Dark Erotica

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Interviews and Roundtables:

This was a roundtable reprinted from the Erotic Readers and Writers Association.

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“Dark erotica,” says Duana R. Anderson (Enter the Dark Side: A Guide to Writing and Marketing Dark Erotica), “is not easily defined.” At its best, it combines two of our most basic instincts, fear and lust, into a new fable, a new story which both explores the power of the “unknown” to chill us and the strong desires for sexual contact that thrill us. And most of us, it seems, still like to get scared out of our pants.

We’re also thrilled this month to gather together four of the most prominent authors and editors who have made a name for themselves in Dark Erotica.

D. N. Simmons’ Knights of the Darkness Chronicles—Desires Unleashed and The Guilty Innocent—weaves a world where the supernatural and “normal” humans co-exist in a kind of uneasy truce that is broken in a mix of homoeroticism, darkness, suspense, and very hot erotica.

Edward Lee’s dark tales include Flesh Gothic, City Infernal, Sex, Drugs & Power Tools, Incubi, Succubi, Monstrosity, Coven, and NightLust, to mention only a few. A reviewer has written of his work that it is as if lust-driven frenzy and sultry dreams spark the most erotic obsessions, while something wanton stalks you from the darkest heart of the night.

Author and editor, Therese Szymanski has an impressive list of works under her banner, ranging from Call of the Dark: Erotic Lesbian Tales of the Supernatural, Bell, Book And Dyke novellas: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians, When Good Girls Go Bad, Back to Basics: A Butch/Femme Erotic Anthology as well as her Motor City series of dark erotica from Bella Books.

Paula Guran is an icon of the horror and supernatural genre. She produced DarkEcho, a weekly email newsletter for horror writers and others, for over six years (1994-2001) and was recognized with two unprecedented back-to-back Bram Stoker Awards for Nonfiction from the Horror Writers Association (1998 and 1999) as well as an International Horror Guild Award (1999), and a World Fantasy nomination (1997). Guran also edited the anthology Embraces: Dark Erotica (Venus or Vixen)—termed in a starred review in Publishers Weekly: “Provocative, intelligent, subversive and, above all, artful.”

William Dean (WD): Call it legend, myth, or simply spooky story, throughout history (and doubtless back through pre-history), tales designed to scare the pants off people have endured in popularity. Without getting too psychological, what do you think are the three most significant aspects that tie together hot sex and things that go bump in the night?

D. N. Simmons (DS): Well it definitely depends on which type of myth we’re talking about. No one wants to get down and dirty with Freddy Krueger, at least I hope not. In fiction you have vampires, shape-shifters, witches, fairies and ghosts. I do believe that these creatures monopolize the genre fantasy world. For instance, when Bela Lugosi graced the screen as Dracula, we have since viewed vampires as sexy.

There was a time when vampires were not created to have intercourse, but as the world becomes sexually aware and accepting this transcends into our entertainment. These are creatures who can be deadly, secretive/taboo and fearless. This makes them powerful and exciting, thus sexy and when something is sexy, most people fantasize about having sex with them, fiction novels allow that to happen.

Edward Lee (EL): Indeed, they say the first “stories” were pictographs scrawled in caves which depicted supernatural events; likewise, the first evolved human impulse beyond food and survival was the impulse to have sex—to propagate the species. I can discern no reason not to believe this myself because it makes perfect sense.

The most effective horror stories are those that regard this impulse. Why?

Because both involve taboos: sexual ones and violent ones. Shakespeare’s plays are full of sex and violence, and so is Greek Tragedy. Stoker’s 1897 Dracula was brimming with erotic undertones which can be found just as potently even in the vampire stories that predated it: Polidori’s “The Vampyre,”1819, and La Fanu’s “Carmilla,” 1871. Let’s not forget Walpole’s 1765 The Castle Otranto, often cited as the first published piece to exist in what would later become the bona fide “horror genre.” There’s no overt sex in it but if you look closely there’s much sexual innuendo to interpret. Poe’s “the Fall of the House of Usher” is a story, ultimately, about incest, and on and on.

All of these tales are effective and notable because they wed the scary with the suggestively erotic. Perceptions have become more explicit since then, of course, to the point that there’s far less suggestive in the mix.

