Apparently, my fave author evah has a new book out, that features two brothers who are involved in a sexual relationship. With each other.
Is this being marketed as a romance? Seriously? Well, she must be doing something right because the book is Total E-bounds’ number one seller.
This is the blurb from the Total E-bounds site:
“For twins, Ryker and Ranger Good, life has never been easy. Kicked out of the house when they were barely eighteen, the brothers started a new life, together. Now in their thirties they are ready to make a commitment, not only to each other but to the woman they’ve waited to claim for four years.
Lilly Bevin has been in love with the Good twin’s for years, only to be treated like a child by them. Now twenty-one, Lilly’s ready to spread her wings. Working in the town bar is just one of the ways she’s declaring her independence, dating is the other.
When the twin’s find out the woman they want is dating a smarmy hustler they try to talk some sense into her, only to be told to butt out. Now it’s up to them to tame their wildcat and bring her into the fold of their love. A wildcat, however, has claws and Lilly isn’t shy about using hers to her advantage.”
Lovely. Anybody going to admit to having bought it?
Thanks to You-Know-Who for the tip-off.
Doesn’t that picture of the baby make you chuckle every time you look at it? *g*
Emily Veinglory
November 11
7:05 pm
It foes by the anme of ‘twincest’ and has been something of a hit in fanfiction for some time. I know one mainstream fantasy from the 70′s or 80′s with brother-lovers so I guess it has been out there for a while. With no chance of children and no innate power imbalance some of the taboo is side-stepped.
Stacey
November 11
7:31 pm
Virginia Andrews and The New Virginia Andrews were/are massive best sellers Flowers in the Attic was the first of many – brother and sister fall in love while locked in the attic, their parents were illegitimate half uncle & niece (happily married). From what I recall VA books tended to have incest as either the central or secondary theme (romantic or otherwise). So its not really that surprising that this book is doing so well.
Sarah McCarty
November 11
7:32 pm
I’m sorry, but nothing can make incest, (pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia and a whole bunch of other extremisms either) romantic for me. Just not going to happen. Ever.
I get there’s an audience for every book, just as I get the reason for writing such a plot line. It’s not one, however, that that I would find compelling.
Heather
November 11
7:37 pm
I have a novella that I’m working on involving twin brothers. There is a menage scene, but there is no m/m in the book anywhere–not even touching in a sexual way. It’s a line I refuse to cross, and I have no interest in reading about such subject material. I have noticed that mentioning twins for an upcoming work (especially twin vamps) really grabs reader attention, but I make sure and tell everyone up front that there’s no interaction in a sexual way between the brothers.
I must say before I read this blog that I had never heard the term “twincest” before. Learn something new every day, huh? And I agree with Sarah that nothing can make incest romantic, and I don’t care what age those committing the act are. It’s just not a romantic act, in my mind at least.
Laura
November 11
7:43 pm
Sorry, but from this reader’s perspective…EWWW. And not just because it’s good ol’ Carol. (Yes, I have tried one of her books.)
Even Total E-bound is going to get it wrong occasionally. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Ellora’s Cave draw the line at incest?
Teddy Pig
November 11
8:36 pm
I was gonna say V.C. Andrews has been selling incest romance for years.
Got a bestseller and movie out of it.
Teddy Pig
November 11
8:43 pm
Oh man! Not HER!!!!
I just bought HER Riding The Wolf on EC. I gotz cheese burgered!
MistyG
November 11
9:07 pm
Okay, I’m really icked out.I liked the post with just the baby picture alone. Sorry.
MistyG
November 11
9:09 pm
The cover looks like something you’d see on an old VHS porn movie. I’d have found it maybe interesting if there wasn’t some sibling action going on…now I’m just, ewe.
Anne
November 11
9:31 pm
Oh ewwww…. just… ewwwww!
Shelly @ Bewitched
November 11
9:59 pm
I went to Total E-Bound and what is that picture in their logo supposed to be?
Second, I read the excerpt to the book. And I guess I thought it was two brothers sharing one woman. Ummmmm no. Guess I’ll have to take “twincest” as exactly what it is.
Tracy
November 11
10:14 pm
the baby picture is the best. I keep looking at it and laughing.
The book storyline~ewwwww
And I can’t get over the use of the word “twin’s” when it should be “twins” more than once in the book blurb.
Darlene
November 11
10:35 pm
Forget the incest! A better question is, why is this publisher’s website abusing the poor apostrophe! The plural of twins is not “twin’s”!
