Liz Everly's Blog, page 82

Easy Come, Easy Go: Are We Good With One-Night Stands?

Let’s see you make that early meeting now, What’s-Your-Face.

By Alexa Day

The one-night stand has gotten a bad rap. I don’t understand why. But we need look no farther than the most recent Bachelorette, Kaitlyn Bristowe, to see that the General Public has some sort of issue with eligible single women closing the deal outside the confines of a relationship. (And why do relationships have confines? What is that about?)

What’s the problem with the short-term non-committed sexual encounter? Hell if I know.

Some people are worried about Stranger Danger, which is certainly understandable. The world is full of people who are perfectly content to spend a long weekend evening cutting other people into convenient, bite-size pieces. I get that. Let’s be straight with each other, though. The wild majority of those people aren’t that interested in spending money and time on women they want to dissect later. And aren’t we discerning enough to use our intuitive senses on that guy sitting next to us at the bar? How often do we slide away when things seem a little off?

Besides, the everyday world is just a dangerous place. If you don’t think you’re in harm’s way just going to the mailbox, you’re not being totally honest with yourself. The solution, to my mind, is just to be careful. All the time.

While we’re being honest, though, I think we need to accept that safety is not the real reason that the General Public objects to the One Night Wonder. I think society has developed some sort of moral issue with one-night stands, especially if they look like the woman’s idea.

But why is that? In a world that’s getting ever more vocal about the Feminist Flavor of the Week, what is the hangup about women choosing non-committed sex partners?

Thankfully, we live in a world where a woman can forestall marriage indefinitely. We can even dodge marriage altogether if we want. We can settle down with a rotation of partners, or two partners at once, or no partners at all. Is it right to consign the uncoupled to a future where they can have relationship sex or nothing?

Recently, I had the opportunity to include a one-night stand in a short story; “Three, After Midnight” will appear in a Halloween anthology along with a story by our Friday guest, Leah St. James. My story’s heroine is a widow who’s picked up a guy at a dive bar to help her get through an emotionally trying time, the anniversary of her husband’s death. I hope to turn a couple of one-night stand fears on their head (let’s just say that she’s the dangerous one here), and of course, I had some fun playing with erotic romance’s cuddly issues of consent and control. But in the end, I think everyone gets what they want in just one night … including the chance to think about one more night.

Spontaneity has its advantages, right?

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Sexy Saturday Round-Up

By Liz Everly and the Lady Smut Bloggers

Hello, sexy! It’s time to start your weekend reading. Grab a cup of coffee and join us as we bring you some fabulous blog pets this week.

From Liz:

Cut gay scenes in “From Here to Eternity.”

Legalizing sex work. 

A vagina beauty contest. That’s right.

From CMK:

NPR’s list of ‘swoon-worthy’ romances

When romance reflects the bad and the ugly as well as the good

Being a boss — and a feminist!

From Elizabeth Shore

The dog days of summer are here! How to still get your workout done despite the broiling temps. If you must.

Fifteen songs – and accompanying videos – that you never knew were about female masturbation.

What are women really searching for on porn sites? Learn here.

Take the quiz and find out what’s your beer IQ.

From Madeline:

Is it ever okay to ASK FOR IT? Romance for Feminists blog looks at Lilah Pace’s rape fantasy novel.

Boys Tell All at WeWomen: What they think of women who put out on the first date.

Famous singer dedicates love song to her vibrator.  Really.

Bitch magazine posted a hilarious comic about a couple’s first time at a swinger’s party.

NPR hops on the romance bandwagon w/ 100 Swoon worthy Summer Romances–including erotic romance!

 

Surrender to a Hot FBI Guy: Q&A with Leah St. James

Leah’s tried different covers with her novel. Which one do you like best? From 1st edition published by The Wild Rose Press, cover artist Kimberlee Mendoza

Our guest today is Leah St. James.  Leah, a long time romance buddy of mine, is just the sweetest friend. By day she works in a news room, by night she’s an indie author and head of her own publishing company.  As a valued member of our romance community, she’s organized romance panels at various book festivals around Virginia. Welcome to Lady Smut Leah!

LEAH ST. JAMES: Thanks so much for hosting me on Lady Smut! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog for several years, and I’m excited to share a little about my stories with you.

MADELINE IVA: Tell us about SURRENDER TO SANCTUARY.

LEAH ST. JAMES: SURRENDER TO SANCTUARY is a romantic suspense about two FBI agents assigned to solve the murder of a young woman whose body washes up on the beach at a federal park. They discover that she was mixed up with a group of men who belong to a secret society that practices male sexual domination, but based on a (fictional) religion. (Yeah…it’s complicated.) To follow her trail, they go undercover into this society. So the BDSM theme is a very big part of the story but, in a way, secondary to the murder investigation…and the romance, of course!

MADELINE IVA: How hot does it actually get when it comes to the sex in the book?

This cover is quite something, yes? Click to buy.

LEAH ST. JAMES: For some, too hot. For others, not so much. :-) If I had to give it a movie-like rating, I’d say a hard “R” because while the sex scenes are graphic and detailed, I don’t use the terminology often found in erotica…mostly those terms that refer to certain parts of the female body. (I know, I know… I’m picturing you all shaking your heads, but I can’t help it! It’s just the way I am!)

