Today's Topic:
Incest-themed romance novels...
If everyone hates them so much, why are they always on bestseller lists?
Sep 1, 2008
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Welcome to the official unofficial blog of Loose Id Authors.
Sexy fiction, hot topics, your favourite LI authors posting -- what's not to like?
Opinions shared on this blog are the authors own, and there is no doubt about it, the fiction is HAWT! So rate us A+ for adult content.
Sexy fiction, hot topics, your favourite LI authors posting -- what's not to like?
Opinions shared on this blog are the authors own, and there is no doubt about it, the fiction is HAWT! So rate us A+ for adult content.
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14 comments:
Incest-themed books are probably bestsellers because they are “secret pleasures” for some people – those same people who are scandalized by incest in real life (while wishing it was happening to them, maybe?) and yet get off on reading about it in secret. I believe those people are called ...... hypocrites?! :-O
Buggered if I know. But it's HUGE out there in 'free on the interwebs' land. (Nifty/asstr/storiesonline etc)
Can't say it's ever come close to floating my boat.
What sort of incest are we talking about?
Step brother/sister from different parents with no blood ties?
Very young Step mother and son (or step dad and dughter as above)again with no blood ties?
These don't bother me and they're only technically incest.
A piece of paper does not make one siblings or parent child.
Parental love and affection or true sibling feelings do.
In ancient countries incest was practiced by the wealthy nobles or those thought to be gods as in Egypt.
In our society if a birth parent and child or siblings by birth engaged in sex, I would find that disturbing and a turn off.
I have no secret fantasy about this.
I guess I'm of the same mind as Jeanne. It's a turn off to me if the participants are blood relatives since, in many cases, in my mind--it's an abuse issue (older forcing younger--male forcing female and female forcing male).
When the characters are not related by blood, merely by marriage, the only issue that concerns me is age.
It's funny you posted this today. My next Loose Id release, Blue Ruin 3: Chains of Love which comes out tomorrow, introduces siblings Drago and Luka. I didn't "go there" in terms of brother 'cest, partly because Loose Id will not accept 'cest stories, partly because I thought I'd leave it up to readers to decide if anything is going on there beyond fraternal affection. The ones who want to go there can easily pick up on the "subtext" and let their imagination run from there. The ones squicked by that sort of thing can argue that they are just very close and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to get their mind out of the gutter. Heck, I'm the author, and I don't know for certain if anything is going on between them or not outside of the written page. ;)
Brotherly love comes up a lot in Japanese yaoi. I have to say, one of the most subversive pieces I've ever read depicted a younger brother crying out "Onii-chan! Onii-chan"!, which is the affectionate Japanese term for "big brother", during the height of passion. Did I consider that particular piece "romantic"? Not really. Did I think it was hot? Well... yeah.
I think "brother 'cest" allows a certain tangent of female readers to explore the taboo fantasy of incest without the nagging concern of pregnancy resulting in ostracization of the mother and risk of birth defects in the resulting child. On a purely visual level, particurly in illustrated yaoi, one is treated to the aesthetic of either identical brothers (twins or ones who might as well be) or ones with complementary looks (e.g. both have blond hair and blue eyes, but one is buff and the other is slender).
Do I condone incest in real life? Goodness no! Even in a situation where there is no risk of pregnancy, the psychological ramifications are too far-reaching to ignore. Is it "romance"? Speaking strictly in terms of industry standards, no, though a few (very few) e-publishers argue yes. Can it be "romance" to the individual reader? Sure. That's the beauty of "erotic fantasy" -- it's a FANTASY that can be safely explored in one's own mind.
Why does incest make the bestseller lists while so many publicly decry it? Because more people are reading it than would ever admit to it.
*Nods at Katrina's post*
Most of the books I've seen involving incest features brothers, or twins.
VC Andrews did it. Remember the Flowers in the Attic series?
Andrews book were considered horror, though, weren't they?
As someone that's written incest and read incest-theme stories in fandom and original erotica, I'll say I love the stuff.
Confronting taboos safely in fiction is what edge-erotica is all about. :)
I'm not at all a fan of parental incest, but I do find sibling incest to be a good read.
It's a pure fantasy like anything else, and whereas it's not usually a good thing in real life, it does have some wonderful dynamics to it.
There's usually an automatically built in level of trust, and a life-long familiarity which can make things so hot...but can also make angst and h/c so much more believable.
Plus, there's the whole "this is so wrong" element that leads to a kind of desperate need when they do get together - because they know they shouldn't.
I think it's the complexity of the situation that appeals to me.
I agree with Pam and Katrina. Incestuous novels are secret pleasure books. People are drawn to the taboo and forbidden and not much crosses that line more than incest. I'm a 'fine-liner' when it comes to these types of books. I've written a twincest book called "Torn". It started off as an original story on a fanfiction site and got so popular that it crossed over to being published. It was my first ever pub ebook. Anyway, I don't condone such activity in real life. No how. No way. Period. But like werewolves, vampires, and aliens there is a lot that goes on in the fiction world which might really make us 'faint' if it happened in real life. Not that paranormal creatures have a chance in heck of showing up in the real world but imagine if they did.
Now back to that fine line I was talking about. I can read stuff about siblings, but there is just one type: brothers. There are plenty of explanations for this. The dynamics are even. We tend to think men dominate women and sort of force this behavior on the fairer sex. Plus there is the added fear of offspring. I can't read offspring and parent. Not my cuppa at all. I don't read f/f so that wouldn't work for me either.
Now had I had any brothers I might not have been able to read or write m/m incest. I guess some of your tastes depend on your lifestyle.
I love incest-themed books ... especially those of the M/M variety. I usually snap them up whenever I find them.
Have I ever wanted to experience incest in real life? Um, no. Just like I've never wanted to have sex with dogs, cats, wolves, tigers, whales, bears, or blood-sucking fiends. That's what books are for.
I don't think reading incest books makes you any more of a hypocrite than liking shape-shifter books would if you don't advocate bestiality ... or horror books for that matter, make you any more of a proponent of murder. To me, there's very little correlation between my reading material and my political and social mores. But then, to each his own squick.
What sort of incest are we talking about?
Step brother/sister from different parents with no blood ties?
Very young Step mother and son (or step dad and dughter as above)again with no blood ties?
Yeah, that was my question. There seems to be gradations in "incest." Like the twincest thing is popular with some m/m writers.
I was just about to write that I still found it a turn off...but I just remembered a favorite book of mine when I was a kid. DANCERS OF ARUN. The lovers are brothers. And...oddly enough...it worked.
I love books about twincest because of the emotion between the siblings if the story is done right. When I first read Sage Whistler's TORN several months ago I felt the depth of emotion and conflict between the two brothers as a result of 'going there' and I recently reviewed the book on my blog. However, I would not want to read about some of the other pairings mentioned b/c they would be a turn off, but twins - yea brig it on *g*
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