Vanillerotica, please
September 13, 2015 6:26 PM Subscribe
After years of sexual repression, I'm having something of a personal renaissance. I want to read more erotica, but it has been difficult to find any that fits my taste. I seek reasonably well-written, two-party, heterosexual, consensual sexytimes.
Undesirable Flavors:
- Play involving the backdoor
- Adultery
- Gigantic age differences
- Most of the readily available fetishes, such as feet/siblings/animals/voyeurism
Permissible Spices:
- Exotic/unusual locations
- BDSM
- Sexytimes as part of a larger narrative
- Experienced from the female perspective
Is this entirely too vanilla to exist? How do I find it? Are there specific novelists, magazines, or websites I should look for?
Teach me your ways, ye liberated ones!
Undesirable Flavors:
- Play involving the backdoor
- Adultery
- Gigantic age differences
- Most of the readily available fetishes, such as feet/siblings/animals/voyeurism
Permissible Spices:
- Exotic/unusual locations
- BDSM
- Sexytimes as part of a larger narrative
- Experienced from the female perspective
Is this entirely too vanilla to exist? How do I find it? Are there specific novelists, magazines, or websites I should look for?
Teach me your ways, ye liberated ones!
How literary a style do you prefer? Have you considered the romance novel genre?
posted by yarntheory at 6:53 PM on September 13, 2015
posted by yarntheory at 6:53 PM on September 13, 2015
Actually, it does not sound to me like the majority of fanfiction, large swathes of of which are poorly written and/or not between a dude and a lady. On the other hand, fanfiction on places like archiveofourown tend to be pretty clearly tagged, so that you can avoid things that you don't want.
Have you seen The Boss series by Abigail Barnette? I think there is one three-some a couple books in, but the rest of the time it's dude-on-girl, somewhat kinky, not-much-with-anal, and reasonably well written.
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:07 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Have you seen The Boss series by Abigail Barnette? I think there is one three-some a couple books in, but the rest of the time it's dude-on-girl, somewhat kinky, not-much-with-anal, and reasonably well written.
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:07 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Look into erotica anthologies curated by Rose Caraway or Rachel Kramer Bussel
posted by asockpuppet at 7:11 PM on September 13, 2015
posted by asockpuppet at 7:11 PM on September 13, 2015
Response by poster: I would definitely be interested in romance novels. I've just never read any because the entire genre is maligned so frequently. (The same applies to fan fiction.) If you can recommend any authors that are neither clumsy nor corny, bring 'em on!
posted by possumbrie at 7:11 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by possumbrie at 7:11 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You might want to take a look at http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ for romance reviews
posted by kbuxton at 7:18 PM on September 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by kbuxton at 7:18 PM on September 13, 2015 [4 favorites]
Literotica and BDSM library. Literotica has tons of everything. BDSM library has a lot more than just bondage stuff. Use their advanced search engine and be amazed at how specific you can be.
posted by irisclara at 7:21 PM on September 13, 2015
posted by irisclara at 7:21 PM on September 13, 2015
Best answer: Smart Bitches Trashy Books
Dear Author
Smexy Books
Wonkomance (multi-author blog)
Amazon Kindle Best Sellers: Erotica (Amazon doesn't include erotica in searches unless you specifically search for it, so it's often easier to start from here.)
I personally love author Jenny Trout, who also writes as Abigail Barnette, and her The Boss series fails your test on several levels (I hate the Billionaire Dom trope, also May/December, this is both and they are exquisitely well-written), but her blog is also just a good source of discourse on romance and erotica.
Charlotte Stein has written some amazing super-quirky erotica that at its best is sort of joyously exuberant. Some of her newer stuff has gone a little too dark for me, so you really need to read synopsis/reviews before you commit, but Sweet Agony is pretty great and Control is probably one of my favorite erotic romances ever (though it is kinky, but in a happy way).
Shelley Ann Clark and Ruthie Knox have written a number of stories that are pretty straightforward non-kink romance-heavy erotica, very well-written with great characterization.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:29 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dear Author
Smexy Books
Wonkomance (multi-author blog)
Amazon Kindle Best Sellers: Erotica (Amazon doesn't include erotica in searches unless you specifically search for it, so it's often easier to start from here.)