I can tell you that I’ve heard from several female friends that the men in their lives really enjoy the sex scenes. “Leah, my husband LOVES your book.” (Friend pauses and I picture the husband coming home with fur-lined handcuffs and velvety blindfolds.) “He wants to know when the sequel is coming out.”

MADELINE IVA:  How do characters react when faced with what they gotta do?

LEAH ST. JAMES: Here’s where it got really interesting for me to write because I flipped the male and female roles. In their undercover roles, David plays the dominant—knowledgeable, in charge. In their real lives, however, he is pretty much clueless and is appalled at the thought of subjugating his partner, even in pretense. He’s no prude (has a reputation as a player, actually), but the whole power exchange concept is something he finds impossible to understand. Aside from that, he’s got this protective streak going for his very beautiful partner and doesn’t want her putting herself into a dangerous situation. So part of the story deals with training him in this lifestyle so that he won’t give them away in the real environment. I enjoyed pushing David’s comfort zone. Conversely, Anna, while playing the bottom, is very aware of the BDSM scene (she’s originally from the sex crimes unit), and drives the action from the start. Behind the scenes, she’s actually in charge.

MADELINE IVA: What’s fascinating to me is that you also meld themes of Christianity into your books along with things like BDSM. How do you weave these components together?

LEAH ST. JAMES: In Surrender to Sanctuary the leader of this group, in defending the group’s religious beliefs to David, quotes sections of the Bible’s New Testament that make most women (and many in the American church) uncomfortable—about women submitting to their husbands. When David responds, “Yeah, but everyone knows those passages were speaking to the cultures of their time. They’re not interpreted literally today,” the leader challenges him to examine his own beliefs. “You get to pick which scriptures you abide by? You can simply ignore the ones that make you uncomfortable?”

I based much of the group’s behavior pattern on a Christian practice called “Taken in Hand.” It was fascinating to research, and I applaud those men and women for their openness and generosity in sharing so much of their personal feelings and behaviors. (I’m not sure why they put it out there, but it’s brave!)

MADELINE IVA: How are you different from others who are writing inspirationals — or even others who are writing ‘domestic’ discipline books that meld Christianity and BDSM?

LEAH ST. JAMES: Although I often incorporate elements of faith in my stories (sometimes Christianity, sometimes fictional religions, sometimes more spirituality than any particular religion), I don’t consider myself an inspirational author so much. I write stories about people who just happen to have certain beliefs and might from time to time struggle with those beliefs.

For me, many of the inspirationals I’ve read are too heavy-handed (or “preachy”) with their message. I remember picking up a book at a store one time and turning to a page where the heroine was bemoaning the fact that the man she loved hadn’t accepted her faith. I shut the book and put it back.

MADELINE IVA: Unlike those of us hiding behind pen names, etc. you actually tell all kinds of people you know what you do – including the people at your church!

LEAH ST. JAMES: The fact that I was writing a book came up in a conversation about something else with a close friend at church, and she told me she wanted to read it. I was terrified, figuring I’d be ex-communicated…or whatever the Protestant version is. I said, “Really? Are you sure? It’s pretty kinky.” She said, “Leah, I’m an adult. I read all kinds of fiction. I’d love to read it.” I remember her calling me up about a week later, all excited, “I love the book! I love the book!” I think she was afraid of hating it and having to let me down gently. After that everyone in our group of friends seemed to know, and they couldn’t have been more supportive and encouraging. Even those who didn’t like the theme of the book were happy for me for pursuing a dream.

MADELINE IVA: And people at work?

LEAH ST. JAMES:  At work (at my day job at a news organization) I got teased—a lot—when the book first came out. My boss told me that a bunch of the reporters followed me on Twitter to see if I was going to post  X-rated stuff!

Click to buy.

MADELINE IVA: Adultery forms a theme in one of your books. Is that correct?

LEAH ST. JAMES: I wrote a short novel called Christmas Dance about a man and woman who are attracted to each other, but married to other people. And they meet at church. At Christmas. (I really like pushing my characters’ comfort zones.) :-)

MADELINE IVA: What do you think about the issue of adultery given today’s modern gadgets? For example: An adultery match up site was recently hacked and client info revealed — sounds like it might be the plot of a future book for you. Why is trad romance publishing so leery of embracing this theme?

LEAH ST. JAMES: Traditional romance is all about the fantasy, the build-up from that first meeting to the HEA. I think adultery might be considered too unforgiveable to overcome, to fulfill that HEA fantasy. The women’s fiction line is much more open to those types of stories.

MADELINE IVA: Let’s talk about your next book–is it a sequel?

LEAH ST. JAMES: I have a short story coming out in a Halloween anthology, to be released in early to mid-September. After that, the sequel to “Surrender to Sanctuary” comes out. It’s tentatively titled “Sanctuary’s Promise.” David and Anna return to fight a threat closer to home, while they reconcile their true feelings about this lifestyle.

This is the current cover. Click to buy.

MADELINE IVA: On fb you refer always to Son #1 and Son #2.  It’s very funny — esp. when your sons found out about it.  How did they react? Are they still teasing you about it?

