do when you're as scattered as I am.
So what's this post about? A lot of things actually. I'd worried that I didn't have anything to blog about. As usual, I have too much. I'll try and break it down into small pieces.
Ok, first I managed to finish my novella for the Trio Anthology and sent it off to NY Nov 1. Yes, No Strings Attached actually got written. This was one of those stories that came out kicking and screaming. I struggled for months to get the darn thing going--and just couldn't. I'm still debating on whether I like it or not. And though I proofed it, it's still full of a million typos, which seems to be a trademark of mine. I simply can not seem to get them all out of my manuscripts. Though I can spot them in an instant when I read other people's work. Seems to be some bizarre blindness block I have when reading my writing. Anyway, the darn thing is gone.
So...once the elation of actually finishing another novella wore off I found myself wondering what I should do next. Nevermind that I had one more novella and two single titles to work on for 09. Well, when Devyn gets to drinking and thinking, dangerous things happen. That's right. I got an idea, so I popped off a few lines to my editor and asked what she'd think of a proposal I had for a Sexy Beast Anthology. I'll admit I've been sitting here gnawing myself to pieces wanting into those anthos, but never expected to be considered. Well, much to my surprise, a day after I proposed the idea Hilary made an offer for a novella--and a single title on the same theme. Imagine my jaw dropping to my knees in shock. You see, I hadn't expected to make the sale and so hadn't sat down and really thinked (yeah, "thinked" out here in the badlands. Remember I'm a hick from the sticks) the idea through because I didn't believe it'd have a snowball's chance heck of selling.
So, what did Devyn sell her editor? Well, here's the synopsis for Heart of the Wildcat, the SB novella. This is rough, so bear with me:
Cultural anthropologist Kathryn Conrad is on her way to North Carolina in the hopes of finding and studying a small tribe of Cherokee mountain men for her master's thesis. The stories of the Tlvdatsi (actual Cherokee word for cougar) told to her by her grandmother have lit Kathryn's imagination—not to mention her desire to track down and verify her Native American roots.
Attacked and almost raped by her hired guide, Kathryn is close to losing her life when rescue arrives in the form of Joseph Clawfoot. (stalking Kathryn and her rapist in cougar form) Red skinned, black haired and handsome as sin, he's just the kind of specimen Kathryn wants to study--up close and personal. Kathryn persuades Joseph to become her contact with his people. She gets more than she bargained for when she learns the truth behind Joseph's strange and solitary existence.
Joseph Clawfoot is a Cherokee, member of a vanishing tribe whose people have learned to survive, they had to adapt to the arrival of the white settlers. A pact with the gods granted them the ability to shape-shift into the form of the cougar. Determined to live away from civilization, Joseph has settled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. He follows no man's rules, only those of nature.
Joe's hope that he will find a mate to join him fades daily. His life is one of constant danger. The natural habitat in which he survives is shrinking, and hunters threaten to drive his kind into extinction. Though he fights the attraction, Joseph can't help but desire the petite beauty with the pale skin and lake-blue eyes. Her touch is forbidden, yet to possess her body and soul is all he can think about. Having Kathryn in his life is dangerous. However her strong and independent spirit arms her with the weapons to capture and tame his wild heart.
When poachers threaten Joseph's freedom, Kathryn is forced to kill one of the hunters to save her lover's life. Realizing she has to take responsibility, Kathryn chooses to turn herself in to keep investigators away. So that she will not accidentally expose the tribe to outsiders, Kathryn asks Joe to erase her memory of their time together, using the ancient spells of the shamans. She’ll remember nothing of him. In giving Joseph up Kathryn knows she's preserving his freedom and the heritage of her ancestors. ___________________
So there it is. This novella is the lead in for the single title, Soul of the Wildcat. Some of you may have already noticed that the heroine is being given the heave-ho at the end. Well, she is. And, yes, I've already heard the cries from the pals I've ran this by before sending it off to my editor: EEK! NO HAPPY ENDING FOR JOE AND KATHRYN?
