Wednesday 30 May 2012

Wednesday Writing

Another writer was recently asking me about writing ménage as my next story out in a few weeks (Wife for Three) is a ménage a quartre. In this case one heroine with three men who are brothers.

One of the difficult things when writing ménage is to make sure that the personality of each of the heroes is sufficiently different as when I first finished it and read it back to myself I became aware that two of them seemed to merge into each other. Hopefully I have fixed this issue – one is the brooding, silent type, the next is hot headed and cocky, the youngest is the sweetest – a peacemaker, often with a joke (and all of them have different coloured hair!).

Another problem I have come across (and in some ways this harks back to Monday’s post on character names) is when I have read other writers’ stories where at least two of the main characters have similar names – or names starting with the same capital letter and as a reader you can easily get them confused in your mind so my heroes are Adam, Curt and Eric. Hopefully all different enough not to confuse anyone. Similarly, you need to make sure they use different terms of endearment for the heroine. A third issue is if you now have three characters of the same gender like I did you have to read it really carefully (or get a critical reader to do it for you) to make sure that it is clear which ‘he’ you are referring to – or put in the first names of the characters more often.

Of course, when writing erotic romance, a major thing you need to check carefully (and particularly if you have more than two people making love) is to make sure all the arms and legs are in the right place, and you have written the right number of limbs! I know articles on sex say that ‘size doesn’t matter it’s what you do with it’ but in ménage stories size (width or length) can make a great difference in distinguishing one character from another!!

Something I have often found difficult to accept when reading other ménage stories is why don’t they become jealous, won’t the girl prefer one to another and if the guys are straight, just sharing a woman, how come they don’t find it icky if they inadvertently touch each other? It worked that my heroes are all brothers for the jealousy angle and there is a great scene (even if I say so myself!) where one of the brothers jealously watches (from outside) the other two having sex with the heroine in the lounge. And since this was about brothers I made sure to include a comment here and there about them being concerned about the ‘icky’ factor. Hopefully that makes it feel more real.

Wife for Three is due out around 21 June from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys/ – on pre-orders for about 8-10 days before that date. Watch out for the book cover which I will show you in the next week, hopefully.

Jen

Monday 28 May 2012

Inspirational Mondays - female character names

I talked a few weeks ago about what inspires me to come up with the names of my male characters – now it is the turn of the female characters.

This is particularly apt since I saw a book recently being advertised. The premise of the story sounded interesting but there was no way I was going to read a story where the heroine was called Edna. To me it just sounds like a very, very old lady. Of course, the author of that particular book may think the same about some of my female character names!

And that is the crux of the issue – whatever inspires you to name your characters could put off someone else who knows a person called by that name, or just because they dislike the name for whatever reason, be it old-fashioned to them or other causes.

A couple of names I chose for my female characters were because I would have given my own daughters those names if I had had children (too late for that now!) – namely Rebecca and Katherine. Gina and Lissa are named for friends. Jessie was originally going to be Jennie – but then I decided to keep that for my own pen name!! I have no idea why I came up with Ellie or Brianna. In fact Brianna started out as Kara but some unknown reason but it just didn’t fit the character and she felt more like a Brianna. (In case you are a regular reader of my books and are wondering when I wrote about a ‘Brianna’ she is the heroine in the forthcoming sci-fi Wife for Three.)

Monica, Celia, Erika are all names I don’t particularly like so I gave them to secondary characters, particularly ones I wanted to dislike! Apologies to anyone with those names!!

I do have one foible that causes hysterical laughter in those who know me – and I have had this from childhood. I regard initial letters of first names as having a specific hair colour. I KNOW – peculiar! So therefore when I wanted a dark haired heroine for Friend or Foe I looked at the letter G (other possibilities were J and R amongst others, but I had already had heroines’ names beginning with those letters) and having considered names beginning with G I then thought of the friend who was the basis for Gina – despite being blonde in real life. (That friend knows I think she should be dark haired!!!!!)

An old friend recently told me she described me as ‘quirky’ to someone else. Yup – that’s me!

Jen

Friday 25 May 2012

Friday funnies

As an airplane is about to crash, a female passenger jumps up frantically and announces, "If I'm going to die, I want to die feeling like a woman."

She removes all her clothing and asks, "Is there someone on this plane who is man enough to make me feel like a woman?"