LEAH ST. JAMES: When I first published, I had barely heard of Facebook, but everyone told me I needed to get on there to start building name recognition. So I got an account. Terrified that I’d never have any FB friends, I asked both sons if they’d friend me. They agreed, grudgingly (what young guy wants his mom watching on FB?) but made me promise to NEVER tag them.

So to keep their anonymity, I started calling them Son #1 and Son #2.

To this day I have never tagged them, or purposely posted on their walls. But when my older son labeled his Christmas gift to me from “Son #1” last year, I knew he was reading mine!

MADELINE IVA: I think you mentioned that they were referring to each other sometimes as Son #1 and Son #2.  Too funny!

Thanks so much for coming onto the blog today Leah! Big hugs to you. ;>

Leah St. James’ book SURRENDER TO SANCTUARY is on sale right now for kindle readers– you can find it HERE.  Also check out Leah on facebook and check out the books her publishing company, Edward Allen, offers HERE.  

Meanwhile, follow us on our blog, and please subscribe to the Lady Smut newsletter — aka “The Goody Bag”. ; > 

The Thrill Ain’t Gone: Cara Vance’s The Necromancer’s Wife

Click to buy.

By Madeline Iva

Sometimes the thrill is gone.  Blake and Miranda broke up this week.  The week before it was Ben and Jennifer. Aggggh.  I liked both of these couples a lot.

Some people say when they break up for good it’s like they can’t ever remember feeling that thrill in the first place.  On the other hand, Huffington Post reports that “Sex With Your Ex” is a hot new trend.

Meanwhile, in romance the focus is usually on the beginning of the relationship.  The finish line is commitment and/or marriage.  It’s like a restaurant that only served appetizers.  (Yeah, yeah, tapas bars are great, I know. But sometimes you hanker for a main course–and dessert.)

Here are three books that focus on these round-and-round intense relationships where the couple is spellbound long after they meet and mate.

I just love the beginning of the OUTLANDER series– Claire has so much to cope with and the world is so different for her, but Jamie tumbles for her from the moment she’s sitting between his thighs on his horse.   They have to overcome a lot to be together.  Yet even in book two and three when they are together, the fun and romance doesn’t end there.  Events and old scars draw them apart, they are driven to betray each other in certain ways that they don’t quite mean to.

What’s great is how like giant magnets they are always sucked back together.  They resolve what happened, get past the ugly, get back into that magic circle of need, confidence, passion, bliss.  A+ Gabaldon!  (And A+ any of you out there who have mastered this in your own relationships.)

Speaking of Ben Affleck–If we want to go to the other extreme–the twisted side of this bonding –there’s GONE GIRL.  A lot of people hated the ending.  I get it.  To me the most fascinating part of the book dealt with the onion peeling that occurs in a relationship. Even when the husband is despising his wife, there’s still this itch of curiosity.

He knows her in a unique intimate way that no one else does and vice versa.  Yet even so, mysteries lurk–mysteries so deep that only he can spot them.  He becomes obsessed with getting to the bottom of who she really is.  Only he can read the clues, only he can solve the puzzle.  The police don’t know it but she’s been a bad girl and is getting revenge on him for being a bad slacker husband himself.  Now that she’s missing she’s definitely regained his interest.

I liked the intensity and depth of his focus on how smart she was, how she knew him like no one else and he knew her like no one else.  It reminded me of a hot, dirty tango, one with hair pulling and bodies dragged across the floor. Alas, the author took things in a completely different direction at the end of the book.  Did you read it and hate the ending? Most people I know did.

Jezebel said GONE GIRL’s biggest villain was marriage. So true. Perhaps that ugly underbelly exists in all marriages–which is why people were so sucked into the book.

Finally, there’s  THE NECROMANCER’S WIFE.  If GONE GIRL is about the bad side of marriage, then THE NECROMANCER’S WIFE is about the really ugly side of marriage.

A woman wakes up to discover her husband has raised her from the dead–and is having sex with her–in another body.  How did he make this happen? How did she die? Why is she in a different body each time? The answers are ultimately unhappy ones, even as the plot underscores an undeniable sexual pull between this couple–and the secrets that lurk underneath.

What is this book? Who knows.  It’s not a romance–there’s no HEA in site.  Revenge porn? People do spend quite a bit of time naked in the book and it moves right along, following through on the how and why the wife is brought back to life by her husband after she’s dead. Yeah, revenge porn is probably the best description for it.

After reading THE NECROMANCER’S WIFE I was left in a contemplative mood.  Why do I love what I’ll call the “deep relationship” couple trope so much? Is it the sensuousness of OUTLANDER? Jamie’s uxoriousness? Definitely!  Is it the moment in GONE GIRL when the husband desperately wants to see his wife again–if only so he can throttle her? I actually found that part kinda hot.

But I think I’m in love with the idea that some people are just chemically combustable together. A good marriage is never perfect, but it’s got magic in it.

While you’re perseverating on that, you can take a peek at THE NECROMANCER’S WIFE on Amazon –click on the cover.

Meantime follow us at Lady Smut — we get all sweaty just for you. (I’ve blogged three times this week already.)  Subscribe to our newsletter!