Therese Szymanski (TS): For at least the past hundred years, things that go bump have gone through an increasing sexualization. For instance, I recently watched a 20/20 episode about vampires that brought this up: Bram Stoker’s Dracula was old, ugly and reprehensible. That was one dude you didn’t want to shack up with. (And in his first film presentation, that pretty much held true, but when he first appeared in an American film (1933), he was all with the suave and debonair. Something that has continued.)

Down to topic—three things that hook it up:

A. You can push it as far as you imagination allows. You want a triple-breasted whore? So be it! Reality leaves the room, so, for instance, you don’t have to worry about safer sex.

B. Hurts so good. Intensity, which is what this stuff is all about—scary, sexy—it’s all intense, and this increases the endorphins hitting the bloodstream, giving us an overall feeling of exultation and, well, drug-induced euphoria. This is like when I work out so hard, jog/run so much, it hurts, hormones hit my blood so hard and sweet that it feels so good… That same thing is triggered by horror, just as fear triggers sexual response in the BDSM context.

C. Market forces. We’d be writing for an empty house if there wasn’t an audience. Thus, we write it because there is an audience and we can sell it (or else, there’s an online audience, so we put it out there—after all, feedback from the audience is the reward for online writers).

Paula Guran (PG): Well, this is probably too “psychological” for you and it is not three things, but here’s a theory:

Human beings are essentially alone in the universe. We seek love, understanding, empathy, a sharing of our solitary burden of mortality. Sex can be the physical expression of this desire, but sex is also scary because it can overwhelm, make us lose control, and bring out the beast within us. It can also make us vulnerable.

But sex and its overwhelming emotions and sensations weren’t always seen as “bad” and something to be reined in. The sexual and the spiritual were, earlier in human history, not divided into evil (darkness, matter, flesh) and good (light, the spirit, the divine). Ecstasy was a spiritual experience. When religions developed their hostility toward the sexual, we were taught to repress and restrict it, that it was sinful and evil.

That sex could control us, could push us to extremes, could make us step outside the bounds we considered “self” became something fearful rather than enlightening. But we never lost the desire, maybe even the need, to go to those extremes we now consider “dark”. We seek the ecstatic and we fear it.

WD: Whether it’s innocents cursed by others (such as werewolves and vampires turned by a bite), misunderstood monsters (such as the one created by Dr. Frankenstein), or “spirits” (from demons to haunting ghosts)—the trend lately in literature seems to paint the other worldly ones with a far more human brush, to give them human wants and needs, like love and sexual desires. Is this an important element to help readers identify with such otherworldly characters?

PG: I don’t think it has much to do with otherworldliness at all. All these “monsters” have just been turned into images of erotic fantasy—they are super-human lovers and, in most cases, have been stripped of any ability to evoke fear. Most have no more to do with the terrifying aspects of the uncanny than a poster of Pamela Anderson—in fact, come to think of it, Pammie’s scarier.

TS: I’ve edited a few anthologies now—and one thing I told someone on my first was something like, “I might be able to use this with a rewrite. You need to explain what happens to me, and make it hot to me.” That particular story dealt with water sports. I was intrigued, but that writer really needed to sell it to my audience, she needed to explain to my readers why it was hot, because it was likely something they (my readers) weren’t really comfortable with and wouldn’t understand—or believe the possible heat of.

More women than ever are reading erotica and women need to identify with someone in the scene (the active, the passive or the voyeur... somebody) on an intimate basis to get really turned on—and it’s really difficult to identify personally with a possessed dog or car.

So, hell yes—if it’s erotica, the reader needs to relate and understand. It needs to be real and pertinent. They need to be in the skin in order to get turned on and have the greatest possible reaction.

I write and edit to make women wet. Unless I’m writing boys’ stuff, then it’s to get them off. So that’s what I’m focused on.

I think it’s intimacy between reader/writer that makes it all work. And I really can’t get heated up about doing it with another species, like a dog, horse, mountain lion or swamp otter—and that’s the race/species otherworldlies, like demons, and other monsters, fall into (other) unless they’re rather human.

EL: Sometimes yes, sometimes no, I suppose. My otherworldly novels City Infernal and Infernal Angel both take living protagonists into hell, where they discover that human (and inhuman) dynamics are essentially synonymous, and hell itself isn’t that much more corrupt, lustful, and evil than the living world. In fact, maybe it isn’t as much as what readers identify with as the instincts of the author. A lot of my work focuses on charactorial sexuality because it seems important to me, it seems relative and realistic.