A man stands up, removes his shirt and says, "Here, iron this!" 

Have a nice weekend.

Jen

Wednesday 23 May 2012

Wednesday writing

As promised here is an extract from The Sub Who Switched.

Just to remind you of the story – Ellie has declared she wants a Dominant man but Nick is a gentle soul so he takes lessons in how to be more dominant but all along she pushes and goads him not thinking for one instance that he has it in him.

As Ellie stood, naked, in the middle of her lounge, her hands behind her back, one hand gripping the wrist of the other, legs apart, and her pussy being inspected by Nick, she ruminated. Had she really said she wanted to be Nick’s slave? Did she really want to be a sex slave? She admitted to herself that she didn’t particularly, that she had blurted it out to get rid of him, but now she had to go through with it. The question was what would happen afterward?
Her thoughts shattered as Nick rubbed his fingers over her clit, and she sucked in a gasp. Turning her head to look him in the eye, she wondered what he was going to do next.
He raised a brow. “Are you staring at me, slave?”
Nearly laughing at his attempt at a stern voice, she dropped her eyes and, biting her lip to avoid an inappropriate chuckle, responded, “No.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” As he walked away from her, she resisted the urge to move, or at least turn to see what he was doing. A moment later Nick returned, but she was startled when he wrapped something around her neck.
“Wha—” She raised her hands and felt a collar, which he was finishing buckling. She did look at him then inquiringly to ascertain his intentions.
“Ellie, Ellie. You are my slave, remember. And slaves wear collars don’t they?”
“Um, yes. Sure.” Her words didn’t match her movements, though, as she continued to tug on the collar. Both Rebecca and Kat wore necklaces which were their versions of a collar, and Ellie had envied them at the time. But now she was wearing one, it felt odd.
“And with a collar goes a leash,” he said, holding up the said item which she hadn’t seen before.
“You have to be kidding!” Ellie stepped away from him as she said this.
Tilting his head to the side but not following her, he responded, “Arguing with your Dom will only bring you a punishment. Is that what you are after, Ellie?”
“I–er–I–No. Sorry, Nick.”
He sighed. “Is that how you address your Master?”
This time she was stunned into silence. She was not calling him Master. No way. She’d only do that for the person who was her...her Dom. The person who collared her…Could that really be Nick?

Enjoy!

Jen

Monday 21 May 2012

Inspirational Mondays

First bit of news is that Submissive Training has been flying up the list of Siren bestsellers for Amazon kindle books. A week ago I had noticed it was just into the top 100. By Sunday it had reached 32!!! (Although I think it has started to go down again).
* * * * *

You may wonder what I am working on now I have finished both the ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ series and the ‘Doms & Acquaintances’ series. I have a new series starting in the second half of June and it is a sci-fi series this time, based on the planet of ‘Duoterra’.

Why sci-fi I hear you ask when my other stories have been contemporary. Well, that’s because I decided to start with contemporary stories to build up my writing skills before attempting any kind of ‘world building’, but my passion as a reader has always been sci-fi and my inspirations are Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley and David Feintuch, all sadly missed. I am not including fantasy (including paranormal) authors in this list as I regard that as a separate genre even though sci-fi and fantasy are frequently grouped together – but I do enjoy fantasy and that will be the topic of another post.

As for Duoterra – it is set in the future on a planet which has been colonised some sixty years earlier so it was fun to think about how people on that planet cope with things like making clothes, what meat do they eat and so on. It is called Wife for Three and, as the title suggests, this is my first ménage!

Watch this space......

Jen

Sunday 20 May 2012

Blog Hop: the winners

Many, many thanks to everyone who has taken part either reading the blog discussions or leaving a message. There have been some great comments.

The winners of the blog hop are as follows:

Day 1: Places to ‘boink’ – Tianna for her huge long list. I am specifically intrigued by the idea of doing it in front of an audience (not me personally! But including such a scene in a future book).

Day 2: Use of sex toys – Lynn for the fact that she mentions the important thing when writing about sex toys – doing research.

Day 3: Erotic movie scenes – Gracie because she reminded me of a love scene from the film The Terminator I also think is incredibly erotic.

Day 4: Erotic photos – Vanessa for making a valuable comment that many people have erotic photos done for wedding presents but when she married 30+ years ago it would have been regarded as porn. How times are changing.

