Comments on: Paranormal Smut Novels

By: Alisa

Alisa — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:13:45 +0000

i agree with you about my own work. please know that i am on strike from writing characters without any fucking sense. my next book, The Husband Habit, actually has a protagonist i’d like to hang out with. i hope you’ll give me another chance. next year.

alisa valdes-rodriguez

By: livininphilly

livininphilly — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:04:14 +0000

Why am I just reading this post? I am a huge, huge fan of sci-fi & fantasy. I’ve recently been reading a lot of sci-fi by African American writers, particularly women, b/c I was tired of only being able to reference Octavia E. Butler (altho I personally think she was a modern day seer & looooove her work). As a life long sci-fi reader when I discovered Octavia and the fact that women of color could be main characters I was hooked.
I agree with what was said about fledgling. I think it would’ve been a kick ass series and I too was thrown off initially by the fact that she is described as looking like a 10-yr-old girl. I wish that that series would’ve gotten the chance to be developed before we lost her.
I didn’t read through every single comment (so sue me) but I’m not sure if anyone mentioned Tananarive Due. Her African Immortal series is very good. In the first the main characters are split b/c a man and woman (husband & wife) and in the 2nd it’s mostly from the wife’s pov while the third is split even more. I have a feeling that the next one will be almost entirely from the daughter’s pov. I recommend this series b/c the premise +spoiler alert+ is that there is a secret sect of Ethiopian men who are immortals and when one of them falls in love he makes a decision that literally brings about the second coming in the form a little black girl. Not overly religious but it is there. I must admit that the wife is a character that I really could do without b/c she is always fucking scared of something but it’s interest and I am currently addicted.
Sheree R. Thomas is an African American woman that put together a couple of anthologies of african american sci-fi short stories. Some are smut and some are not. I’ve been using her books to introduce me to new writers.
As far as the Kushiel series, I freaking loved Kushiel’s dart but haven’t picked up any others since I first read it. I read it when it first came out and I had to wait for the next to appear. I have been trying to get L.A. Banks at the library but I cannot ever find Minion it’s always checked out!
Mercedes Lackey is one of my fave authors of all time. Not all of the books in the Valdemar series are written w/ female leads but some are. In fact Kerowyn’s Tale (a series of 3) are written w/ a lesbian as the main character. Her sexuality is not fully explored but she definitely has a partner that she fights beside and loves dearly and they definitely have a sexual relationship.
Ok that’s it for now. But I can seriously speak for hours on this topic!

By: Danelle Dragonetti

Danelle Dragonetti — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:52:53 +0000

Gawd.. Favorite Paranormal Smut Novel.. How about my life! I’m a practicing Witch (forget Wiccan – too bunny fluff) Vampyre who teaches Magick and has a great time in the local Goth clubs hunting both men and women for fun and profit. Care to join me?

By: thebluelotus

thebluelotus — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:26:03 +0000

I have to recommend He, She and It by Marge Piercy, which I just finished and absolutely love. It’s sci-fi of the not too distant future speculative type, and while it is very thoughtful and compelling, dealing with the nature of love and personhood (especially relating to artificial intelligences) I think it deserves a mention here too because it does contain a trope mentioned by Daniel Martin at comment #13– though in this case it’s “sex with cyborgs is better than any sex you will ever have.” But that part does have its own purpose, and just made it even more enjoyable. And it’s definitely written from a feminist perspective– I actually saw it on a previous feminist sci-fi post and am now wondering why I haven’t heard much about Piercy before.

By: Em

Em — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:24:03 +0000

Frankly, the best thing about the Kushiel series is that they so strongly make the point that enjoying pain /= necessarily being submissive /= being being a doormat. And, conversely, enjoying causing pain /= being sexually dominant /= being an asshole (or at least not wanting to be – arguably Imri is an ass throughout most of Justice).

In sum, neither in these books or in real life is getting turned on by pain a) a conscious choice and b) inherently oppressive.

As for smutty paranormal smut with strong female characters, yay for some awesome recs. Arguably Charlane Harris’s Southern Vampire series might qualify – at least the first couple of books. While the stories continue to be interesting, the quality of both the smut and the independence of the female protagonist go downhill. But there are definitely some nice shivery scenes in the first book especially.