DS: Yes, most definitely. I know that it was my goal when creating the character of my series. I love when I read a novel or even see a movie with characters that I can relate to. It makes for a very enjoyable getaway into a fantasy world that seems real.

WD: Perhaps because of the evil or black magic aspect of dark erotica, there seems to be a lot of genre crossover to include BDSM and gay/lesbian situations. Do you think this flirts with the mythology of incubae/sucubae, of demonic shape-shifters climbing into our beds to seduce us into so-called “forbidden practices”?

EL: Why not? I’ve never thought of it that way, but what a great suggestion! It could be an aspect of one thing symbolizing something else, something older.

PG: Okay, I’m baffled by what is meant by “genre crossover to include BDSM and gay/lesbian situations” and even more baffled by what it has to do with the mythology mentioned.

DS: That really depends on the author’s course of seduction for their characters. I don’t really associate evil with being gay or straight. I do believe that there is a definite allure with the forbidden or at least the unknown. It’s mysterious and arouses curiosity. And what helps create this seduction is the sexuality of the character itself. Some people might want to see two men together and for them, it may be even more satisfying if the two men were vampires.

TS: Yes. We’re verboten ourselves (those of us who dance on the far side-with our LGBT, BDSM, whatever inclinations—so shouldn’t we be driven toward the verboten (dark erotica)? We live on the edge and can particularly relate with all the otherworldliness. We know what it’s like to have a cross held in our faces so we hiss and back away.

Anyone who dances on the edge of society—and admits it—can relate with the creatures of the night. None of us quite fit in, after all. (This question directly hooks into the intro to my anthology: Call of the Dark.)

For folks who don’t dance with us, then yes, being drawn into—forced into, even—such “depraved” practices can hold an especial allure.You can do what you really want to in the deepest, darkest corners of your soul, but you’re not responsible for it, because you’ve been forced.

WD: Critics and pundits often say that horror stories appeal to people who feel different or alienated from the norm. (whatever that may be) Do you think, as more alternative lifestyles and sexual choices become mainstream that the appeal of dark erotica will change?

DS: Yes, I believe that more authors will grow to feel more comfortable creating gay and bisexual characters as long as the world continues to accept and understand other cultures and sexual orientations/lifestyles. See, right now, some people still look at homosexuality as a taboo subject. As long as TV shows such as Queer as Folk and the L Word continue to gain popularity more barriers will be broken down and a new style of erotica can emerge in full force.

EL: I don’t agree that horror appeals to those who aren’t part of the so-called norm. Everybody seeks the escape of a fantasy when they chose a book they want to read, doesn’t matter if it’s horror, romance, sci-fi, etc. It’s something that takes them away from the monotony of the real world, and it does it in a manner that’s exciting. Most horror fans I know—even the hardest-core horror fans—very much exist in the norm.

Deeper levels of sexuality in horror fiction is simply a matter of taste and interest. America tries too hard to psychologize everything when in truth there’s nothing psychological about it. It’s just entertainment!

PG: They do? I don’t think that’s so at all. That’s a little like saying music as a whole only appeals to people who are alienated. Horror fiction is part of literature and appeals, in one form or another, to everyone.

And, last time I looked, half of mainstream America was, on one hand, more repressive than ever, while the other half was more open. Alternatives become mainstream is a rather iffy prediction.

But, more to the point—since there’s very, very little good dark erotica being published. If anything, it’s all the bad dark erotica that will kill it, not social mores.

TS: It’s already changing, darling. My anthology Call of the Dark: Erotic Supernatural Lesbian Tales has all manners of beasties and things thumping in the night—but it’s all fairly vanilla with the sex bits. (Now, it might send my mom a-running, but it won’t many other moms.)

My furthest stretch into BAD is in my next anthology—A Perfect Valentine. Now, in any volume I try to stretch folks (considering that many of my readers might be the loyal vanilla readers familiar with my last publishing company’s rather vanilla offerings). I aim for them, and to work them toward being BADder. Anyway, there’s one story that’s quite... Well. Needles. Many of. I gave it to my co-editor for a second opinion as to whether or not we ought to include the tale, because the author made it work. She sold the tale. And my co-editor agreed. So we could slide it into the middle.