Day 5: Humour in erotic romance – Pat for telling us about her M/M superhero comedy which has a man in spandex falling in love with someone who turns into a dinosaur! My sort of humour, definitely.

Day 6: BDSM in erotic romance – Tatum for posting nearly every day(!) and in particular for reminding me that it is up to the publisher of erotic romances as to whether they think your story is suitable for their market.

I have yet to decide on the overall winner for the week to go to a UK reader. The prize being a goodie bag offered by Sh! Women’s Sex Emporium shops in London as I am still trying to work out which of the readers was from the UK! Read my blog next week to find out.


All good wishes and thanks once again for taking part.

Jen
Email me on Jennifer.denys@yahoo.com with your chosen book from the six books I have out at the moment – see www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and I will send you a copy (let me know which format).


Saturday 19 May 2012

Blog Hop Day 6: BDSM in erotic romance

This is the sixth and last day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month (Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in the series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.
                                 
Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.


BDSM: does BDSM belong in erotic romances or should it be restricted to erotica?

A controversial topic for the last day of this blog! I ask this as I write are erotic romance of which 70% of the story must be romance, as laid down by the publisher’s criteria.

Personally my answer is yes as all my books have an element of BDSM in them, even the romantic comedies of the ‘Friends’ series. For those that are unsure of what this means, BDSM is an acronym taken from three different aspects of this lifestyle:

B&D – Bondage and Domination (I think I have included some degree of tying up in each of my stories even the comedies!).

D&S – Dominance and Submission (this is an interesting one as my last book is entitled The Sub Who Switched – a switch being someone who can switch from being a Dominant to being a Submissive – has not sold well as well as the earlier two in the BDSM series. I can only guess that readers interested in this sub-genre like their submissives to remain submissive and not try to be dominant).

S&M – Sadomachoism (in other words using whips, floggers, crops, canes, paddles, spanking etc for erotic pleasure although that is putting it incredibly simply but this isn’t the place for a long essay on the subject! Again I have used instances of these in all my books).

Although I am not involved in the BDSM lifestyle I am fascinated by it, particularly what it could be like for the beginner who may be used to being independent but really wants a dominant partner to take charge which is more or less the crux of the ‘Doms & Acquaintances’ series - in particular in Submissive Training. It can be scary for the person not used to this lifestyle and hopefully my books reflect this, while at the same time showing what they could get out of it if they have a Dom who treats them well. In each case the Dom and sub fall in love and so the emotional and romantic aspects of submitting to a Dominant are the main issues within the story rather than a story of a person being dominated by another.

As for the ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ series – each one has elements of BDSM because the hero and heroine are viewing it from the viewpoint of people wanting to have some experimentation within their sex lives but not necessarily being dominated by the other. Since these are light hearted, the inclusion of BDSM in the stories is as an added dimension, a fun element within their sexual explorations.


Do leave me a comment telling me if you think BDSM should be restricted to erotica only or if it has a place in erotic romances. I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys).

 

All the best

Jen

And so that ends my blog hop. Thanks to everyone who has taken part even if you have just read the blog posts. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see if you have won, and if you have do send me an email to Jennifer.denys@yahoo.com with the name of your chosen book so that I can send it to you.

Friday 18 May 2012

Blog Hop Day 5: Humour in erotic romance

This is the fifth day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month (Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in the series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.
                                 
Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.

Humour: do readers like to read humour with their sex?

This is normally my ‘Friday Funny’ day hence why I chose this theme for this day. I regard my ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ series as romantic comedies – certainly they are light hearted romances and there is a fair amount of humour in them – although I do include humorous moments in all my stories as I personally find humour in situations in real life.

Unfortunately, the readers don’t seem that keen as the sales of the ‘Doms & Acquaintances’ series, which is BDSM-themed, sell four times as many as the ‘Friends’ series.

My favourite book to write (so far) has been Friendly Seduction as I took great delight in taking the mickey out of my own genre! The hero, who writes sci-fi, has been told by his editor to add more sex to his stories so he asks help from the heroine who tells him exactly what women like (and expect) in their erotic romances like the fact that the hero is always tall, hunky and handsome!