 

Weird Sh*t

By Elizabeth Shore

I’m back after a week in Finland. As you may appreciate, I’m still a bit foggy. The combination of jet lag, copious amounts of vodka, and trying to get back to post-vacation daily life has left me bereft of blog post ideas. What to do? First, I ate ice cream, figuring a jolt of sugar would do the trick. Turns out that doesn’t work. Who knew. So then I trolled the internet in search of inspiration, confident I’d stumble across something that would prompt an idea. Instead what I kept coming across was just a whole lot of weird, crazy stuff. Do you remember the old Arsenio Hall show? The old one, before the other one that came afterward that sucked. He had an ongoing bit called “Things that make you go, hmmm.” Like why is some crude oil referred to as light and sweet, as if it’s used in cooking or something. Hmmm.

Anyhoo, the stuff I came across elicited sometimes a hmmm but other times more of a WTF? So in no particular order, I present for you a selection of oddities.

1. Young girls dyeing their hair grey.

I came across this article in the New York Times a few months back and it puzzled me down to my toes. Grey? Really? Yeah, really. It’s a trend so popular with some that it even has its own hashtag, #grannyhair. Some of the girls say their choice to go grey gives them a “sense of individuality.” Well, OK. I suppose there’s that. The article didn’t mention anything about the hair down there, so I’m assuming it’s just atop the head. Nonetheless, wouldn’t you want the carpet to match the drapes? Hmmm.

2. The Kylie Jenner lip challenge.

Take a shotglass, place it over your lips. Suck. Suck hard! Induce negative pressure from the suctioning and engorge all those tender little blood vessels until your your top and bottom lip resemble mirror images of uncooked bratwurst. Then take a selfie and post it on Instagram. Hilarious! If you suck long enough you can even break those little vessels and cause permanent damage. Cool beans, baby.

3. Countries that don’t kiss.

You might think that’s just an oddity among some lost world bush tribe or something, but you’d be wrong. A recently published article in American Anthropologist reveals that only 77 out of 168 studied cultures showed evidence of romantic kissing. (the study discounted familial kissing such as a mother to a child or cheek-kissing greetings as in some European countries). For those into math, that’s only 46% who like to lock lips. So, um, what do those in the other 54% of countries do when they’re trying to get their motors revved? Smell each other, maybe?

4. Covering your cat’s bum with a sparkly adornment.

Thank the stars above, someone’s out there solving the world’s problems. ‘Cause, you know, there’s nothing worse than having friends over, and like, the cat finally emerges from under the bed, and you’re all, “hey, kitty, come say hi to my friends.” And your furry lil puddin’ pads over to say hello and then, AHHH!! You can see her butthole!!! Kitty has her tail up and her back door is exposed for everyone to see. You’re mortified, right? Of course you are. But fear not! Twinkle Tush to the rescue. This essential adornment fits around Fluffy’s tail and drapes down just so in order for a round sparkly disc to discreetly cover that unsightly image. Cat lovers unite. We can all breathe easier.

5. Why anyone thinks Brody Jenner is a “sexpert.”

A few weeks ago, self-described “sexpert” Brody Jenner launched a weekly call-in show on E! called Sex with Brody. Makes sense, right? I mean, the 31-year old model and star of a couple failed reality TV shows (Bromance, The Princes of Malibu) surely has a load of “sexpertise” he can teach the world at large. Although, he recently did admit that his younger half-siblings Kylie and Kendall could “teach him a thing or two” about sex. Eeewww. Surely you didn’t mean that like it sounded, did ya, Bro? Hmmm.

There you have it. Things that make you go hmmm. Or WTF! If you want an even better reaction, follow us at Lady Smut. Our new daily posts will make you say, Cool.

 

 

 

RWA 2015 Very Brief Round-Up

By Liz Everly

I have severe “jetlag” from the Romance Writer’s of America National Conference, so I’m not posting my usual witty, utterly fascinating schtick. But I’ve found several interesting write-ups from  other bloggers about the RWA conference hat I thought I’d share.

I LOVE this post from Suleikha Snyder about diversity at RWA.

Here’s a great round-up from Sarah Wendell of the blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

Another round-up with great observations.

Here’s one I loved because it was a great description of the hotel the conference hotel. Not a good place for this kind of conference, in my humble opinion.

One of the highlights for me was meeting one of my favorite erotic romance writers. Sigh.

Ms. Sylvia Day signing my book!

Hot Fun in the City

by Madeline Iva

Hey all — Kiersten Hallie Krum ran off to Romance Writers of America’s national conference last weekend in NYC and needs to catch her breath after all the fun she had.

Hope she brings back goodies for us next Monday — new authors to talk about, new books to explore, and all the smexy news about what went down at the conference.

I was so happy to see that our mutual buddy, the ever-funny Kimberly Kincaid was nominated for a 2015 RITA award at the conference for her book PUSHING THE LINE.  Isn’t this cover to die?

Kimberly Kincaid at RWA nationals in the middle of what she calls a ‘hot lady sandwich’.

