Book-Inspired Fantasies... We all have them!

So I was kind of a strange kid when it came to sex. Like most, it started fascinating me at the gateway to puberty, but it wasn’t just about the hormones for me. Probably because of the submissive orientation I didn’t realize I had until my 20s, there was a real interest in the psychological and emotional dynamics of sexual interaction. And since I was an avid reader, aspiring writer and overwhelmingly romantic soul, I couldn’t help but let my fantasies intertwine with the stories I read, which resulted in some questions I still ponder to this day:

1) Why can’t Guinevere have BOTH Lancelot and Arthur? And this applied to pretty much any book I read that had the “triangle” love story. If both heroes were very compelling, I didn’t see why she couldn’t have them both. Pissed me off something fierce when LKH backed off from a Jean-Claude/Anita/Richard trinity. Though they did have that one fabulous scene together in the early books. Maybe they got back together in future books. I hope they did, though I think Anita virtually has a harem now, lol. I still have Guilty Pleasures on my keeper shelf.

2) Later, when I discovered a love for male/male romances, that question about Guinevere, Lancelot and Arthur expanded into: “And why can’t they be an equilateral triangle, with all of them wanting each other; male/male, female/male, male/female, etc…" In short, Lancelot and Arthur could want each other as much as they both wanted Guinevere (wicked grin).

3) I want to be ravished by a pirate captain! Is that bad? Yes, I know that in actual history they were scary and often terribly brutal men who lived in appallingly non-hygienic conditions, but the ones in my 80s bodice rippers – I totally wanted to be ravished by one of them.

4) Couldn’t most fights between romantically involved fictional characters be resolved by a good spanking? I always thought that would take care of most of the relationship problems in the Harlequin Silhouettes, though sometimes it was a coin toss as to who needed to be tied up and spanked the most – hero or heroine!

5) And not a book issue, but I have to throw it in regardless, because it has bugged me ever since I was a faithful devotee of the Adam West Batman series (yes, I admitted that openly, lol). Does Batman have to untie Batgirl when he rescues her? Couldn’t he also tie up Catwoman and keep her in his Bat Cave? We all know that place already has the perfect feng shui to become a play dungeon.

I’m pretty sure the erotic romance genre was born from questions like these. Avid romance readers who were aspiring writers, who wanted to see their favorite romance tropes taken further, darker and deeper. In my teens I read a lot of bodice rippers that already straddled that edge. The 80s were far less politically correct (thank the Goddess) when it came to writing romance. However, political correctness has proven a boon in an unexpected way in current day erotic romance writing. Some of the topics that were mostly off limits for 80s romance – overt BDSM dynamics, polyamory relationships, male/male romance – are now considered acceptable enough to have good mainstream followings!

I’m working on another blog post about a far more complex question, but it proved too overwhelming for my Friday brain state, lol. As a result, I wanted to leave you with this lighthearted topic to start the weekend. But I'll be back with the other one hopefully soon. Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Daughters of Arianne series self-pub re-release! Pre-order discount price of $8.97 for all THREE full length novels with angel heroes and mermaid heroines (and a vampire hero in Book III – grin). Here’s a pic of the new cover of A Mermaid’s Kiss to enjoy. You can also visit the Daughters of Arianne series page to read all blurbs, excerpts and find buy links, or find the trilogy on Amazon here.