I’m afraid I’d be making so many red marks in this book I’d never have time to enjoy the squick.
Anonymous
November 11
11:09 pm
Hey, Sarah, what about shoe fetishes?
Srsly, the things I saw people do to themselves and each other when I worked ED. . . And all in the name of Lurrve (TM). Twincest isn’t so bad. Not that I’ll be downloading that or any other book of the ilk.
And did the author of the book blurb take ANY English classes at all?
–Jackie L.
Anonymous
November 11
11:11 pm
Oh, and the book is part of a series, so the next installment must be “Evil Twins.”
–Jackie L.
KateS
November 11
11:27 pm
Darlene, EXACTLY what I was thinking! Honestly, how can a publisher put out an excerpt with incorrect grammar?
Note: DO NOT PLURALIZE WITH APOSTROPHES!
Mrs Giggles
November 11
11:46 pm
I don’t have issue with incest stories if it is well-written. I love VC Andrews’ Flowers In The Attic and Petals In The Wind, for example, and I’ve just finished a Portia Da Costa erotica where two half-sisters get it on with each other.
And incest is pretty big in the fanfic scene, judging from how many Supernatural “brocest” fanfics I’ve come across pairing Dean with Sam as the One True Love 4EVA!!! story of the century.
Then again, this is Carol Lynne, so eh, who knows what to expect from this story.
And I’ve always suspected that authors can or are required to provide the blurb for their own books when it comes to many epublishers.
Anonymous
November 12
12:09 am
I’m seriously grossed out. I read the excerpt… I don’t know what made me do it. Incest is not romantic.
NOT. ROMANTIC.
Bonnie Dee
November 12
12:19 am
Okay, I’ve been scooped. My major beef was with the “twin’s” instead of “twins” thing, too. Come on! That kind of bad grammar in a blurb would tip me off right away that it was a book to avoid.
Lisa
November 12
12:48 am
Holy shit, that blurb had so many grammatical errors I almost didn’t get through it. But the SPECTACULAR plot and incest theme kept me fascinated… or disgusted. Maybe both. Incest = not sexy. Actually, squicky, even if they dont’ actually have sex with each other. Even if their manly members just brush, that’s icky gross nasty.
I need to go scrub my brain out with bleach, kthnxbai!
Kayleigh Jamison
November 12
3:18 am
~And I’ve always suspected that authors can or are required to provide the blurb for their own books when it comes to many epublishers.~
That’s true. Blurbs are the bane of my existence.
Jenyfer Matthews
November 12
6:01 am
~And I’ve always suspected that authors can or are required to provide the blurb for their own books when it comes to many epublishers.~
True – but you’d think that someone would READ them before they just publish them. Sigh.
Karen Scott
November 12
7:24 am
Forget the incest! A better question is, why is this publisher’s website abusing the poor apostrophe!
I was actually gonna correct it, but then I thought ahh, fuck it.
It seems to me that if a publisher doesn’t have the wherewithall to spot these obvious mistakes, then I imagine that the majority of their books are gonna have the same editing issues.
December/Stacia
November 12
9:26 am
Those apostrophes hurt. Physically make my eyes hurt.
Personally I’ve never understood the appeal of “brothers” menage stories. I imagine how I would feel if it was two sisters having sex with each other and inviting a man to join them and I would be seriously yucked out by it. I know a lot of people like them, and more power to ‘em, but they just don’t do it for me.
And yes, EC absolutely draws the line at incest. My wp Anna J Evans and I had to do some serious editing in one of our books for that reason and the book still has an X rating (although for more reasons than just that–it’s quite a dark book), even though the scene in question is not presented in an erotic fashion at all and one of the parties in question is unaware of the family connection.
Mrs Giggles
November 12
10:11 am
December, I don’t understand the appeal of *this* “brothers” menage, but then again, I don’t understand why two MM, related or not, will want a woman to join them when they are already happy with each other.
In general though, stories with consensual incest is a hard sell to me, but I’ve realized that I can enjoy one provided the author has created a credible psychological reason for it to happen.
So, two brothers who happen to just get it on because it’s kinky? Nope, doesn’t work for me.
But if you show me two brothers who have become psychologically scarred over the years from being on the road and hunting demons that they have only each other to trust, and that they eventually cross the line to physical intimacy in their need for some kind of human connection with other people, yeah, I’d buy that. That’s why some of the better written Supernatural “Wincest” fanfiction is my guilty pleasure by the way. (And sorry about that long sentence.)