Meanwhile, if you want to get your Lady Smut thang on, the Magic Mike XXL debate rages below.  Kiersten blogged about it HERE the other week and yesterday Alexa Day gave her own take on the movie HERE.  If like me, you’re gaga about the film, check out what these women have to say. :)

 

No Roads Lead to Rome: The Tragedy of Magic Mike XXL

 

She’s wearing the pants in this movie, neighbors. What a shame.

By Alexa Day

Last week, I was struggling with my fears that Magic Mike XXL would turn out to be everything people said it was. A feminist stripper movie, which did not distract its primarily female audience with a plot or anything that might prove disturbing. Two hours of gentle reassurance that yes, you are pretty and men should be nicer to you! An evening of gentle hand-holding and slightly adventurous sexuality.

Basically, I was afraid it would turn out to be the gummy vitamin of stripper movies. Not frightfully stimulating, but good for you in small doses.

I also said I would eat all 800+ words of last week’s post if I was wrong.

And I was wrong about a couple of things. I was also right about something. Then, on top of that, I was disappointed by things I didn’t expect to disappoint me.

Because I will be able to eat words without spoilers, and because I think folks enjoy seeing a good bout of verbophagy, let’s start with the things I was wrong about.

1. Joe Manganiello. I didn’t mention Joe last week, so I can’t honestly say I was wrong about him. It’s just that Joe has been right in front of me all this time, and I didn’t notice him, which is kind of criminal. Last movie, I was distracted by the plot — and I do not apologize for that — so I didn’t pay quite as much attention to Big Dick Richie as I should have. This time, he’s got the best scene in the movie and the best line in the movie, so he’s harder to ignore. The first word I need to eat is Manganiello. It’s a pretty big word, but I was really wrong, so I’m going to eat it twice.

2. The dance. Is dance enough to sustain this movie by itself? Well, let’s adjust the question. Would I have paid full price to remove all the plot from this film and just watch hot, scantily clad men dancing about the big screen (or the stage) for my personal amusement? Yes. Yes, I would have. I do still need a plot, and I find the suggestion to the contrary a little off-putting. But I can totally be present just for dance.

3. The moral. I’ll be a good sport and eat some words here, but in all honesty, I think everyone has been wrong about the moral of this story. This is not a story about what women want. It’s a story about artistic authenticity. Before the movie takes a hard left turn, Mike and his crew have a long talk about the route to success. Success doesn’t come from trying to figure out what other people want (or used to want), says Mike. It comes from you doing you, and from your willingness to share that with the audience. It’s a frightening prospect for any artist, and watching each of the men slowly embrace the idea is the molten core that makes the film work. Each of them takes a huge chance on the idea, each of them is a little vulnerable during the process, and each of them is a better off afterwards.

Ultimately, women respond to authenticity. Doubt me? Ask yourself this: how did Big Dick Richie get a smile out of the girl at the convenience store?

For the record, I continue to object to a stripper story with a moral, but there it is. Last week, my colleague Madeline Iva alluded to the potential for a new brand of erotic romance, and I hope that’s what she is referring to. I think the genre would benefit from more artistic authenticity and less writing directly to a fickle market. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve pulled many an artistic punch because I thought that’s what the market wanted, and I have been the loser every time. That’s another story for another day, though.

This concludes the word-eating portion of today’s post. I cannot address the place I was right or my major disappointment with this film without disclosing a great deal of plot. All the spoilers come after this classic Toni Braxton video. If you’re trying to avoid that sort of thing, this is a good place to say goodbye for now. I’ll see you back here next week.

Still here? Great.

Last week, I predicted that “everything gritty and complicated and potentially unpleasant or challenging has been excised from the storyline established by the first movie.” Well, that happened. Everything and everyone that made the last movie complicated and challenging has been removed with near-surgical precision. Everything. Everyone. It left me shaking my head, but before long, something else drew my attention. I only mention the surgery here because I cannot pass up an opportunity to say “I told you so.”

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let us come to Rome.

We are introduced to Rome and her club, Domina, when Mike needs help. I won’t waste your time with sugarcoating. Rome runs a predominantly black club. Indeed, it certainly looked like Mike and his friends were the only people in the place who were not black, but that place was crowded, and I can’t say I saw everyone.

That bothers me a little. I have an issue with separate but equal entertainment forms, but I don’t have the space to go into that here, when I’ve addressed it before. In any event, Domina seems like a clear response to complaints that the first film wasn’t diverse enough. I myself didn’t care about that because the first film had enough story to keep me very engaged. I’d also prefer not to have diversity issues resolved by awkwardly sticking a large number of black people onto the plot with duct tape. But that’s not my biggest problem here.

From the beginning, when she sends another man out the room to talk with Mike, it looked to me that Rome was being set up as an asexual special helper. I wanted so much to see that Rome was going to be more than that. She certainly eyes Mike hard after introducing him to the club as a ghost (a ghost, by the way, is someone who disappears from a romantic relationship without so much as “it’s not you, it’s me”). She doesn’t even seem to be angry at Mike after the way he’s treated her in the past.

