Some Like It Hot With Sasha Bailey

We're turning up the heat today on The Lovestruck Novice!! The lovely Sasha Bailey has taken a moment away from promoting her debut book, TORTS, to shedded some light on much debated issue in the world of romance.

So get ready, we're changing things up a little here! Now, take it away, Sasha!


What Is Erotica?

The Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary defines erotica as: "literary or artistic works having an erotic theme or quality" or as "depictions of things erotic". The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines erotic as "of, devoted to, or tending to arouse sexual love or desire " or "strongly marked or affected by sexual desire". This is a very subjective definition. On the whole, one knows what it means: it has something to do with sex or writing about sex. In each individual instance of erotica, it can be harder to tell. A literary (in contrast with a scientific) piece might be detailed about its characters' sexual activities and yet might leave a reader cold. It is considered erotic, or possibly adult, because of those details. Yet other kinds of writing might "arouse sexual love or desire" more.

A heroic or compassionate character might arouse love and desire. Often the hero of a romance is wealthy or has some other characteristic that makes him a 'good catch' and he becomes an object of readers' desire. Physical attributes in both men and women arouse desire. Often, female characters' capacity to love, to be good mothers and to be faithful through times of trial arouse sexual love in men.

This is because sex and love and especially sexual love are complicated aspects of human beings. Sex can express a variety of feelings and emotions. At one end of the spectrum, it can be very narrow, that is, simply a physical act with minimum emotional content. At the other end, it can contain not only emotions but qualities of one's spirit--it can be uplifting and enlarging in ways which often stretch one's vocabulary as well as enlarge one's soul. I don't think we understand why and how that range is possible, how it differs in individuals and what factors shape it.

Sexual attraction and the ability to give as well as receive sexual pleasure have a dark side as well. It can involve, pain, control, even subtle forms of control and various power dynamics. It can be a means to unstated ends, sometimes those of only one of the parties involved. The dark side is deeply intertwined with personality. In my opinion, we don't understand it, either.

Because writing about sex and things erotic largely have been forbidden in the mainstream, humankind mostly has not been able to use literature to explore sexuality. This has left it to science, and I am glad that science is making headway here. But only literature can offer multiple vocabularies with which to explore various inscapes.

Only literature can offer the languages of ethics and philosophy, the languages of interpersonal and transpersonal relationships, the languages of poetry and transcendence. These languages are part of sex because we need these to describe people, people's views of themselves and perceptions of their own bodies and sexuality, and therefore how they express their sexuality with other people.

There is no erotica that does not use a vocabulary of some kind to describe what its characters think sexuality is, how they view their own sexuality, and how it is part of their romantic lives. That range of vocabulary tells us something about the complexities of human nature. What an individual reader prefers to read tells us something about him or her, perhaps, the function reading serves, and his or her own views of human being. So often we read the books that mirror our inner world. These are the books that "seem right" or "ring true". These books appeal and do not offend; we read them with our hearts.

Can one read with one's heart? Of course, if one has a literary vocabulary.


Thank you, Sasha! Now, if you'd like to know a little more about Sasha Bailey, check out the important information below:

Sasha Bailey is at Coffee Time Romance Erotic Loop tonight, Friday, May 29, USA time, from 8-10 p.m., Eastern Daylight time
The topic is "What Is Erotic Writing?"
This is: London time: 2 a.m. Fri night/Sat morning; Adelaide: 9 p.m. Saturday night; Berlin: 2 a.m. Fri night/Sat morning; Toronto: 8 p.m. Fri night; Auckland: noon, Saturday.
Join: karendevinkaren-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Send Messages: karendevinkaren@yahoogroups.com

Sasha Bailey is the author of TORTS, an erotic story about human nature's dark side.
Ms. Bailey can be reached at SashaBailey@ymail.com
Torts is published by Eternal Press and available from www.Amazon.com in paperback and in eBook from a variety of places including:
Eternal Press, http://eternalpress.ca/
Fictionwise, http://www.fictionwise.com/
Mobipocket, http://www.mobipocket.com
Books on Board, https://www.booksonboard.com/
Cyberread, https://www.cyberread.com/
Payloadz, http://store.payloadz.com/
All Romance EBooks, http://www.allromanceebooks.com/

CoffeeTime Romance Store, http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/

Thanks Again, Sasha! And thank you everyone for stopping by! Enjoy your Friday! Here's Hunkie-Dunkie Robert Palmer to make you feel the heat! Click here for Some Like It Hot! Turn up the volume and rock out, baby! It's Friday!!