SFR and Erotica Go Hand in Hand
AUTHOR: Diane Whiteside,

Thanks to factors as diverse as heightened consumer interest and the brown-package ease of internet shopping, erotic fiction is currently enjoying a popularity that has vaulted the genre into mass market and bestseller status. A casual search of any large bookstore will reveal countless offerings of erotic novels and anthologies from a variety of publishers.

Likewise, science fiction romance is experiencing a similar surge in audience. The Paranormal Romance list at Yahoo!Groups was established three years ago to encourage publishers by providing grassroots support for paranormal romance, and the SFR newsletter has been in continuous publication for eight years. Romance writers? conferences buzzed in 2002 when the major New York publishers started asking for paranormal romances; it was the first time in years this subgenre was sought after. Other publishers, such as sf/f and small publishers, also have begun to seek authors who can effectively add romance to their speculative fiction.

Because both types of fiction are in demand, it is natural that erotica and science fiction romance would be combined at some point. However, that doesn?t explain the high percentage of speculative elements in erotic fiction, especially from smaller, cutting-edge publishers who specialize in sensual romances: many of them devote a significant number of offerings to science fiction romance. The percentage varies, from 23% of Allure Books? novellas, 24% of HardShell?s sensual romance, 34% of Red Sage Publishing?s Secrets novellas?all the way up to 75% of Zumaya?s erotica. You won?t find that percentage in non-erotic fiction, unless you wander into the sf/f section of the bookstore.

At Ellora?s Cave, an e-publisher focused on sensual romances for women, 61% of all books can be considered SFR. As of December 2002, they listed twenty-three ?futuristic/fantasy? romances, eight ?Gothic/vampire,? sixteen ?paranormal,? and seven ?time travel.? Even the categories open to any romance genre are dominated by SFR: all of their anthologies are SFR, as are 40% of their ?quickies? (long short stories).

Now I?d like to offer up a few definitions. Erotica is a genre frequently given very subjective boundaries so I?ll try for some objective ones.

Erotica is sexually explicit literature, which may or may not be a romance. It?s usually described by comparing it to porn, where erotica has some degree of plot and character development while porn is composed only of sex scenes meant to arouse. Since everyone has a personal standard for what?s good sexual titillation, this definition is subjective. The most objective definition I?ve found for porn is that more than 50% of the word count is devoted to explicit scenes. This obviously leaves little time for characterization, plot or setting.

Even further from porn is a form of erotica called romantica, published by most of the aforementioned presses as well as Kensington?s Brava line, Harlequin?s Blaze line, and others. Ellora?s Cave defines romantica as ?any work of literature that is both romantic and sexually explicit in nature. Within this genre, a man and a woman develop ?in love? feelings for one another that culminate in a monogamous relationship.? In other words, romantica is a sexually explicit, classic romance. Erotic fiction does not necessarily end with a monogamous relationship of any sort.

Now that the definitions are out of the way, let?s consider why mixing science fiction and erotica is so popular with both readers and authors. For one thing, paranormal elements allow an even greater range of adventurous and unusual sex acts, which normal humans could not perform. Laurell K. Hamilton?s fairies enjoy a variety of different ways to have sex in her Meredith Gentry books, including one male with penile tentacles. Christine Feehan?s Carpathians savor psychic links with their life mates.

Building an sf/f world permits role reversal during procreation, as in Stephanie Burke?s Keeper of the Flame where the male gives birth. THE HUNTER?S PREY: TALES OF TEXAS VAMPIRES, my anthology of vampire stories, includes a short story where the master vampire teaches his fledgling how to feed on a woman?s emotions during orgasm while leaving her alive and eager for another encounter. The two vampires do this without telepathic coercion, providing a different reason for having sex, thanks to the sf/f worldbuilding in their vampire universe.

For another thing, adding paranormal elements can help overcome reader discomfort with certain aspects of some erotica. Some individuals might feel it?s a step backwards for women?s lib to enjoy the idea of being kidnapped by a tall, dark and dangerous hero who?s going to have his wicked way with the heroine. Bondage, rape or near-rape fantasies also suffer a certain stigma. Sf/f elements can shake a situation out of Earth?s social constraints when a totally different culture, lifestyle or life form is encountered.