The other one that was fun to write was Friend or Foe as the heroine is the queen of insults so I had a great time researching insults. She has lines like ‘You know so little, and you know it so fluently’ and ‘God really underestimated his ability when he made man’. Thinking about it maybe that should have been ‘overestimated’! Oops.

Of course, humour doesn't have to be about funny lines. I have included instances where I have been involved in funny situations - quite often not intentional, or funny at the time. In The Sub Who Switched there is a scene where the heroine who is suffering from sexual frustration, gets out her new sex toy - a blow up male doll. Unfortunately she found it is as useless as I did!!!!!! But it made for an amusing addition to my story.

So, do leave me a comment telling me if you like to read humour in these type of stories (or if you are an author, what funny things did you write about) . I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys). Come back on Sunday when I will have a full list of the winners.

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the last day of my blog hop, when the theme is ‘BDSM in erotic romances’.

All the best

Jen

Thursday 17 May 2012

Blog Hop Day 4: Nude & erotic photos

This is the fourth day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month - Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in their series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.

(ALSO PLEASE NOTE The Sub Who Switched is out on release today! The promised extract will be available next week.)

                                 
Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.


Nude/erotic photos: is it foolhardy or liberating to have nude photos done?

I often try to include my own experiences in my books. At the start of The Sub Who Switched the heroine has some photos taken for her 30th birthday because all her female friends now have husbands and partners.



One of my inspirations was when I had some erotic photographs taken for my 50th birthday. I wanted to prove to myself that I could be sexy and desirable despite being single and having middle-aged body issues. I found a lovely husband and wife team, Mighty Aphrodite, in Reading.


The photos were ABSOLUTELY gorgeous, even if I say so myself. Leigh and Zena (apologies to Zena for getting her name wrong in the previous version of this blog when I called her Zara! I named the couple doing the photography in the story Lee and Zara and now get confused!! Poor Zena says it happens all the time) are very friendly and make you feel very comfortable. I found it incredibly liberating and had no problems getting my kit off!
Here are some beautiful photos some are me and some are from the internet – I’m not going to say which are which and have deliberately cropped them to avoid any faces showing although I will admit the first one is me!

As for whether it is foolhardy or not to have them done - personally I would say go for it.....










So, do leave me a comment telling me if you’ve had similar photos done and if you found it liberating, embarrassing or scary or, if not, if you would contemplate it in the future. I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys). Come back on Sunday when I will have a list of the winners.

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow when the theme is ‘Humour in erotic romances’.

All the best

Jen

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Blog Hop Day 3: erotic movie scenes

This is the third day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month - Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in the series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.
                                 
Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.

Erotic movie scenes: what’s your favourite erotic scene from the movies (and I am talking mainstream, not pornographic!)?

In Friend or Foe the heroine is writing her first ever erotic romance and she has her characters recreate erotic scenes from the movies. This was not inspired by films like Ghost because, personally, I find the ‘clay’ scene extremely yucky and not at all arousing.

Instead it comes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which, for me, has the most erotic movie scene ever when Etta goes into her bedroom and there is a man there who threatens her with his gun and tells her to strip. The viewer at first doesn’t realise that this is Sundance and he is her lover. As I state in the book, you don’t have to actual flesh and groping hands to be sensual – it is about the build up of sexual tension. (Most people remember the bicycle scene and forget about that one).


I had great fun trying to remember what films I had seen which aroused me or were known for the erotic scenes (Ghost does get a mention). Other films included Basic Instinct, Lady and the Tramp (yes, really!), Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman and many others. In addition I also added several other films into the description or dialogue where were not necessarily erotic ones. There are 50 films altogether. If you read the story and want the full list – do email me!


So, do leave me a comment telling me your favourite erotic scene from the movies. I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys). Come back on Sunday when I will have a list of the winners.

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow when the theme is ‘Nude and Erotic Photos’.

All the best

Jen

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Blog Hop Day 2: sex toys

This is the second day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month - Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in the series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.
                                 
Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.


Sex toys: what toys have I included in my books and what would readers suggest is the best one they’ve used or read about?

Sex toys plays an important part in The Sub Who Switched as the hero is taken into a women’s sex shop called Shush which was based on the real life shops in London called Sh! where men are only allowed to enter if accompanied by a woman. They welcome women of all sexual orientations and have had customers up to the age of 88. It is a fabulously friendly shop with very useful classes on the best use of their toys.