Let me stop and grab something to cover myself with before you HEA people start pelting me with rocks. I'm going to take a deep breath and announce it now: Joe and Kathryn won't end up together. I've got to break them up so Joe can go on to his next adventure in Soul of the Wildcat. I know this is a first (I think) for the Sexy Beast stories and, frankly, I'd wondered if my editor's suggestion to send Joe off with another woman in his next book was the correct idea. Giving it thought, it is. The theme of the novella is not only discovery of dangerous secrets, but to truly love something, you must set it free. (cue appropriate love songs here) So, yes, readers and peers--Kathryn will set Joe free to preserve his freedom, even if it means she must sacrifice her memories of his kind.
Which leads me to a question for discusssion: As a reader do you expect the HEA in erotic romance? And to writers: Do you feel compelled to write an HEA into your stories because you are writing erotic romance? And if so, why?
Are spicy books “hot” in other countries? I’ve heard sales of Aphrodisia titles are great in Australia, but what about countries where English isn’t the first language?
We’ve had a few foreign sales among the Aphro authors. I just got author copies of the Brazilian edition of “Hot in Here” – which, in Portuguese is “Brincando com Fogo” – i.e., “Playing with Fire.” Didn’t they do a great job with that classy chocolate cover? And embossing, no less! By the way, can you count the hands? Yes, there are four male hands, if you look really closely and sneak a peek under the title banner (hint, he’s cupping her left boob!). Interestingly, the book is about one-third the length of the English version. Wonder what they left out???
In Germany, “Champagne Rules” is published by an imprint of Random House under the title “Haut wie Samt” (“Skin Like Silk”). It’s a great cover too. To my delight, a writer friend who was just in Germany says the books are being sold at traveler rest stops along the Autobahn. Stop for gas, a pee, buy a bottle of water and hey, why not pick up a little erotic romance too?
What do you think of the covers, compared to the original US ones? I think they’re all great – the cover fairies around the world are good to me.
It’s so much fun when these foreign editions turn up on my doorstep. I can’t read a word – and that’s probably just as well because I’d stress out over the translations and edits – but I do love to think of people in foreign countries picking up my books, in their own language.
Okay, I guess I should be writing about something writerly, like how to put a story together or find the right tone for a character's voice, but today I was thinking about spouses, in particular MY spouse. That's him on the left. We've been married for over 35 years, so I figure I know him fairly well--or I thought I did. Then, last week, he turned everything upside down. Doug got hired as an extra for a movie. Now you have to realize, in this family, I'M the one always seeking the spotlight. Not my husband. But he recently retired and saw an ad in the local paper for a casting company looking for vintage vehicles for a movie that takes place in 1975. As the proud owner of a 1972 BMW motorcycle, Doug thought his bike would be perfect. He sent in a photo, was asked to show up, and in the early morning hours made the perilous trip down the mountain to the movie set. The casting director took one look at the bike, and more looks at Doug and hired him on the spot. I imagine his long hair and beard had something to do with it, but suddenly my fairly quiet spouse was an extra in the movie Bottle Shock, a film about the beginning of the modern wine industry in the Napa Valley. He was wearing blue jeans. He needed bell bottoms. They were short...REAL short, but he said later that he recalled his pants were always short back in the early seventies. Of course, the fact that he's REAL tall might have had something to do with it! Anyway, his one day of "stardom" turned into two, and then more. He got called back with instructions to dress as a "biker dude." Anyone want to guess what the kids and I are calling him now? Needless to say, I couldn't wait for Biker Dude to get home at night to hear the stories from the front--he had me laughing so hard I almost had a wreck! (I know...TMI) I found myself looking forward to his tales of Hollywood--there are some notable actors in the movie, including Alan Rickman (Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies) and a young heartthrob I've never heard of named Chris Pine. (No, I don't ever go to movies. Sorry, so if he's your favorite, I apologize!) I found myself seeing my husband through new eyes and wondering how the camera saw him. I hope his scenes don't all end up on the cutting room floor. I hope I get to see him playing pool in the background of the bar scene, or walking up to Alan Rickman in the street scene. I want to see him in the fantasy that is a Hollywood production, because I realized that his experience mimics, in many ways, what I do every day. He was a part of fiction, of fantasy, a character in someone's image of a certain point in time, playing a role determined by the scriptwriter, the director, the other actors. I create fantasy every day with my stories. My characters are all fictional creatures who arise from some well of experience in my mind, and my husband obviously, is part of that experience. He's a little bit Stefan, a lot of Anton, a smidge of Baylor and even a touch of Luc, because he's so much a part of my experience. I can't wait to see what he's like on screen...a part of another writer's imagination. I hope they don't mind, though, that I'll continue to pull parts of his personality, of his humor and his appeal, and use it when I write my books. You know what they say...we write what we know.
