Cliches that Gotta Go; Part Three.

Coercion?

Just don't.  

 

I completely stopped reading a famous author when I realized that her heroes constantly pushed and bullied their way into the heroine's body. *coughLoraLeighcough*

One of them refused to let her orgasm until she agreed to his cock in her ass (a pet peeve of mine, see Part Two of this series). One 'hero' repeatedly forced his sexual attentions on a heroine despite her concerns for maintaining her reputation/pregnancy/losing her autonomy. At no point did the hero address her emotional needs, preferring to shove his various body parts into her mouth and other locales of interest.

I left those books feeling violated, not aroused. Force isn't sexy.

When you are creating your erotic moment, remember that there is a huge difference between a seduction and coercion. Seducing is an invitation to pleasure and mutual joy. There is an element of play, of delight, of seeing who the other person is, and learning what works on this one in particular.

Coercion is about one person's "need" to get off. It also refuses to listen to the other's concerns and worries about the act of sex. If one person is worried about anything, then the partner had better address that. 

 Don't traumatize your readers or viewers. Invite them to play with you instead.

Behind the Character: Holly Barros from Keeping It Up

Sometimes, people ask me, "Where do you get your characters from?" Naturally, my first instinct is to say, "Why, from under the sofa cushions, of course!" Which makes me look like a jerk and nobody comes away happy. Rather than give in to my over-the-top Dad Joke impulses, I wanted to write a newsletter series about where characters come from.

The first character I want to talk about it Holly, from Vamping It Up and Keeping It Up. I really identify with Holly, because in my youth, I also made a man the center of my life, wearing what he liked and doing what he thought was fun (hint - it wasn't fun for me). I wanted to write a story about a woman discovering who she really was without him. Women's power is one of my favorite themes in my writing, and I come back to it frequently. I was desperate to write a story about a woman learning to love herself.

It took me a while to get to know Holly. I knew she was going to be of Latin descent (part Portuguese, part Central American). I wrote and wrote, trying to find a way to show that her parents loved her, but also wanted her to take the safe path in life. We deserve to choose our own adventures instead of having them chosen for us.

We also deserve to believe in ourselves and to use our voices about what matters to us. Holly needed to find her voice. And she sure was shy about telling me who she wanted to be. I got very excited when I realized that her secret desire was to go into politics. Women are woefully underrepresented in politics and that shy Holly wanted to break out of her cocoon and step onto the world stage made me so happy!

I also wanted her to have the world's greatest mentor to teach her confidence. Enter Holly Barros and Aunt Celeste.
 (To be continued....)

I made Pinterest boards for Vamping It Up and Keeping It Up!
Live Like Celeste
Vamping It Up
Keeping It Up

 

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Have you read Vamping It Up or Keeping It Up? Can you tell me what you liked about the books? What do you want to see more of in light-hearted erotica? Authors loooooooooooooove feedback. :)

Thank you!

Cover Reveal!

Look at my brilliant cover for my upcoming release, Linda Mercury's Naughty Notes! This collection is oddly mostly heterosexual, but later releases will be more diverse.

I will share the link when it is ready for pre-order.

Keeping It Up!

Have you read Keeping It Up, the sequel to Vamping It Up? And did you know I have Pinterest boards dedicated to all things Holly and Celeste?

https://www.pinterest.com/babsdallen/live-like-celeste/
and
https://www.pinterest.com/lindamercury/keeping-it-up/

And buy the book here: Amazon.com 

 Revisit Holly and Celeste Barros and their erotic adventures in this new book! Here's a section of Chapter One.

Keeping It Up by Linda Mercury 

“It has been said that politics is the art of the possible. In reality, it is the art of service to many and the survival of that service.”

The Letters of Henry de Seville y Barros, 1850-1916.

Chapter One

Valentine’s Day

Holly Barros loved Valentine’s Day. The hearts. The flowers.

The emphasis on oral sex.

“Get on my face.” Lincoln S. Jones, her head of security, clasped her thighs and rolled the two of them over, settling her pussy right on his face. The sturdy oak table in the Vilnius University Library in Lithuania creaked underneath them, but held firm.

Holly giggled, actually giggled, until his smart mouth latched onto her clitoris. She gasped. Linc dug his fingers into her butt cheeks, guiding her where he wanted her to be.

“Delicious,” he moaned around her hood.

The vibrations sizzled her overwhelmed nerve endings. “Harder.” She pushed down on him, forcing his mouth deeper into her wet folds.

Like a good former Marine, he obeyed her order with enthusiasm and determination. His tongue flicked over her flesh faster than a vibrator. She had no idea how he could move so fast, but she loved it. Holly rode the crest, nearing her orgasm. He snaked a hand between them and shoved two fingers into her sheath. She needed it. She needed it so bad she could barely breathe. She just couldn’t. Quite. Get there.

