Diana Gabaldon’s trilogy is an absolute favorite of mine. Interestingly, despite the epic scope of those books, I consider them character driven, because Jamie and Claire’s relationship was the main draw for me, and held me enthralled throughout. I started Fellowship of the Rings and am ashamed to say I only got halfway through – it felt more plot driven to me, though my husband insists if I go back to it and stick with it, I will fall in love with the characters as they become more fleshed out. I hope to have some time to do that, because I do admit their visit to the forest of Lothlorien resonated strongly with me.

Your comments on BDSM made me smack my head – I missed bringing that point up in a recent erotic romance workshop I did. It would have been a good caveat to my overarching message, not to write erotic romance if the author personally doesn’t enjoy/isn’t comfortable with that level of sexual expression, because it comes through glaringly if they aren’t. I could have incorporated your point as a second crucial issue – to be sure, even if he/she isn’t directly familiar with BDSM or other alternative practices, to have a critique partner who is, to catch gaffes like that. Of course sometimes we take some artistic license, but it shouldn’t knock someone out of the story to say “Whoa! That would NEVER happen.”

If you leave someone chained (with handcuffs) in a standing spread eagle overnight to punish them, I guarantee you they will not be “stretching out her muscles and then kneeling gracefully in a full submissive bow” when you unchain them in the morning

Ditto for a hogtie

I don’t know what books these came out of, as I did the pretty much unthinkable for me, and threw them away. Still, these are only the worst examples, and I guarantee you that those of us who do practice this do certainly notice if the writer doesn’t know what he/she is talking about.

In your genre, the best examples of stories which are very effective at putting me into some very “different” characters heads are the Circlet Press anthologies, edited by Cecilia Tan. Of course her Telepath stories rank right up there; then there is Shayna Maidel (sp?) by Laura Antoniou, Cyberfruit Swamp by Raven Kaldara, and Mate by Lauren P. Burka. All of these meld erotica and science fiction/ fantasy into one great and glorious yummy treat.

Oh, and I totally agree with the fact that you cannot make the character “too” different. That is the whole reason I will read Jonah’s book; I know that, different as he may be, you will make me care about him. And that’s exactly what I need in a book!

So nice to see you blogging again!

Liked the comment about hemophilia. There is the theory out there that “can we really understand a different humanoid species?” ie, could we really understand what it’s like to be a vampire, if we don’t have any available to observe or discuss their viewpoint? Of course, from observation of the world around me, I see there are a lot of people whose lives I can’t comprehend, but we all seem to be driven by basic things – need for acceptance, recognition, happiness, safety, pleasure, etc. So I expect the issue isn’t that all species don’t have those needs, but what forms do those things take for them? For example, happiness for a vampire is going to be different for a human…maybe.

It makes exploring the issue in a story challenging. If the author focuses too much on the character’s “otherness”, I think they lose the reader, because we want some ability to connect and relate to the hero/heroine. But once the reader is hooked, makes that connection, that “otherness” gives the author a cool opportunity to explore the emotional issue in the context of an unfamiliar environment.

For instance, in the upcoming A Mermaid’s Kiss, Jonah, my angel hero, is the Prime Legion Commander – he’s second in hierarchy only to Michael in command of the angel legions. He carries the ability to realign stars, destroy planets, etc. But for all that, he’s lonely, weary of endless fighting and losing his fellow angels in battle. He’s losing his faith, as we all do when faced with what seems like a terrible situation with no end. So he has a difficult emotional problem – and we all face those – but he is dealing with it as an intriguing creature we don’t know very well.

Hmm…now you have me thinking further. I missed this part of blogging (grin).

The Thursday Next series from Jasper Fforde is one of my favorite bizarre worlds. The man is clever and his ideas intrigue me.

I stopped reading Sci-Fi when I was younger because I kept reading either battle books or the ones with so many characters and side plots, it gave me a headache. My husband has re-introduced me to the genre and, I kinda like it.

I’m glad you are back and blogging!

As much as I love fantasy, I’ve never been a fan of the 800-page high fantasy tomes that focus on so many political intrigues that I can’t get a hold on who the characters are. However, if they give me a strong enough character, I will stick with it, but as you noted, it’s usually the type of book I read slowly, going back to it over time.

Of course, thankfully, that’s why there are many different types of readers for many different types of books. And yes, one of these days, I need to get an artist to draw me that contraption that Savannah was in, though I’ve seen similiar suspension methods done with rope on the fetish sites. I’ll have to find you a picture (lol). If it helps, I remember during the editing process, I got a little hung up in that description – started feeling like I was detailing how to tie a shoe to a blind person. There’s a push to convert certain titles to graphic novels now (aka Laurell K Hamilton) – can you just see some of my work done as a graphic novel? Wicked grin.

I know creditability is important, and if bungled, would/could kill an author’s chances, but have you ever read a book that got so deep into “side” stories I’d call them, they almost lost you? Course, I’m also a little dyslexic, so I do have to go over some things a couple of times before they sink in (and with some of these sex scenes, this can be such a chore – wink).

I can get into reading all sorts of fiction, but when I have to try to remember 12 levels of hierarchy or keep notes, I’m not sure I want to invest that much into it, you know? It needs to be believable, factual, but I’m not one to look things up to make sure the the author is right. I always assume that they know what they are writing is true. Guess I should I know what happens when you assume… right?

Let me reassure you though, no complaints with your stories, except for maybe the contraption that held Savannah suspended above the boardroom table in Board Resolution. Sometimes I wish for pictures…(grin)