Real Men Not Dinosaurs

Sales of romantica ebooks are growing at a colossal pace. We all know the frisson of reading a bit of smut in a public place ... prying eyes are unable to see clearly what you have stashed on your Kindle or Nook, and as the man with the refreshment trolley wanders down the train handing out overpriced coffee and sandwiches, I'm quietly and privately devouring the latest hot stuff, courtesy of electronic media. I still love books of course - real books are my friends! There's something special about a hardback book from an author you especially enjoy, and you can fondle the pages to your hearts content!

Anyhow I digress. Moving from fondling paper to fondling actual people ... ah, but is it always people? The goalposts are continually shifting, and we've moved way past vampire erotica into the realms of hot chicks being bonked senseless by angels, zombies and cyborgs - though not all three at once ... but if that's your thing, you never know ...

Werewolf romance became huge and has subsequently morphed into a much broader shapeshifter genre that encompasses werepanthers and werebears and were-anything-else-you-can-think-of. I wonder if the female heroines of such works develop crippling allergies to fur and sneeze their pretty little heads off during passionate lovemaking?

And then we have ... wait for it ... Monster erotica, also known as monster porn or cryptozoological erotica. Within this you get sex with Bigfoots (of the smelly hairy animal kind, not your man's feet) dinosaur porn, or tentacle porn. All of which stretches the bounds of credibility, wouldn't you agree? Where can the industry possibly go next I wonder?

I'm in a quandary here. Quite aside from the fact that dinosaurs died out zillions of years ago (okay, we authors are creative in our use of artistic licence) what I can’t quite get my head around, given that these creatures are bloody HUGE, are the um ... physical accommodation factors.

Dinosaur sex anyone? No thanks, not for me. I reckon I'll stick to writing romance with a dash of kink, involving real men.

Grammar ...

Here's a little reminder to all aspiring writers ... and so true! Those pesky little apostrophes are the cause of many a misunderstanding :)

I enjoy writing Romantica!

The Urban Dictionary defines Romantica as romance novels with explicit sex, the term 'Romantica' being derived from 'Romance' + 'Erotica.

In some cases this word has been used in a humorous, derogatory, or ironic way to point out the fact that certain novels are classified as Romance and are therefore seen as more socially acceptable, while other somewhat similar books are classified as Erotica and receive harsher social censure.

I guess this is true, since Amazon in their wisdom, are said to have re-indexed a heap of 'Romance' books into the 'Erotica' category.


My own take on Romantica is that it is indicative of a well-crafted and engaging story which essentially focuses on a romantic relationship (within numerous sub-genres: sci-fi, paranormal, etc), with lashings of explicit sex, as opposed to hard core or seedy porn where the plot (if there is one) is very much secondary to the sex. And then, distinct from porn, is Erotica... a huge, amorphous mass of literature that contains graphic sex which may push the boundaries of what are considered taboo topics. Some erotica is very deftly written with engaging characters, but if you remove the sex element, there's often not that much of a story remaining.


Distinctions can be highly subjective as dividing lines can be somewhat blurry. So what do I deduce from this? Simple: There's something to suit everyone's diverse tastes, and I enjoy writing romantica.

Shame I can't show my mother;)