On Steampunk, smart girls and spankings....

 

Dr. Gladys DeWalt: The sexiest thing about her is her mind.

Sapiosexual: (noun) One who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature; behaviour of becoming attracted to or aroused by intelligence and its use.

When I sat down to write Dangerous Science, I didn't start with a plot or a plan or even a concept. I only had three things in mind as I typed "Chapter One" on the blank white space staring back at me from my MacBook. 1.) The book would be Steampunk. 2.) The main character would be a smart woman. 3.) The book would have a male authority figure, and feature some spanking.

I do a lot of reading across a lot of different genres. Erotica is my guilty pleasure, and books that feature spankings give me an extra naughty thrill. But I've read enough spanking erotica to know what turns me on, and what turns me off. Turn ons: A strong male disciplinarian who corrects for good and just reasons, or spanks a woman for her and his mutual pleasure. Turn offs: A woman portrayed as so stupid, flawed or mean that she needs to be spanked if she is to make proper decisions.

Another turn on: Intelligence. I don't care how muscle-bound the character, how white his teeth or how handsome he is. If he's monosyllabic or a bully with one set of rules for himself and one set of rules for the woman, then he won't even register on my heat index. Perhaps this is why I fantasize about being spanked by Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer but not Stephen Segal. Brute force usually means brute intelligence, and brutes do nothing for me.

As a genre, Steampunk lends itself perfectly for the formation of clever characters. Women can be anything in the world of Victorian futurism; they can be airship pilots or scientists or explorers or spies. They can go toe to toe with brilliant men, whether it's in drawing rooms of London or on African expeditions. With Steampunk, we can enjoy the romantic structure and customs of Victorian times, but without all that icky suppression of women.

In Dangerous Science, part of what eventually endears Dr. Gladys DeWalt to Professor Sebastian Cromwell is that he deserves her. She's brilliant, and he respects that.  He's brilliant, so she respects him. She is not incapable of caring for herself or making her own decisions or being a full intellectual partner to him as they face the challenge that will decide her - and ultimately his - fate. Any submission Gladys gives Sebastian is earned, even if she doesn't quite realize that when he is forced to discipline her.

Now, I'm not judging those who prefer the Kitten-Up-A-Tree kind of girl. It's not for me to invalidate the preference for the White Knight coming to save the Helpless Maiden. I'm just saying it's not for me. The geek in me revels in crafting a character who wins the man almost by accident, and often when she's on the way to doing something more interesting that looking for romance.

The geek in me, the sapiosexual in me, the reader and nerd and science buff in me wants to write women who represent the Smart Girl. Because Smart is Sexy.

Dangerous Science will be released on February 12 by Blushing Books. Look for it then in the Blushing Books Web store, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online booksellers.

#SatSpanks - - In praise of the perfect villain

I wonder if what I'm doing right now is normal.

Here I am,  a few days from the February 12th release of my erotic Steampunk adventure, Dangerous Science ,and I'm already thinking ahead to what I want to do differently in the next book. Don't get me wrong - I'm pleased with Dangerous Science, and I hope you will be, too.  The main characters, Dr. Gladys DeWalt and the enigmatic Professor Sebastian Cromwell are brilliant and sexy. There's a villain in this story, but he's neither brilliant nor sexy. He just thinks he is.

I'm not saying that the villain in Dangerous Science doesn't cause his fair share of trouble. He's sneaky, spiteful and a a total bastard and I can guarantee you will hate him. But I think in my next novel Gladys and Sebastian will be up against someone who is just as brilliant. In fact, he may be so brilliant that he'll be harder to hate. And maybe that's OK.

Some readers prefer an unlikeable villain. But I have to say I'm not one of them. I like those lines to be a little blurred. I like it when you feel such begrudging admiration for the bad guy that you fear his demise.