I had great fun with this chapter as the hero was terrified when he was taken into the basement describing him feeling that he was deep ‘in the womb of this den of femininity’!

In my books I’ve used: vibrators, rabbits and dildoes; plugs, whips, crops, floggers, paddles and canes; bondage rope, handcuffs and blindfolds; chains and clamps; swings; spreaders; candles; collars and leashes; blow up dolls; and furniture including St Andrew’s Crosses, sawhorses and spanking benches. Many of these may not be described as 'toys' as such but are implements used in BDSM which is the topic for the last day of this blog, but all of them can be bought in shops - if not in Sh! then others.

There are also others I have referred to, but not yet had my characters use, like queening stools. And then there are those I have included that you don’t have to buy in a shop like rulers, pegs and feathers. (In Just Good Friends the hero inventively uses some hair grips for nipple clamps).

The one I want to use in a story at some point is a toy shown to me when I visited Sh! one  time and that is a glass plug which apparently you put in the fridge beforehand and the sensations when it is inserted are said to be amazing. I have yet to buy one to experiment, t but I have tried many of those listed above just so I know what the sensation is like. Having said that it is really difficult to paddle yourself…….


So, do leave me a comment telling me the most unusual sex toy you have used, heard about or read in other authors’ stories. I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys). Come back on Sunday when I will have a list of the winners.

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow when the theme is ‘Erotic Movie Scenes’.

All the best

Jen

PS Amendment to this blog - Sh! women's shop as mentioned in this blog have offered a prize of a Sh! goodie bag! But I am afraid that is only available if the winner is from the UK because of postal charges. If there are no comments from UK winners today I will choose one from another day for this fabulous prize. For international people - do leave a comment today and you can still win one of my books.

Monday 14 May 2012

Blog Hop Day 1: places to have sex

This is the first day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month - Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in their series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.

Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.

‘Boinking’: where have my characters had sex and what is the most unusual place to ‘boink’?
I was asked this question when I was interviewed last week on Erin Leaf’s blog – at least what the most unusual place was for my characters to ‘boink’. Thinking about it I realised that they generally ‘boink’ in the bed (how boring of me!) ,but these are the ‘other places’ I have had them do it:

  • On a rug - Just Good Friends
  • In a restaurant (at least the hero fingering the heroine until she climaxed) – Just Good Friends
  • In the garden (although this was just a sensual massage) – The Submission Challenge
  • In space (actually on Earth, but the heroine was helping the hero write an erotic romance set in space and they were enacting some of the scenes. It wasn’t easy recreating a spaceship in a standard apartment – a chest had to double up as the ship’s console!!) – Friendly Seduction
  • On a table (the hero fingering the heroine to climax) - Friendly Seduction
  • They also did it on a rug, which clearly seems to be a theme for me! – Friendly Seduction
  • In a hotel (they were at a Beginners’ BDSM conference held in a hotel) – Submissive Training
  • In a chair in a reception room at the hotel (the hero masturbated in said chair – Submissive Training
  • Over a spanking bench – Submissive Training
  • On top of a piano (at least they got hot and bothered even if the heroine pushed the hero away before it got too far) – Friend or Foe
  • In a car – Friend or Foe
  • In a petal-filled bath – Friend or Foe
  • In a sex club (this was one of the main characters only and not with the other!) – The Sub Who Switched
  • And, guess what, on the carpet! – The Sub Who Switched

The thing to comment about that penultimate one is that it is illegal in the UK to have sex in public so I made it that their act was also against the club’s rules, despite the book not particularly being set in any one country, although I am sure there are States in the US where it is also illegal to have sex in the public areas of a club.

Places in other books I have written which are yet to be published include in a barn (Wife for Three coming out in late June) and in a hill fort but I can see I need to be more inventive about places around the home like over a sofa, against a wall, in a shower……..

So, do leave me a comment telling me the most unusual place you have had sex, heard about, or read in other authors’ books. I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys). Check back on Sunday when I have have a list of the winners.

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow when the theme is ‘Sex Toys’.

All the best

Jen

Sunday 13 May 2012

Blog Hop

Hi everyone

Yes, I know I don’t normally blog on a Sunday but I have two books out this month (Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched). Both are available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys (they will be on Amazon in about a month).