What woman could resist, if a guy offered tantric sex? It seems like a no-brainer, but you’ve yet to meet my September heroine, Ann Montgomery. She’s a control-freak workaholic lawyer – performance focused and goal oriented. For her, sex is about orgasm. Get one as quickly as possible (a feat she often has to work to achieve), then get back to her job.
But then she meets laid-back masseur, Adonis Stefanakis. For him, sex is about process, not result. Sure, she’ll get an orgasm, and another, and another, but if he gets his way they’re going to be making love in various ways for hours. And hours.
Imagine her shock when she pulls out her day-timer to schedule a sex date, and he tells her to mark off six hours. SIX HOURS???
She’s terrified. But fascinated. Can she let go her control-freak tendencies and performance anxiety, let Adonis be her sexual guide, and just go with the flow? Find out, in my September release, Touch Me.
And imagine your own reaction, if a sexy Greek god offered you six hours of tantric sex…
Isn’t it true, though, that often when a woman and man first get together, they’re not perfectly compatible in bed? I know in romance we tend to write it differently – the earth moves, and way more than once! Somehow each partner magically knows the other’s body inside and out (as it were!). But it seems to me, more often than not in real life, there’s a process of adjustment and getting to know each other and figure out what works. And isn’t that a whole lot of fun?
Recently a fellow author friend was researching a publisher and asked if I'd flip through a few books to help her get an idea of the level of sensuality and word style before she submitted. As a writer I'm always curious about what other writers are doing and ideas to improve my craft, so I agreed.
Several stories used the frank terms I'm accustomed to reading in erotic romance. A few other tales had a slightly more colorful, say we say purple, style of description.
I will admit one line about "her acquiescing thighs" has certainly remained in my memory.
But, my point isn't to knock any author's work or writing style, but made me wonder at such a dramatic differences in one house and what readers think.
Which do you find sexier straight language/"dirty talk" or rich, sensual descriptions or a combination?
A conversation on one of my online author lists last week has stayed with me. A member wrote in, commenting on an article that referred to romance novels as “guilty pleasures and bodice rippers” and a number of others wrote back in defense of the genre, with, of course, their own stories on insults hurled and offensive comments made about romances in general. What’s stuck in my head is how defensive everyone is. Personally, I’ve had it with feeling a need to apologize for what I love to read AND write.
First of all, reading romances, for me at least, is a guilty pleasure, but certainly not because of the content. It’s because when I’m reading, when I’m lost in that wonderful world another author has created, I should probably be writing my own world—but that book in my TBR pile has called to me louder than the work in progress.
As far as the bodice ripper description? That label got hung on the genre when the covers depicted exactly that—some overbearing alpha male ripping the bodice of the heroine’s dress, and we, as readers, didn’t let that stop us. We devoured every one of those books with pure delight, but times change. Covers change, stories change, but the label lives on. Instead of taking it as an insult, we should learn to appreciate the fact the genre we love is so much a part of the American lexicon. Of course, that doesn’t excuse the folks who, when they learn what you write, think nothing of referring to your work as smut or women’s porn.