I’m approaching this entire interview as a lesbian—an LGBT person. And so, when I look at how acceptance of being LGBT has broadened and deepened over the years—from 1973 when Naiad Press was founded, and, when it closed, more than a quarter century later—I see that more and more LGBT publishing houses have come to be, and how many mainstream houses are now accepting us. I see our presence on TV and movies and in the newspaper increase.

And so, it doesn’t really surprise me that with so many more folks accepting us, I’m now seeing various vampire, witch and werewolf novels taking over the checkout lane at my local grocer’s. I don’t know how hot and erotic those books are, but since we’re sliding into more inventive stuff than the same-old/same-old fluffy romances in the check-out lanes, it stands to reason dark erotica is also growing.

Of course, if any more Republicans get into the Oval Office, we’ll go even further backward, the country will go to hell, and we all might as well buy seats on the next Al Queda airplane as all our dark erotica gets burned and banned.

WD: We always hear a lot about the human response generally called “flight or fight” when confronted with the unknown or a terrifying threat. Do you think, considering the popularity of dark erotica, that we should, perhaps, add another alternative, such as “flight, fight, or fuck?”

TS: No. I don’t think that real people, in real, terrifying situations would likely react by fucking.

Granted, endorphins, et cetera, might make viewing a horror film nice foreplay—since watching such would likely increase endorphins in the bloodstream, and endorphins are a drug that makes ya feel good.

And I can personally say that when my dead father came to visit me, I was not thinking about sex, nor did I think about sex during any car accident, when some guy held a gun to my head, or when I jumped off a cliff and thought I was about to die. Now, none of this is supernatural or anything like that (except the first), but still—it’s reflective of fight or flight—and none show anything about fucking as a response to terror. (My friends would probably say that if anyone would think of fucking as a response, it would be me.)

But it’s fun to imagine. It’s rather like writing a good rape scene. Rape isn’t good, but… Well, having someone come in and force you into things you really want to do and experience can be right hot.

FF&F [Flight, Fight, Fuck]. Well, the response isn’t something we can easily change, because a response just happens. However, in our writing, we can push the limits. Just like I wouldn’t write a real rape scene—but I’ve written scenes that are close to. The key is to make the scene real enough to trigger all the memories and fantasies, while creating a safe environment, but not being too blatant about the safety, since safety takes away risk, and risk ups the endorphins…

And a lot of the questions you’re asking are rather Catch-22s. Gosh, you’re evil.

DS: Hell, why not! It opens doors for more romantic or erotic relationships to be developed between characters that might not have had anything in common otherwise. Instead of staking the vampire, you could get “staked” by him. Why let the animal magnetism of the werewolf scare you away when you could put it to good use? (Crude, I know).

PG: No...not to mention that I don’t see any great “popularity” of dark erotica. If it were, M. Christian would be a best-selling author. I do see a lot of paranormal romance, some of it quite erotically explicit. I see best-selling fantasy that includes explicit sex scenes. I don’t want to get into quibbling over definitions here—I’m not sure I could define dark erotica to start with—but when you start to talk about “great popularity,” I begin to think we aren’t talking about the same fiction.

EL: I think we already have that in erotic fiction but we haven’t defined it as such because it isn’t necessary.

WD: Getting back to a BDSM element in dark erotica, which do you think has the stronger appeal: being a powerless victim of a lustful creature, or the opportunity (once victimized) to become an all powerful lustful creature yourself? A combination of both?

PG: Hmm, keep getting back to BDSM, do we? Are we learning something about our interviewer here?

I think “appeal” is a personal question for any erotica and, depending on where you are on your own personal journey into kink, your emotional response may change over time. Horror is, remember, an emotion, and dark erotica plays in that same bed.

But I think it is important, too, to point out there’s an assumption in the question that “horror” (and thus, by extension, dark erotica) is only about themes like good vs. evil and revenge. Those themes are not the only ones; nowadays they are seldom even among the best.

DS: Oh, it’s a combination of both. It all depends on your perspective. ( I believe that BDSM has been the main plot in heterosexual romance novels for some time.) Some people would find it more mischievous and erotic to become the sexual predator. To take anyone they deem worthy of the ecstasy they can offer. While some people would prefer to have their bodice ripped or jocks snatched off by a powerful creature only to be brought to the full height of indescribable pleasure they never knew existed.