I can't write the perfect villain. As far as I'm concerned, he's already been written. If any of you happen to be fans of Sherlock Holmes, then you'll know just what I'm talking about when I tell you there's a name, a name no one says. Jim Moriarty. In the books he wasn't sexy, but in the BBC production of Sherlock, Moriarty has a certain sex appeal that was enhanced by intelligence.

But enough about other villains. For now we have the nemesis in Dangerous Science, Dr. John Reubens, who if not brilliant still deserves respect as a Bad Guy. After all, only a villain would scheme to land an accomplished colleague like Gladys DeWalt in such a humiliating situation at the hands of the uncompromising Cromwell, which I now tease for you here.

“You’re scared.” His voice was calm. “I know you’re scared and well you should be. I don’t relish what I’m about to do, Gladys, but given the outcome for you should you slip my authority, I’m convinced beyond a doubt that it’s for the best.”

There was no further preamble. Sebastian turned Gladys and pushed her over his knee. She was numb with shock at what was happening; by the time she recovered her senses there was no time to struggle, not that it would have done her any good. Her guardian had a firm grip around her small waist, and she was helpless to extricate herself no matter how hard she struggled. Gladys cried out as she felt her skirt being lifted, and launched into a stream of threats and profanities when she felt her undergarments being tugged down. But words were as useless as her struggles against such disciplinary resolve.

 - Dangerous Science

I know if I were to find myself living by the leave of an elegant yet stern Victorian professor, I'd be most aggrieved at the person responsible for my plight. On the other hand, when one thoroughly consider Gladys' situation, maybe John Reubens is the perfect villain after all. :-)

Gearing up for Saturday Spankings....

I am so pleased to be taking part in my first Saturday Spankings Blog Hop! Per the rules, I'm keeping it short - just a picture and a quote from my upcoming erotic Steampunk adventure novel, Dangerous Science, to be published February 12 by Blushing Books.

Dr. Sebastian Cromwell. Scientist. Automaton.

“But if I may be so bold, I’d argue that part of what has allowed Dr. DeWalt to hoodwink us all is her charm. She has a way of putting one at ease with her sweet manner. It’s easy to believe her. Is this by calculated design on her part? Perhaps she’s known all along that she was incapable of the mission she accepted, but we – being human – were too blind to see her flaws and deal with them ... Dr. Cromwell won’t have that problem. He’s not fully human.”  

--John Reubens, member of the Council of Scholars, upon recommending that Dr. Gladys DeWalt be placed in the custody of her former professor Sebastian Cromwell.

Naughty, naughty: The steamy underside of Victorian society

Things are not always as they seem...

 She cried, “Laura,” up the garden,

“Did you miss me?

Come and kiss me.

Never mind my bruises,

Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices

Squeez’d from goblin fruits for you,

Goblin pulp and goblin dew.

Eat me, drink me, love me;

Laura, make much of me;

For your sake I have braved the glen

And had to do with goblin merchant men.”

 --- From "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rosetti

It's not just what one sees in Victorian Society that captivates. It's what one does not see.

On the outside, things seemed perfectly restrained by a strict moral code that functioned much like a too tight corset. However, behind the closed doors of brothels, secret clubs and some homes, that uptight morality was being unlaced by men and women who valued the appearance of propriety over propriety itself.

In short, the Victorians were wildly and beautifully freakish.

The above poem is an example. The Victorian-era writer, Christina Rosetti, maintained that the poetic tale of two sisters lured away by goblins was written for children. But it was rife enough with sexual imagery to raise doubts. All the elements of an eroticism were there - the consumption of forbidden fruit, burning lust and, finally, an orgiastic sapphic frenzy.

Even when Victorians like Rosetti tried to be good, they were sometimes naughty. And the ones who tried to be naughty could be downright hedonistic. Brothels were legal, oddly enough, but men were expected to be discreet. Somehow, though, this wasn't enough. There were scores of secret societies for those who wanted to get their fuck on, and these clubs catered to a number of particular bents. There was the Flagellant's Club, for spanking was BIG in Victorian times (another reason to love the era). And there was the Mollies club, for gay men.