I personally love author Jenny Trout, who also writes as Abigail Barnette, and her The Boss series fails your test on several levels (I hate the Billionaire Dom trope, also May/December, this is both and they are exquisitely well-written), but her blog is also just a good source of discourse on romance and erotica.
Charlotte Stein has written some amazing super-quirky erotica that at its best is sort of joyously exuberant. Some of her newer stuff has gone a little too dark for me, so you really need to read synopsis/reviews before you commit, but Sweet Agony is pretty great and Control is probably one of my favorite erotic romances ever (though it is kinky, but in a happy way).
Shelley Ann Clark and Ruthie Knox have written a number of stories that are pretty straightforward non-kink romance-heavy erotica, very well-written with great characterization.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:29 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
There are some very good romance novels. It just happens to be a genre where there is a lot of money to be made, so a lot of pap also gets turned out.
Consider trying Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie.
posted by 256 at 7:46 PM on September 13, 2015
Consider trying Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie.
posted by 256 at 7:46 PM on September 13, 2015
Mefi's own Linda Holmes hosts NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour and did an episode on romance novels that featured the proprietress of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Although I don't read romance novels, I found the episode an interesting listen and it was chock-a-block with suggestions.
posted by mmascolino at 7:48 PM on September 13, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mmascolino at 7:48 PM on September 13, 2015 [2 favorites]
NPR compiled a list that should be a good starting point.
posted by chaoticgood at 7:50 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chaoticgood at 7:50 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
You can try Archive of Our Own - "A fan-created, fan-run, non-profit, non-commercial archive for transformative fanworks, like fanfiction, fanart, fan videos, and podfic." You have to click a button to receive an emailed invitation or some such nonsense - I joined at the height of my thyroid problems when I didn't have much energy and read a lot of really remarkably well-written fanfiction (and extremely hot stuff). Haven't been back in yonks but you can easily find what you're looking for by using the search tags. Most works have a key of graphics to show you what you're getting into prior to reading the work.
Once you find a good writer - one that fits your sensibilities - you can bookmark their stuff, or subscribe to them so you know when they've published new stuff. I only read TV fanfiction and it was amaaaaazingly well done, but I'm sure there's other stuff there. Good luck!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:00 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Once you find a good writer - one that fits your sensibilities - you can bookmark their stuff, or subscribe to them so you know when they've published new stuff. I only read TV fanfiction and it was amaaaaazingly well done, but I'm sure there's other stuff there. Good luck!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:00 PM on September 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Herotica anthologies are collections of short erotic stories by women. There's also Violet Blue's annual Best Women's Erotica anthologies.
Not all of the stories will 100% check off all of your boxes, but it's a quick and easy way to explore a lot of writers - and if one story doesn't float your boat, just flip to the next one.
posted by bunderful at 8:36 PM on September 13, 2015
Not all of the stories will 100% check off all of your boxes, but it's a quick and easy way to explore a lot of writers - and if one story doesn't float your boat, just flip to the next one.
posted by bunderful at 8:36 PM on September 13, 2015
Go classic, Anais Nin. Little Birds or Delta of Venus.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:58 AM on September 14, 2015
posted by Sebmojo at 1:58 AM on September 14, 2015
Though seldom updated these days, Clean Sheets maintains a lovely archive that treats the English language far more gently than most user-moderated repositories I've seen and promptly never accessed again. Subject matter is rather varied, but there's a great deal to browse through.
posted by a series of tube socks at 4:17 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by a series of tube socks at 4:17 AM on September 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
You can find free short stories on Harlequin's website. This might help you narrow down the type of stories you're looking for (e.g. intrigue vs historical settings vs modern romance). And it'll also provide you with author names if you find something that you really enjoyed.
posted by A hidden well at 5:16 PM on September 14, 2015
posted by A hidden well at 5:16 PM on September 14, 2015
Response by poster: This is great! I especially like the idea of specific anthologies and anthologizers, and websites that post thoughtful reviews. Thank you everyone!
posted by possumbrie at 11:27 AM on September 19, 2015
posted by possumbrie at 11:27 AM on September 19, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gryftir at 6:53 PM on September 13, 2015 [4 favorites]