EL: Obviously both do and it doesn’t really even involve BDSM directly. In fiction, the symbol couldn’t be more apparent: the lustful creature pervading over the victim mirrors the sex crimes and sexual exploitation we read about in the papers and see on TV every day. It’s just reworking one thing to suggest something else.

TS: They’re equally erotic/sexual/of the turning on.

Total surrender—down to being tied up—can be just as hot as being the clothed one while your partner is naked.

A lot of the call of the dark depends on extremes—e.g., naked versus clothed, victim versus attacker, rapee versus rapist. Some might prefer one or the other, due to their own personal background and history—’cause, really, after all, it might be wicked hot to be taken in all sorts of ways that one’s own morality, or restrictions, might not allow—but, equally, being a really powerful being (who always wears really cool clothes) is also attractive.

Or… being powerless against someone who nukes the wall of morality between you and your deepest desire is something that can scare the hell out of you (and up those wonderful endorphins), and having someone make your hottest dreams come true regardless of what you’re socialized and brought to believe are good and bad things can be really hot.

WD: According to many scholars, the gothic style of horror and dark erotica grew out of the works of many of the Romantics, such as Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, Sheridan le Fanu, and others whose works revel in sensual description and characters given over to high emotions.

How do you think that has changed with modern dark erotica or has it?

TS: I think many of us who write dark erotica are more aware of our roots than many other writers. Talk to us, and you’ll find we’re better aware of predecessors than many other genres.

Some awareness of the past is essential in the field of Supernaturality. For instance, all Frankenstein legends and tales are based on Mary Shelley’s work. And much vampirical legend is based on Bram Stoker’s work. Or maybe, Stoker combined with every actor who ever worked on a vampire flick—as well as every writer, director, production designer and gaffer who ever worked on one. Etcetera. Vampires might have existed in our minds before then, but it was only Bram Stoker who really created a mythos so readily accepted into our collective minds.

But now we’re increasingly making the tales our own—and while some might keep the aggrandized emotions, others focus on the humanity, some look at the horror and creepiness, while others and more others look at ever further different things.

So pretty much, yes, we’re changing from the original concepts—much like we’re rewriting, redoing, and remixing the ten plotlines. We, the writers, are being creative—such as the fans demand of us.

EL: Fundamentally it hasn’t changed. We think of Poe, Shelley, etc., as writers of the old school, but in their times they were modernists, they were producing the most daring fiction the world had ever seen. The building blocks of fiction are still the same, only the composition of the blocks themselves have changed. As society evolves, everything else evolves with it, and fiction has evolved similarly.

We’re a more explicit society now; hence our fictions is more explicit, and so is everything else in the entertainment industry. It has nothing to do with a deterioration of morality; in fact, I believe morality has progressed. I also believe that the world was far more perverted hundreds of years ago than it is today. You can call extreme fiction undisciplined and lacking practical censorship, or you can call it a reflection of a more honest society. Some critics would call my view naive and irresponsible, but I think just as many might agree.

PG: If the question refers to the canonical Gothic literature, romanticism grew out of it rather than the reverse as stated. So, I’m confused as by what is meant by ‘the “gothic” style of horror and dark erotica’.

DS: Well for one instance, the language has changed. Many modern day authors describe their sensual scenes using all sort of terms some may consider vulgar or not vulgar enough. Also, those who read genre style novels have their own preferences, therefore the demand on what is considered entertaining or acceptable erotica varies.

WD: What do you think has most influenced you to write dark erotica?

DS: (Giggle) Well, I have always enjoyed reading sex scenes in books. I am also an huge fan of supernatural creatures. I have a nice collection of Beboy novels as well as Anne Rice’s entire Vampire Chronicles. She was the first author I was aware of that had bisexual characters in her vampire novels. Poppy Z. Brite is another author. I’ve always wanted to write supernatural fiction and these two authors inspired me to create a sexual and supernatural world of my own.

PG: I’m not a fiction writer, so, when I’ve written erotica of any kind it’s been pretty much with the assurance that I’d get paid for it. If you want to apply the question to editing—I wanted to publish literate dark erotica in part to define what it could be as opposed to what people thought it was.