Pornography was wildly popular, much of it featuring men and women at the end of bundles of switches. Victorian parlors were, apparently, great places to get birched. Girl on girl nudie pics were in big demand. The proper lady who met her friends for tea may later masturbate to a contraband copy of "Lady Pokingham" or bend over while her patrician husband spanked her willing bum.

What is it they say? A lady in the streets but a freak between the sheets?

Perhaps it the chameleon in me that loves the duality of Victorian society. Where some people are excited by gratuitous displays of bare skin and raw sexuality, nothing excites me more than the unknown Freak Potential of a reserved man in a three-piece suit, especially if he is polite. As he holds the door for me, I nod appreciatively and wonder if, perhaps, he has a cane at home. And if he does, is he wondering whether I'd bend for it? One can hope.

The fantasy of techno-Victorianism

Ask me to name one of the most beautiful, fascinating women who ever lived and I won't hesitate. her name was Tasha Tudor, and here's her picture:

Tasha passed away in 2008 after living her 94 years exactly as she wanted to. She was an author/illustrator who often said she'd been born in the wrong era. But rather than long for what she could not have, Tasha Tudor created her own little reality. On her picturesque farm in Vermont, she existed as one would in Victorian times. Tucked away in an idyllic world untouched by modern influences, she wore period dress, lived without electricity and in her contentment she created wrote and illustrated beautiful books like Corgiville Fair, Pumpkin Moonshine, The Doll's Christmas and Around the Year. 

I don't just admire Tasha Tudor. I strive to be Tasha Tudor. Like her, I'm drawn to the Victorian era. I love tea sets and flowing dresses and formal dinners. I love having a dashing man offer me his umbrella in the rain, even when I have my own. But unlike Tasha Tudor, I love my technology. Show me a gadget and watch me light up. Usher me into a pretty parlor full of books and tech toys and you risk losing me entirely.

So what's a modern girl to do when she loves both the rituals of the past and the latest inventions? She embraces Steampunk.

What is Steampunk? It's hard to describe. The simplest definition is that steampunk is a sci-fi genre
set in the past, where everything is powered by steam. Steampunk is Victorian futurism where the worlds of tradition and stuffy customs collide with fantastical steam-powered inventions that never existed, and never will. Imagine a world with massive dirigibles and submersibles, automatons and mad scientists, dashing men and gutsy women - adventurers all. And then there are the monsters, from leviathans to robots, and villains armed with whatever weapons exist in your mental arsenal.

The action can take place in Victorian London or the American West or the East Indes or even distant planets. Those of us who are more traditional are happiest setting our stories in London, especially those of us who think we were not only born in the wrong time, but the wrong place.

I love the idea of mixing traditions of the past with an imaginary technology that surpasses even what we can do today. I love mixing corsetry with sidearms. I love the idea of charting unexplored lands and returning to a cozy parlor overlooking the Thames. I just love everything about it.

I love Steampunk. I love it so much that after years of writing for my own personal pleasure I decided to share my love of this fantastical realm with others. So I wrote a book.

It's my first, and I'm quite proud of it. I do not yet know how it will be received. It's not typical of other books I've read. This one has more sex - enough, in fact that it's been picked up by Blushing Books, which publishes some very sexy reads. And the book contains some spanking. That may not be everyone's cup of tea but again that's the beauty. In Steampunk you create your own world and in mine there are sexy scientists, intrigue, animal attraction and some discipline.

The release date is February 12, and I was advised to start this blog by some more experienced writers who were kind enough to advise me that the best way to market one's book is to market one's book. A blog is, apparently, a good tool for the marketing type. So here we are.

I'll be writing on topics other than my book, but for today this is enough. If you are interested in this book, or have any questions or comments there's a place for them below. I look forward to hearing from you.