My answer to that? “Really? I thought they were just terrific stories about love and life with a guaranteed happy ending.” Face it...in today’s world, it’s hard to disagree with anything that promises a happy ending! I quit apologizing a long time ago for what I write and love to read. It’s especially important now, because I’ve moved on into a genre that is edgy and sexy, stories that skirt—and often cross way over—the comfort zone for a lot of people.
I’m proud of the fact I write erotic romance and I don't hesitate to say so. When the eyebrows go up, as they inevitably do, I take the topic and run with it. It’s not easy to get published in this huge and horribly competitive market, and I’m not about to let anyone try and take my sense of accomplishment away from me. Another thing to remember—romance drives the publishing world. Our books sell! Do not try to intimidate the 600 pound gorilla...
Of course, it means you need to have your “stock replies” available for the snide put downs! My favorite is, “Oh, you write those smutty books for women.” We’ve all heart that one, right? My response? “Yeah, but it’s verygood smut—and it sells real well.” That always turns the conversation in my direction. It’s hard to insult someone who loves their work!
I signed with A back in October of 2005. My first book WHAT SHE CRAVES released in March of this year. Took along time from sale to release! I have a novella, KISS OF THE DRAGON, in the SEXY BEAST III anthology that releases in September 2007 as well as another single title called ANIMAL LUST that will release in March of 2008.
I write historical, historical paranormal, and contemporary paranormal, erotic romance. Phew… that was a mouth full.
What I love about writing this genre is the attention to the 5 senses. Smell, Sound, Sight, Taste, and Touch.
Watching two lovers make love…seeing their arms and legs shake and quiver as pleasure is sought and captured, feeling that same trembling against your own limbs as you provide that pleasure and seize you own. The smell of your lover, of sex and cunny overwhelming your senses, and the sounds…moaning, whimpering, groans, the sharp intake of breath as sensations overload, skin rubbing and wet wet wet…
It is all amazing, rich, sensual, sexy… Mmmmmm.
That is why I write what I write… I love all those sexy details that flood the pages of erotic romance. Since I started writing this genre, I am much more aware of all those details in life. In ways I feel writing erotic romance has made me appreciate and savor more sensations than I had before I began my journey. Though I was always a bit of a sensation lover! Grin.
Why do you like to read Erotic Romance? Why do you enjoy writing it?
Hugs and Kisses, Lacy.
PS.I am also Blogging over at The Spiced Tea Party today... come on by and say hi!
Okay, I know Lucinda just "tagged" me - and I really will respond this weekend but ... in the meantime, I just had to share my exciting news ...
I'll be Tara Mack's guest on Playboy Play Date, 2:00-3:00 p.m. PT, on Sirius Radio 198. Here's how the show works: Host Tara Mack presents dating scenarios, callers supply answers (and may win prizes), and I select winners based on the best answers. I'm flying to L.A. to do the game show live, in-studio -- and, afterwards, I just might get a tour of the Playboy television studio.
I hope you'll tune - or better yet, call in to the show at 1(877) 205.9796. It should be wild!
SEX LOUNGE is finally out! And to celebrate, I've just launched the SEX LOUNGE Finding Derek CONTEST, an online contest that seeks the American male who resembles Derek Mitchell, the hero of my book.
We're looking for the perfect Derek. And we intend to find him. Participants will be asked to post photos, audio clips, text, and video (later) to convince celebrity and other online judges that there's no better Derek anywhere in the world. Current judges include:
We're looking for great guys to enter and one lucky judge to enter to join our celebrity judges. Both will win fantastic prizes! And, once voting begins, so will web site visitors.
Here’s a bit of good news for those of us who like to read the steamy stuff.
Hi All!
Okay, I know Lucinda just "tagged" me - and I really will respond this weekend but ... in the meantime, I just had to share my exciting news ...