EL: Because there was so little of it in the past—especially in the mass-market—that was my motivation to write it. I write what I like to read; that’s why there are deeper sexual elements to my books. The fact that I’m getting away with must mean that the readership has the same interest. In a novel we can experience things we can’t experience in real life. That’s why we read novels; that’s the purpose of fiction. Likewise, we should be able to experience sexual things that we can’t experience in real life as well. Plus, it’s so much more fun to write!

TS: Too many concussions. And I’ve never been considered normal. Well, okay… I’ve always liked horror and the supernatural—and then, when I started writing books I tilted into erotica almost from the get/go. From there it was just a slight shuffle to start writing dark erotica—and doing my first anthology of the stuff.

WD: As usual, critics often say that there are only a handful of horror story plots that are used over and over again, while editors often say readers want what they’re familiar with. If somehow, a publisher said to you, “I’m taking off any and all limitations,” what would you most like to include in a work of dark erotica that expresses best your creativity and imagination?

EL: Here’s why that will never happen: the book would be of no commercial value, and to tell you the truth, it wouldn’t be any fun to write. In the small-press and collector’s market, for instance, the only limitations I have are my own, but they’re not conceptual limitations, they only involve the tenor of violence and sexuality. It’s quite true, indeed: the readership at large needs some aspect of familiarity to feel satisfied with their fiction, and I’m part of that readership. The same things goes in the mass-market; I want to deliver what the reader will enjoy while at the same time I need to enjoy creating it.

You could write the most original novel in the world but not many people would want to read it. To me, it’s far more challenging anyway to work in formulas and find some way to do something new with them. That opportunity—more than anything else—is why I write, and why I love being a writer!

DS: Well I’d pretty much do exactly what I’ve already done. Create characters of different ethnic backgrounds, various sexual orientations and outgoing personalities. They would think before they reacted, therefore, they would not be cliché. I would want these characters to feel, love, laugh and even cry. I would want them to express emotions that we as readers and as people feel on a daily bases.

PG: To answer the implication of the first part of the question: Theories there are only X number of plots have nothing to do specifically with horror, but with all fiction and drama. Editors, quite frankly, aren’t asking for generic horror much at all because readers are not asking for it.

To answer the question: I’m not a fiction writer, I’m an editor, so if a publisher wanted me to edit an anthology or oversee an imprint—I should mention that no one is or has been asking me to do that in a situation where writers are paid in a professional manner—I’d like to ask writers to use their creativity and imagination. As for limitations—there are legal limitations that any publisher would be wise to follow.

One more point—writing good fiction of any kind is not the same thing as merely putting your personal fantasies into written form nor is it about being shocking for shock’s sake. Creativity is often not about going beyond limits, but being restricted by them.

TS: One could argue that all tales—all of lit—are based on a mere ten or so plots intertwined and mixed and rewritten.

Myself, I never think about overarching limitations when writing fiction of any sort. I’m more limited by what a character might do, or what might be feasible within a plot than anything else. I’ve written, commercials, infomercials, plays, etc. Those have more restrictions to me than does writing a fiction within a given framework. Anything has rules, and those rules often challenge us to our greatest creative endeavors.

At one time, Lessa Bouchard told me she wanted POW, this theatre troupe we both worked with, to do a particular play. I was going to stage manage it—and during my evaluation of the script, I pointed out to her how difficult it would be to do all the different scenes and quick changes. I also, at that time, came up with a workable solution. She still thought it wasn’t feasible for our stage, budget, and other restrictions, once she looked at what I’d put together. Now that’s restriction.

And, frankly, I’m much more likely to ask, “Do Schoenherr and Hoover ever intersect in the Detroit Metro area?” or “Would this character really react in this way to this situation?” than worry about whether my readers find my work “familiar” or put another way, “comfortable.” I started as a writer already in a world without restrictions; I’d do what I’ve done and am planning to do regardless

Visit the authors/editors websites:

BigBadButch.com (Therese Szymanski)

DarkEcho.com (Paula Guran)

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From the The Erotica Readers & Writers Association Web site:

"The Erotica Readers & Writers Association, on-line since 1996, is a resource organization dedicated to readers and writers of erotica, and people interested in sexuality. For erotica writers, we provide advice, current calls for submissions, and publishers guidelines. For erotica readers, we have 2 galleries of original erotic fiction, and information about the latest erotica books. For sensualists, we list a wide variety of adult movies, offer sex toy information, and provide an adult forum focusing on sexual issues, activities and relationships."

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