But that’s as far as it goes. Rome does make Mike work for what he wants, but she takes nothing for herself. I kept waiting for her to cozy up with Mike or one of his lovely friends. I know she’s done it before, so we cannot rely on the tired excuse that maybe she isn’t into the swirl. I even thought Rome’s age was an issue before I saw Andie MacDowell. But sadly, by the time Mike and his crew are upstairs for the only non-sexual afterparty in the entire film, I knew where this was going. Among other things, Rome helps Mike and his friends get to a house filled with authentic Southern caricatures, who are evidently acceptable sex partners. Then she disappears until he needs her again.

No roads lead to Rome.

She’s certainly a capable helper; she’s smart and confident and absolutely fearless. She’s compassionate and gorgeous and open-minded. She also seems to know the business like the back of her exquisitely manicured hand. And so I defy anyone to explain why she isn’t a better love interest than the women at Caricature House. I mean, I think I know what the answer is, but I want to hear someone say it.

Magic Mike XXL goes to great pains to make sure that its audience does not perceive Rome as a potential sex/romance partner for any man in the film. Mike performs to impress her and please her customers, but it’s clearly a matter of business, and he does so with tremendous reluctance. He confesses his relationship with Rome in a low mumble from the darkness of the back seat. I half-expected a fusillade of inappropriate responses, but Mike’s barely audible admission is met with silence. I wondered which would have been worse.

I would never have done this to Rome. Ever.

Part of my brand promise is that heroines like Rome, smart, sexy, confident black women, are at the center of the story, whether they’re in it for the sex itself or the romance or both. You should not find a woman like Rome — who is absolutely killing it despite the fact that this film keeps putting her in men’s clothing — helping other people and leaving the story empty-handed. Not in my stories. I know a lot of other romance writers are also living this brand promise; my colleague Tracey Livesay and I have had many an animated conversation about it. But when are we going to start seeing ripples outside our very narrow slice of Romancelandia? When is popular culture going to start catching up?

I guess it’s possible that an audience of 21st century American women is totally okay with this sort of thing happening to female characters of color. Maybe no one cares that this is quietly encouraging people to think that this is the proper place for female characters of color and by extension, women of color in the real world. I hope that’s not the case, but I guess it’s possible. It’s certainly easier to believe that than it is to accept that no one sees this trend at all.

Let’s return to Toni Braxton.

In the time before she joined the world of questionable reality television, Toni Braxton made the really sex-positive music video I included with this post. The elevator game is a pretty apt metaphor for my own love life (I’ve been a damned lucky girl, and I ain’t done yet), as well as the love lives of my characters. And so this is what I wanted for Rome. I wanted to see her picking and choosing (albeit from a more diverse cast of suitors), not helping and disappearing. I cannot understand why so many characters like Rome are being marginalized, and I don’t get what else I can do to stop this from happening.

But maybe Mike is as much part of the solution as he was part of the problem. Maybe I need to focus harder on just doing what I do and trust that authenticity will open doors for the characters I love so much.

I don’t have the answers. I just have a brand promise and a new determination to be authentic.

As for you, are you following Lady Smut? We’re keeping it real.

Sexy Saturday Round Up Will Be Back Next Week

We’re taking a week off while *some* of us are away at RWA in NYC this week – *cough Liz Everly, Kiersten Hallie Krum cough*.  So we’ll be back next week to head up our usual round up of the good, the bad, and the smexy.  :)  Meanwhile, scroll down to see Elizabeth SaFleur’s yummy interview with Joey W. Hill.

Integrating the Erotic in Romance and Hitting a Groove with Best Selling Author Joey W. Hill

By Elizabeth SaFleur

JOEY W. HILL is en erotic romance author and storyteller who causes one-click, trigger-happy fingers. She’s garnered a legion of fans for her contemporary works, which feature a diverse cast from boardroom executives to cops, as well as her paranormal tales, which involve mermaids, vampires and angels.

Her stories never disappoint to melt your panties off while causing your heart to swell in your chest. Expect to fall in love along with her characters. Also plan to drop everything else in your life so you can finish the book.

She’s penned more than forty acclaimed titles and six award-winning series, and been awarded the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for Erotica. And for good reason.

Joey generously stopped by LadySmut to answer some burning questions about her writing, how she comes up with her characters and what’s next in her many series.

Thanks for stopping by, Joey. Of all the writing genres you could write, why erotic romance?

Romance is my favorite genre to read, but growing up, I found the romance stopped short of how far I wanted it to go. Over time I realized it wasn’t even about “stopping outside the bedroom door”. I wanted a story where the undercurrents of Dominance/submission that were so prevalent in the 80s bodice rippers were fully actualized, as well as an important element of the story itself (not sex thrown in as filler or merely to titillate). I wanted a book that was every bit as good as any other quality romance. When I started writing, it made sense to me to write what I loved most – and what I wanted to read.

One of the many joys in reading yours books is reading about, and sharing, the deep emotional journey with your characters. Where do your characters come from? Do you start with “I’d like to write about something who is X?” or does the character come from some other place?

Thank you! Like most writers, I could claim this or that idea came to me from an intriguing person passed at the grocery store, or a dream I had one night, etc etc etc. However, once I put that down on paper, the character and story almost immediately starts shaping into something unique, with a lot more layers than those brief encounters provided, so I think the truthful answer is I don’t know where they come from. I’m just glad the muse lets me write the stories of these heroes and heroines. I do believe where I go with my characters is very influenced by the stories I loved as a romance reader. They were typically books by those authors who dug deep into who their characters were – Laura Kinsale, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Penelope Williamson, Nora Roberts. They made us feel and share their characters’ moments of broken heartedness and how they overcame obstacles to achieve their love stories.