Her brain wouldn’t let go of the rapid-fire questions the Paranormal Council had thrown at her all week.

“Ms. Barros, in North America, paranormals and humans have a much more contentious relationship than in the rest of the world. What are you going to do to increase peaceable relations between the supernatural minority and the mortal majority?”

Holly bit her lip. Perhaps she should have put more emphasis on the already- increasing numbers of co-operative ventures in primary and secondary schools, the rise of mixed species pre-schools, and how she opened talks between the paranormal and the human sports leagues. Truly integrated professional sports were a ways in the future, but….

Sensing her distraction, Linc slapped her ass with his big hand. The crack of skin on skin shoved her back into her body. She gasped. The erotic smell of paper and ink brought her over.

She came hard, her vagina wrenching on his fingers as if she wanted to rip them off and keep them inside of her. The scream poured out of her throat and echoed off the domed blue ceiling.

Panting, she bent over, resting her weight on her hands and knees. Linc kissed the sides of her thighs, tickling and teasing her through the aftershocks. His six-foot, five inches long body rested on the table beneath her.

“Oh, sweetie,” Holly sighed. “Thank you so much.”

“Trust me. My pleasure.” He wiggled his way between her legs until he could grind his half-hard cock on her. He’d already removed the used condom. “Feel better?”

Tremors zinged through her shoulders, making her arms wobble. “Yeah. I can do this now.”

“Cool.” Linc kissed her with moist lips. She sucked on his lower lip, catching a taste of her own musk. “Recess is over. Back to the meat grinder, babe.”

 

The Auntie Vamp series has a new release!

Celeste and her naughty historian

I have released the sequel to Vamping It Up: Everyone, please welcome back Celeste and Holly in Keeping It Up!

Back in Vamping It Up, Holly Barros gained confidence, lovers, and her life's work. Her aunt, Celeste Barros, taught the young woman the ways to self-power.

Five years later, Holly is on the edge of being confirmed as the North American representative of the Supernatural Council.
She's has grown in confidence and influence since her ex-fiancé dumped her five years ago. She is ready to take over her great-aunt’s position on the International Paranormal Council. She’s got influence, she’s got the ideas, and her lover/bodyguard, former Marine Lincoln Jones, has the moves to keep her safe.

Is Lincoln capable of keeping up the good work guarding Holly’s body?

Glamorous vampire Celeste Barros has never been afraid of risks, but she has played it safe in love for centuries. Now she is ready to retire from high-stakes international politics. Perhaps a new, more leisurely lifestyle could bring a new, fresh perspective on love. Young historian Grayson Brown is interested in more than a frolic with the much older woman.

Could Grayson be capable of Keeping It Up for Celeste?

What's sexy about men?

As a romance writer and healthy, red-blooded American woman, it is my fate, nay, my DUTY to identify what makes a guy yummy. Not just biological men, but trans men and every other man, too.

Eugene Jaques Bullard, a WWI pilot.

Of course, the whole 6-pack, big guns thing is super tasty, but I want to let men know that they can have a regular guy body and still rock that sex appeal.

1. Pride
Not the deadly sin sort, but the kind that lets another person know that you can overcome adversity and have learned competence. A competent man is a sexy man.

An unidentified Australian WWI soldier

2. Expressive eyes.
I love looking at this photo of this soldier. I see someone who would be willing to tell what he has lived through.





3. Forearms.

 

Yes, I know Jeremy Renner is not a normal sort of guy, but bear (bare! Bare arms! Ha!) with me.

Not every guy has big biceps. But forearms are the Every Man's sexy body part. You don't have to wear tee-shirts, just find a shirt with sleeves and roll those suckers up. It's a good look on *everyone*.



4. Bondage.
 Seriously. Every man looks good in bondage.


Or maybe that's just me....

Nah. 

Pornography vs. erotica.

Add caption

Seriously, I'm so sick of this discussion. I feel that John Preston, famous gay advocate and pornographer, wrote the last words on this tedious debate back in 1993.

"For as long as I have been involved with pornography, there has been a great deal of pressure to disown it. As I gained some status as a writer, critics and friends invited me to classify my erotic stories and novels as "erotica". There is an attempt to somehow separate some sexual works as being aesthetically or politically more acceptable than other works. People would try to say that my sexual writing - or Samuel Steward's or someone else's - was "too good"  to be discarded as pornography. I disown that distinction completely. Pornography and erotica are the same thing. The only difference is that erotica is the stuff bought by rich people; pornography is what the rest of us buy."

From My Life as a Pornographer (emphasis mine).