A little note to let those readers who subscribe to Sp. Romance for my novellas know that I’m taking a break for a couple of months. I’ve written something like twelve novellas for the site in the last year or so (plus a twenty chapter, 80,000 word series on Bethany’s Woodshed) and it’s time to take a break for a bit and clear my head with some other projects. Yes, there will still be new works available in the coming weeks, but not on Sp. Romance and probably not according to the same schedule or in the same M/F romantic genre necessarily. I have a few projects on the burners at the moment, including the Western Zombie Spanking novel/la that I already made the cover for because if there’s anything I love doing, it’s making covers.

I’ve been foaming at the mouth for months now because every time my spanking romance books are classified, they’re invariably classified as ‘erotica’. My objection to this was that aside from the spankings, there was often nothing particularly explicit about them. They were no more racy than any other romance, or so I thought.

Then Abel Jenkins posted this blog asking how open one should be about their spanking proclivities and I found myself replying:

Outside the bonds of close and candid friendship, telling people one is into spanking is about as appropriate as telling people that one is into anal play, or figging – it’s too intimate a detail to be appropriate for common conversation.

And then it hit me.

The reason why most consider any book, romance or not, with adult spanking in it to be erotica is because it involves a very specific type of sexual activity.

Spanking is erotic.

Duh.

This escaped me for a long time because that’s not primarily how I think about spanking, certainly not in stories anyway. In the books I write, I see the spanking that goes on between characters as a fundamental of their relationship. It’s not just a hot kinky activity, its the field upon which they play. It’s not really about the spanking. It’s about the dynamic that has to be there for one person to consider themselves to be in a position to take the other over their lap and slap their bottom soundly. You could take the actual spankings out of most of what I write and they would still be books about power play, domination and submission. I’m sure a certain something would be lost for those who really are looking for spanking erotica, but for those who simply seek tales of a certain dynamic, I wonder if it would matter at all.

I’ve been quiet of late, by my standards anyway and some might think that’s because I was raptured, which I would understand because I would be a total catch for any deity into rapturing, but it’s really because I’ve been writing a great deal. In the last month I’ve had two novellas published on Spanking Romance, including the sequel to Orphan Ivy. Also, an extended series has started on Bethany’s Woodshed, called Military Discipline. No matter your opinion or affiliation it’s hard to deny that men in uniform are hot, especially stern ones with chiseled jaws and hard hands. I’ll be posting a link to a free chapter of that in the next few days, but in the meantime you can check out the free first chapters of Orphan Ivy Book Two and Captive Bride, the tale of a scholar who gets herself into some serious trouble sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong.

Orphan Ivy, Book Two

In the sequel to Orphan Ivy, an increasingly spoiled and petulant Ivy pushes every boundary she lays eyes on, attracting the punitive attentions of the clan at large. As Jon struggles to deal with her ongoing destructive rebellion Ivy must learn to behave herself before she destroys that which is most precious of all, her relationship with the only man she’s ever loved.

Captive Bride

When frustrated scholar Katherine Weaver takes a walk in the countryside and happens upon what she thinks is a friendly gathering of gypsies, she gets a great deal more than she bargained for. Notorious outlaw Idric takes an instant fancy to the naive young woman who firmly believes that all problems can be solved with logic and seems utterly unaware of anything below her neckline – or the effect it has on the opposite sex. Katherine is a young woman who desperately needs to be taken in hand before she hurts herself, and he’s just the man to do it.

Okay, so I’ve finished Ace of Brats, which will be appearing on Sp. Romance later this month, all going well, and I’m now continuing Eventide, which is a paranormal series and features a lesbian vampire as its protagonist.

Ace of Brats was slightly different fare for me, being a tale of romance and kink set in a modern environment in which absolutely nobody is undead. I used to avoid such bald realism, but there is a certain charm in telling the tale of a woman with kinky desires who has no idea how to fulfill them, because let’s face it, a lot of lady kinksters are like that when they start out.

Now its time to plan the next novella. I have a few ideas floating about for that. I had planned to do a sequel to Orphan Ivy, but we’ll see what comes out when I sit down and start writing.