In your books, you aren’t afraid of mixing up the power exchange stereotypes. I’m thinking about the male characters who are still “alpha-like” who submit (or at least grow equal) to a dominant female (The Vampire Queen’s Servant and Willing Sacrifice) or the dominant female who meets her match (Mirror of My Soul). Do you start a book thinking “I want to explore XYZ type character in ABC power exchange role” or do they come pre-disposed to their place in the power exchange and the story goes from there? Or other?

LOL – I used to have this running joke that all I had to do was think “I’ll never write a story like that” and presto, the muse would throw it right in my lap. My first BDSM romance, Make Her Dreams Come True, was a Male Dom/female sub story. Since I am a female sub and I love those delicious male Doms, I figured that was always the type of dynamic I’d be writing. Oh no. The very next story, Holding the Cards, was a Female Dom/male sub story, with a hot gay Dom helping to initiate the action between them. Then right after that came Natural Law, an alpha male homicide cop who needs to submit in the bedroom. I thought, “great, got that out of my system. Let’s go back to that simple Male Dom/fem sub dynamic. Nope, again, we went from there to Ice Queen, which threw together two Dominants, male and female. Yet writing those books was so stimulating, from there forward I decided whatever the muse deemed I should write next, I wouldn’t question it. That practice has allowed me to explore so many more aspects of the Dom/sub relationship than I would have if I’d just stuck to M/f alone. (though I still love writing those hot male Doms too. LOL).

In your latest contemporary erotic romance book, Soul Rest, you gave us two happy endings. (Thank you!) The two couples are people we’d been introduced to in previous Knights of the Boardroom stories – Ben and Marcie of Hostile Takeover, and Leland and Celeste.  (We met Leland in Afterlife, and Celeste was referenced in earlier books as the reporter who gave the K&A men the “Knights of the Board Room” name; she also shared a free prequel vignette with Ben called “Retribution”, available on the JWH Connection fan forum). Were you always planning on giving these characters more air time? Or did they “ask” for it? (If the latter, do your characters do this often?)

It varies. Sometimes, from the moment a secondary character walks onto the page, I know he or she is going to have a book of his/her own. They have such a strong presence, there’s no doubt in my mind. When Leland came to Rachel’s rescue in Afterlife, he filled up the screen. So he was one of those. Celeste was a bit different. She’d only had a brief mention in the previous books. Then I did a free novella for the fans of the series that featured her and Ben in a prequel. During that freebie, it was mentioned that Matt was going to help her leave the social column for the paper and secure a foothold in crime reporting. As soon as I wrote that line in “Retribution”, I saw her and Leland together. But up until then, I wasn’t sure if or when she’d have her own story, or who Leland’s heroine would be. So it really just depends on the character.

   

The Vampire Queen books present quite a world! The power theme also runs throughout these books with servants and masters either by choice or force. What would you like your readers to get from these power struggles? Or perhaps they are just meant to be a sexy romp and power is sexy!?

It’s funny you should ask this, because recently I’ve received a couple of emails along the lines of “you should really have your next character be like ‘this’,” or “the storyline should go ‘like this’.” I have no control over that, seriously. When I started the Vampire Queen series, I had always wanted to explore the Dominant/submissive possibilities in the vampire-servant relationship, because I loved the mysterious quality of that bond. Discovering how many ways a vampire and servant can express that connection is fascinating, so I’m basically on the same ride with the readers.

We confront situations that aren’t the least bit comfortable and are sometimes downright offensive. They’re almost always politically incorrect, but amid that spiral, at the center of it, we find really intense love stories, which to me is the whole point of any of my stories. Love doesn’t fit a formula, doesn’t have a static etiquette or fit just one mold. It’s as unique as the people involved in it. When you add in Dom/sub elements AND the freedom of putting it in a paranormal/vampire context, you get a captivating journey.

Though yes, it can also be a very sexy romp (grin). Since these books can be pretty extreme at times, there are places where unexpected humor and some less emotionally intense sexiness can help us ease back. Unrelenting drama can be exhausting, after all.

  

Do you start book series with more than one book in mind? Or do they develop into a series later?

These days, most of what I write I know up front if it’s going to kick off a series or not. The exception to that was my very first series. I’d written Holding the Cards and then Natural Law, and was working on Ice Queen when my publisher said, “Hey, since all these explore different facets of a BDSM relationship, why don’t we make them into a series?” So the Nature of Desire series was born and became the series that launched my career.

What is your definition of erotic romance versus steamy romance?

In steamy romance, I think you have great sexual tension and a good amount of sex scenes that are enjoyable to the readers and add to the story, but they don’t drive it. You could tone them down, lift out a few, and the story would still be the story. In erotic romance, particularly BDSM romance, the erotic is integrated with the story such that you would lose important elements of the book if it was removed or watered down. This is not the same as saying the book is just all about sex and there’s no story beyond the bedroom. It means the emotional development of the characters and what makes the readers want to know more about them and see if they get their happily-ever-after is driven as much by the erotic interaction as any other part of the book. It sounds like a fine line between that and a sex-for-sex’s-sake, one-handed read, but it’s a line that erotic romance readers are pretty clear about! (LOL)

Do you have a favorite writing “moment?” Perhaps something just came together or a character you love just appeared (or anything at all)?