?Bound by the Dream,? Angela Knight?s novella in CAPTIVE DREAMS, centers on Celeste Carson, an author who?s planning to kill off Jarred Varrain, the cyborg secret agent hero of her space operas, because she?s tired of writing about him. Unfortunately for her, Jarred Varrain is very real and very angry at how she?s treated him, and the people he loves, over the years. In revenge he kidnaps Celeste and takes her back to his space ship. It?s entirely safe for the reader to enjoy Celeste?s imprisonment under these circumstances since the story takes place in a different world where modern 21st-century rules don?t apply?and heck, Celeste?s been fantasizing about it for years. And yet the reader still experiences the situation through the eyes of a modern day woman with whom it is easy to empathize, unlike a pure historical.

Another reason mixing science fiction/fantasy and erotica is popular is because it can be helpful to an author. Frankly, it?s very challenging coming up with a believable reason to get the hero and heroine in bed frequently when writing about humans as we know them. It can be done -- pick up any Blaze book or contemporary romance from Ellora?s Cave ? but adding sf/f increases the explanations an author can use to help suspend disbelief.

?Bound by the Dragon,? my novella in CAPTIVE DREAMS, centers on Mykhayl Tibronson?s need to sire a son. He?s the High King of Torhtremer and the only one who can summon Khyber, the imperial dragon, to protect his country from the Dark Warrior?s depredations. Only his son can inherit this power. Mykhayl, who is wounded, discovers Corinne Carson is the only woman who can heal him using magic based on traditional Chinese sexuality. Corinne understands many people will suffer tremendously if Mykhayl doesn?t have a son who can fight the Dark Warrior. And voila! I?ve got a hero and heroine who are going to spend a lot of time alone together in sexually explicit scenes, thanks to building a SFR world.

The sexual scenes in ?Bound by the Dragon? do more than just turn the book from classic romance into romantica. In my erotic novels, I try to have at least one sexually explicit scene in every chapter. Not every chapter has such a scene but probably a quarter to a third of each book is sexually explicit. I must be careful that my love scenes aren?t there just to titillate, emphasize a plot point or provide a pleasant interlude; they forward the plot and characterization.

We already know that a romantica author needs a plot that can be told in the bedroom, so to speak, but it also needs a hero and heroine who can negotiate their issues during the sex act. Since there are so many sex scenes, sex must be used to forward the narrative instead of just enhance it. Otherwise, the book might be just a series of sexually explicit scenes without a plot -- porn.

Decker, Angela Knight?s vampire hero in ?Blood and Kisses? from SECRETS 3, depends on the emotional energy gained from his prey?s orgasm, which is a very different reason for a sexual relationship. When Beryl hires him as her bodyguard, she first becomes intimate with him so that he?ll have the strength to defeat the vampire trying to kill her.

Every author also has to consider issues that will make the reader disbelieve her story. For a romantica author, these are political correctness (i.e., is this an acceptable situation or an offensive one), pregnancy (since female readers are almost always very sensitive to this) and safe sex. Safe sex is tricky to write and uncomfortable to read so it?s frequently not mentioned.

?Dragon?s? plot answers the political correctness issues since Corinne knows she needs to be sexually involved with Mykhayl in order to save his people from the Dark Warrior. The pregnancy issue (which always seems to be the biggest one for romance readers) is handled by the fact that Mykhayl is ?shooting blanks.? Finally, Torhtremer?s wizards make very sure that the High King is perfectly healthy, thus guaranteeing safe sex.

Readers and writers of science fiction have many common interests that fit in well with erotica. SFR readers already know that they?re reading books that break boundaries, contain highly imaginative worlds, and examine issues. They like to read SFR because it?s an escape from the real world, according to a recent thread on the Ellorascave list at Yahoo!Groups. Romantica and erotica also push the boundaries and hence can be attractive to the SFR reader.

Frankly, one of the things that I like about writing erotic fiction is that it?s the last frontier of what?s acceptable. Since I have the freedom to write it, I have the freedom to write anything else I want. And SFR readers are well versed in creative freedom so they?ll read it and enjoy it. The combination of science fiction romance and erotica is a very happy marriage between author and readers.

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Diane Whiteside writes erotic romances for Ellora's Cave. Visit her website at www.dianewhiteside.com for more information.