The 2024 elections in the United States are devastating to all who believe in freedom of expression and freedom of speech.
Censorship is coming to the United States. Censorship of the books you want to read. Prepare for the censorship apocalypse now.
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My American Revolution male-male gender-bending role play erotica short “On the Eighteenth of January, ’78; or, A Night at Valley Forge” is finally available as an ebook single!
It’s my favorite of all my short stories and I am happy to bring it to you in all of its standalone, wintry glory. As a beta reader said when it was first written, the story is “super kinky and bizarre and queer.”
Grab it now at a discount! During the pre-order and new release period it’s only 99¢! Price goes up on March 1, 2024. Continue reading
In 2018, I was on a Seasoned Romance panel at the Emerald City Writers Conference. My topic was “Sex and the Seasoned Romance”. I was recently reminded of this presentation when another author posted a rather shocking comment in a seasoned romance author discussion group I am no longer a member of:
“I would not write an erotic romance about an older couple…simply because there’s a level of maturity that makes their sexual relationship much deeper and more meaningful, because of all they’ve been through.”
Uh…that’s exactly why an author can write a seasoned erotic romance! Or even just sex scenes featuring seasoned characters.
I’m still trying to get my head around what this author might have meant. Does she think “erotic romance” means lots of vacuous, meaningless sex? Because that’s not what an erotic romance is at all. In fact, the “maturity that makes their sexual relationship much deeper and more meaningful” feeds into what an erotic romance is: a sexual journey leading to a happily-ever-after. Continue reading
In one of my writers’ groups the subject of heat levels in romance came up, and how to describe romance novel sexy times (or lack thereof) on some sort of scale.
You probably think this is an easy discussion, right? Ha!
There is literally no industry standard for heat levels, and yet romance readers constantly want to know what to expect sexiness-wise between the covers.
Having no industry standard means everyone has their own opinion including one particular retailer which randomly puts romance books into their “Erotica Dungeon” even if said romance book is not erotica (plus erotica is not a heat level — more on that below). Continue reading
I’ve done a lot of blog interviews over the years, each time offering a little view into my writing process or my personal history. I just assumed the interviews would be up forever, because the internet is forever, right? Well, sort of. Blogs go cold or end entirely, which means one wouldn’t get a chance to read the interview ever again!
This post is the first of a series where I re-post my old interviews from other people’s blogs. I thought it might be fun for my readers to get to know more about me, and for me to see how far I’ve grown and changed as a writer. Most interviews are done as part of book promotion, so I’ll note which book I was promoting at the time. Continue reading
In the opulent palace of Ctesiphon, the capital of ancient Parthia, lives a princess who searches for the stolen throne of her kingdom, the sella regia. She engages the services of a palace eunuch in her quest, a handsome and astute advisor. Over the years, respect and esteem transform into love, love deepens into trust, trust sparks sexual exploration.
Thus is the set up for my two short stories “An Unexpected Discovery”, an erotic romance, and the follow up, “The Eunuch”, a BDSM flash fiction erotica short. In “An Unexpected Discovery” the Parthian princess Roedogune searches for the sella regia with the assistance of Arashis, the eunuch assigned to her by her husband. It’s an erotic romance, so it’s not really giving it away to say Roedogune and Arashis end up together — romance is about the emotional and physical journey since readers already know there will be a happily-ever-after.
Creating a romantic connection between characters is what a romance writer does. And sometimes that writer is given an opportunity to explore the relationship beyond the happily-ever-after, to take a peek into the life of a couple after that first flush of excitement.
Continuing a romance is especially wonderful if the characters are beloved characters, more so if these are characters who almost did not make the page. Continue reading
In a couple of discussion forums I’m on, the question of what is erotic romance vs. what is steamy romance has come up yet again.
As a writer of both, and of erotica, I know the answer. I wrote a blog post about it way back in 2015. Since some parts of that post are no longer relevant (especially the bits about a now-defunct publisher), I decided it was time to reprise my definitions post, with some updates.
I’ve been writing erotica, erotic romance, and steamy romance for well over a decade, and am mystified (and annoyed) that our industry has not yet solidified the definitions of these genres. Does definition diminish creativity? Not at all. What it does is help industry professionals better understand what is being written, marketed, and sold. With definitions, the industry as a whole would be on the same page. Continue reading
My American Revolution male-male stories are together at last in one ebook!
Winter Interlude: An American Revolutionary Novelette (American Revolutionary Tales Book 2) and a bonus story “On the Eighteenth of January, ’78; or, A Night at Valley Forge” are now available for pre-order for only 99¢!
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“How many sex scenes?” is a perennial question in the National Novel Writing Month Erotica Forum. Meaning, how many sex scenes should an erotica or erotic romance novel have? Just this week, I saw the same question asked on a private Facebook group and felt compelled to write this blog post with the answer and an explanation.
The answer? Wait for it… Continue reading
[UPDATE: THE WESTERMAN AFFAIR was republished by Viridium Press. See my new blog post about the re-release!]
Happy Release Day To Me!! The Westerman Affair is out!!
An acclaimed painter. His provocative muse. Her obliging husband.
The Westerman Affair.
A tale of spanking and polyamory in the Victorian art world