By: Alara Rogers

Alara Rogers — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:48:18 +0000

Piratequeen, perhaps the Kushiel series was explained badly. let me put it a different way.

The main character is a masochistic prostitute who, *because* of her unique sexuality, is placed in a position to become a Big Damn Hero and save the realm, twice (and save an innocent child, the third time.) The story makes it clear that her extreme masochism is not a choice — she was born that way. She cannot choose whether or not pain turns her on — it just does. In the book, this marks her as the chosen one of the God of justice and punishment, Kushiel (hence the name of the series.) She was sold into prostitution at an early age, but this is not looked at by any of the people in *her* society as worse or more demeaning than any other indentured servitude, and she’s not allowed to start having sex until she’s 16, at which point she begins earning back her freedom. Once she is free, she chooses to continue to be a prostitute, because in her society THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. It’s considered a holy calling, in fact, although certainly not for everyone.

The book isn’t about “Look at me, I’m so empowered because I’m a whore!” It takes a character who was born a masochist and raised to be a prostitute, and makes her a HERO. Seriously. Her skills as a super-spy, as a prostitute, as a negotiator and as a just generally decent person, together with her almost superhuman ability to endure any amount of pain, allow her to be a female James Bond who repeatedly saves the day, not by having lots of weapons and blowing shit up, but by getting people to trust her and love her… and, if they are basically decent people, she uses this position to persuade them to do what’s right, and if they are evil people, she uses this position to kill them or set them up to be killed by her sidekick, a classic Kung Fu/Three Musketeers action hero who is chaste, noble, totally a Paladin in the Dungeons and Dragons sense, and, let me repeat, IS HER SIDEKICK. Where else have you seen a story where the action hero is the sidekick of a masochistic prostitute?

The book does not present being a prostitute as something fun and exciting that every woman should aspire to, though it *does* present it as something that greatly appeals to Phedre, especially after she and her sidekick fall in love, because he can’t be rough with her in bed, and while she’s quite capable of enjoying normal sex, her masochism gives her needs he can’t fulfill. I didn’t see it as “misogynistic porntastic empowerfulment” crap at all; I saw it as taking a character archetype who in most fiction exists *solely* to support the hero’s story, and sometimes to be tsked at by the author, sometimes even to be raped or murdered to make the point that being a prostitute or liking rough sex is bad, mmkay?, and making her the HERO.

By: denelian

denelian — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:50:03 +0000

Hazel Stone… the character written by Heinlein?

don’t get me wrong, i freaking WORSHIP Robert Anson Heinlein, but so far as i can tell i am the only feminist who likes him.

and… seriously… whats wrong with the Kushiel books? they describe a world where – at least in the country the characters come from – feminism has WON.

also, Latoya, i forgot to mention Tanya Huff – if you ever saw the TV serious “BloodTies”, the books are by her. the first 5 have a female ex-cop KICK ASS lead, the second three have a gay guy who discovers he’s a mage and grows up. wonderful, wonderful!

By: piratequeen

piratequeen — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:54:54 +0000

A major theme of Phèdre’s life – and the nexus of her power – is dominance through submission. As an anguisette, she is often tasked to bend to the will of her patrons, to take the pain they inflict and desire ever more.

Sounds to me like same shit, different day: misogynistic porntastic crap presented as empowerfulment. Sorry, I don’t see what’s remotely feminist about participating in one’s own oppression.

By: BeckyZoole

BeckyZoole — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:51:35 +0000

Hey, Angelia, good to meet another Elizabeth Donald fan! She’s just come out with a new book in the series, called Abaddon. You just can’t beat vampire smut with gutsy female detectives. Mmmmmm.

I’ve heard very good things about Kate Douglas’s Wolf Tales, and it’s going on my to-read list.

By: Angelia Sparrow

Angelia Sparrow — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:25:52 +0000

@Hazel The call was for urban fantasy, not SF. Were we talking feminist SF, I’d be recc’ing Joanna Russ, Tanith Lee, Ursala K. LeGuine, Leigh Bracket and James Tiptree Jr.

Urban fantasy is a different beast altogether, and tends to be generally feminist in that the protagonist is female, tough, smart and makes her own way. If you’re reading from Ellora’s Cave or Loose Id or Samhain press (all women owned/operated companies) they tend to have happy endings as well (unlike Anita Blake).