To celebrate (or commiserate?) that these are the last two books in each series ‘The Friends & Acquaintances’ series and the ‘Dom & Acquaintances’ series which have cross-over characters and timelines from one series to the next – I am having a blog hop every day this week on my blog starting from tomorrow. Each day’s post will pick up a theme from my books and I really want you to leave a comment! In return I will choose the most interesting comment each day and that person will win a copy of one of my books from either series.



These are the themes:

Day 1 (Monday 14 May) – ‘Boinking’: where have my characters had sex and what is the most unusual place to ‘boink’?
Day 2 (Tuesday 15 May) – Sex toys: what toys have I included in my books and what would readers suggest is the best one they’ve used?
Day 3 (Wednesday 16 May) – Erotic movie scenes: what’s your favourite scene from the movies (it can be a mainstream film)?
Day 4 (Thursday 17 May) – Nude/erotic photos: is it foolhardy or liberating to have nude photos done?
Day 5 (Friday 18 May) – Humour: do readers like to read humour with their sex?
Day 6 (Saturday 19 May) – BDSM: does BDSM belong in erotic romances or should it be restricted to erotica?

I look forward to you reading my blogs and hopefully leaving comments. Do let others know about this.

Jen

Friday 11 May 2012

Friday funnies

Two men waiting at the pearly gates strike up a conversation. "How'd you die?" the first man asks the second.

"I froze to death," says the second.

"That's awful, how does it feel to freeze to death?" says the first.

"It's very uncomfortable at first, you get the shakes, and you get pains in all your fingers and toes. But eventually, it's a very calm way to go. You get numb and you kind of drift off, as if you're sleeping. How did you die?" says the second.

"I had a heart attack", says the first guy. "You see, I knew my wife was cheating on me, so one day I showed up at home unexpectedly. I ran up to the bedroom, and found her alone, knitting. I ran down to the basement, but no one was hiding there. I ran up to the second floor, but no one was hiding there either. I ran as fast as I could to the attic, and just as I got there, I had a massive heart attack and died."

The second man shakes his head. "That's so ironic" he says.

"What do you mean?" asks the first man

"If you had only stopped to look in the freezer, we'd both still be alive."

Have a nice weekend.

Jen

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Wednesday writing


Friend or Foe has now been released and is available in various e-books formats including PDF from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys

Enjoy.

* * * * *

I have two interviews coming up this week - one on Erin Leaf's website on Tuesday 8 May and one on Lea Barrymire's blog on Thursday 10 May!


* * * * *

The Sub Who Switched is now available for pre-order from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys

This is the last in the Doms & Acquaintances series (and the last of the stories about the Champagne Friday girls) following Ellie as she tries to find a dominant man. However, the person in love with her is gentle Nick who takes lessons from a Master in order to become the man Ellie wants. His journey isn’t an easy one.


I will give you an extract next week.

Jen

Monday 7 May 2012

Inspirational Mondays

As you may know if you read my blog regularly I like analyzing date. Another one of my analyses was of the top 50 bestsellers in Siren Publishing’s bestseller list, by genre:

Paranormal – 26 (I was quite astonished by this – that over half of their bestsellers was in this particular genre. This can be further broken down as like so)
Vampire male/male story x 4
Vampire male/male/female (where the men have a sexual relationship with each other as well as the woman) x 1
Werewolf and vampire mm x 3
WW mm+ (meaning mm stories or more, eg, mmm, mmmm, etc) x 4
WW male/female/male+ (where the men do not have a sexual relationship with anyone other than the woman and may involve more than two men) x 3
Mixed shifter or unstated shifter – mm x 7
Mixed shifter or unstated shifter – mfm+ x 3
Mixed shifter or unstated shifter – mmm x 1

Contemporary cowboy – 10
MFM x 5
MM x 2
MFM+ x 2
MF x 1

Contemporary including BDSM – 9
MF x 3
MFM x 2
MM x 1
MMM x 2
MFMMM x 1

Paranormal/fantasy – 2
Sci-fi – 2
Historical/cowboy - 1

This also means that most of the bestsellers are dominated by stories where the men have sexual relationships within their own gender, while those involving women are less than half. Of course, the breakdown may be very different at any other time of the year or with a different publisher.

Jen