No favorite moment per se, but anytime I hit what I call “the groove” when writing, that’s bliss. That’s the moment when all of a sudden I know what’s emerging on the screen is REALLY working, that it’s the way it’s supposed to be. I still might have to edit the crap out of it, but I know it’s the right stuff (beaming).

You are quite generous with your (many) fans, visiting the JWH Connection (fan forum), being on social media, and always willing to engage them. Do you have a favorite “fan” moment?

What you kindly call generosity, I call gratitude for how wonderful my readers are to me, because they truly are. Thanks to them, I’ve been blessed with so many incredible moments, I don’t think I could pick a favorite. But I will pick a fun one (wink). I’m sort of embarrassed to say it gave my ego a mile-high boost (grin). I was at a conference and a group of very enthusiastic ladies approached my table and introduced themselves. One of the ladies held her hand up and said “Look, I’m shaking. I wasn’t even shaking when I met J.R. Ward!” Since I’m an enthusiastic fan of JR Ward’s BDB boys, that was high praise.

So that was one of the ego-stroking moments, and one I’ll cherish. But what has moved me the most over the years are the reader emails that tell me how my work has empowered them in ways that enhance their own loving relationships with significant others. Or how the stories themselves have helped them through some rough personal times. An author really can’t ask for more incredible praise than that.

What is next for you, writing wise? What can we look forward to?

Right now I’m working on the next Vampire Queen series book. While I’ve written contemporary M/m stories, and ménage a trois stories in this series that have some pretty heavy M/m elements, this will be my first purely male/male Vampire Queen series book AND one where both men are sexual Dominants. So it should be interesting to see where it goes! The book is called The Night’s Templar, because one of my heroes, Lord Uthe, was a Templar Knight. Here’s the blurb for the story:

Lord Uthe, a member of the Vampire Council, was a Templar Knight centuries ago. Even up to the present day, he has attempted to honor the spirit of the Rule, despite the volatile and highly sexual nature of the vampire world. Yet now he’s caught the attention of the Fae Lord Keldwyn, liaison between the Council and Fae Court. Keldwyn challenges Uthe’s emotional isolation and dominant nature. When a quest from Uthe’s past requires Keldwyn’s help to protect both their worlds, Uthe will have to decide whether the Fae male is a gift from God to be cherished and trusted, or a curse who will make Uthe fail the Order he promised to serve all his life.

I’m writing the first draft now, and hope to have it out before year end. I’ve been playing with images on my Pinterest board, so if you’d be interested in seeing my impressions of Uthe, Keldwyn and other things related to their story, you’re welcome to visit!

I also have another serial in the Naughty Bits world coming. Naughty Wishes, which will be released initially as a four-novella serial January-April 2016, follows a contemporary threesome. You can read an excerpt here (http://www.storywitch.com/book-nb-ts). Here’s their blurb:

Samantha is in love with her roommates, Geoff and Chris. She knows they feel the same way. After seeing Geoff’s reaction to a visit to Naughty Bits, an erotica shop with an extensive BDSM inventory, she’s also pretty sure he’s a sexual Dominant who wants to claim both her and Chris for his own.

Yet the two men have been best friends since childhood, and that friendship keeps them frustratingly hands-off toward her and each other. She wants to respect their code of honor, but she craves deeper, more primitive reactions from them.

Having a submissive nature herself, she’s more than willing to tease Geoff’s Dominant side to life. Chris is the wild card for them both, but Sam is ready to play the hand they’ve been given. She’s determined to see if her naughtiest wishes can become the love of a lifetime, with two men who are everything her heart desires.

Is there anything you’d like to tell readers that I haven’t asked?

Thanks for letting me hang out here! If you’ve enjoyed my work in the past (or find you enjoy it in the future) I write free novellas and shorts revisiting the characters from my series. It’s my way of thanking my readers for their support; plus it gives me a chance to hang out with the characters in a slice-of-life way, rather than putting them through a full length plot (wink). If you’d be interested in downloading any of those, they’re out on the JWH Connection fan forum. Access and more info about what you’ll find at the forum is available here. (http://www.storywitch.com/community)

Also, at my website you can find FREE excerpts and blurbs on all my books, as well as buy links for most to the multiple vendors. Here are the links to the series we’ve mentioned above if you want to take a look – just click on the book whose excerpt you want to read.

Vampire Queen Series

Nature of Desire Series

Knights of the Board Room Series

SPECIAL NOTE: A handful of my titles are reverting back to me after July 23, so you may find the buy links broken as we transition. Never fear, though – check back in the next week or so and we should have them up to date again!

Where to find out more about JOEY W. HILL:

Website: http://www.storywitch.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JoeyWHillAuthor

Twitter: @JoeyWHill

Fan Forum: http://www.storywitch.com/community

Thank you for stopping by, Joey!