It depends on the author. And judging from Carol Lynne’s track record, I don’t think she’s the author.
Karen Scott
November 12
10:32 am
but I’ve realized that I can enjoy one provided the author has created a credible psychological reason for it to happen.
I think this is why Flowers In The Attic didn’t skeeze me out. Plus there were no sex scenes, so it wasn’t really in your face. Two brothers just getting it on because they feel like it however is just…. wrong, on every level to me.
Karen Scott
November 12
10:39 am
I’ve just had a thought, (yes, just the one) this topic is probably gonna bring lots of weirdos to my blog now. I had weird search phrases before, now, I’ll have twice as many wackos looking for familial lovefests. Nice.
Anonymous
November 12
11:12 am
All of this talk about incest reminds me of the Thing That Was Never Discussed in the fundamentalist church I was forced by my mother to attend– who did Adam and Eve’s children marry?
I haven’t read any twincest fanfic, but it is certainly talked about enough– the things fandom do get up to!
Shiloh Walker
November 12
12:51 pm
I keep wanting to ignore this entire post, but I find myself morbidly fascinated.
Karen Scott
November 12
1:14 pm
who did Adam and Eve’s children marry?
I think I asked this of my parents years ago. They never did quite manage to come up with an answer for me.
These days, I prefer to think that we evolved rather than the religious clap trap. I much prefer the idea of dinosaurs than Adma and Eve’s children getting it on.
December/Stacia
November 12
1:52 pm
But if you show me two brothers who have become psychologically scarred over the years from being on the road and hunting demons that they have only each other to trust, and that they eventually cross the line to physical intimacy in their need for some kind of human connection with other people, yeah, I’d buy that. That’s why some of the better written Supernatural “Wincest” fanfiction is my guilty pleasure by the way. (And sorry about that long sentence.)
Oh, I agree, but I’m not sure it would work for me as a romance. The story itself is fine, but once women enter the picture it seems a little odd that they would still need/want each other. But then, I guess if it’s just one woman, and they’ve already done it so many times…but yeah, I’d like there to be some motive aside from simply, “Say, my brother’s a fine-lookin’ man, there.”
I had weird search phrases before, now, I’ll have twice as many wackos looking for familial lovefests. Nice.
Someone keeps finding me by Googling “Susan Powter cunnilingus”. I still cannot figure out why someone would Google that particular phrase. (It leads to a month of archived posts, btw, not one particular post, at least it did until I asked in a post who was googling it. Oh what a tangled web…)
Nora Roberts
November 12
2:15 pm
Incest.
Not romantic.
Not sexy.
John Irving used the device in Hotel New Hampshire (brother/sister). But it wasn’t sexy or romantic, or–I think–meant to be. It was painful and sad and funny and strange. And it was John Irving.
Nora
Writer & Cat
November 12
4:24 pm
Some aspects remind me of Lora Leigh’s “Marley’s Choice”, especially with the fact that the long-lusted-after female was underage when the angsty brother lust began.
katiebabs
November 12
4:26 pm
Um yuk
Even if George Clooney and Brad Pitt were brothers it would still be Yuk.
But I use to be a fan of VC Andrews…. hmmm..
Jenns
November 12
5:42 pm
V.C. Andrews wrote romance? I always thought of it as gothic horror. And I’m going to keep telling myself that it was – I was a fan in my early teens. Yikes.
Maybe I don’t want to know.
At any rate … Ick. *Shutting eyes and trying to erase the mental image of two brothers and a girl*. Despite the fact that they look mysteriously like George Clooney and Brad Pitt. (Gotta agree with you about it still being … I can’t even think of a word for it.) Eew.
Heather
November 12
6:00 pm
Well, the blurb for the book no longer has the “twin’s” in it. Karen, someone must be reading your blog.
I noticed the errors in the blurb the first time, but since the subject of the blog was dealing with the incest, I didn’t feel a need to point it out. Twincest–still shaking my head over that one. Nope, just as ick worthy today as it was yesterday.
lisabea
November 12
6:21 pm
The Men of August don’t mix man parts during sex (how? I have to wonder…seems like a tight fit all around) They are in a perverted bubble of woman sharing which isn’t exactly brother love. I’m just saying.
And, as I am guilty of miscellaneous apostrophe abuse, I refuse to a throw stone. At that. Everything else is game.
Karmyn
November 12
6:41 pm
Those brothers don’t look very intelligent.
I never really understood some of the menage plots. Do they suddenly decide to be bi for a few days? What’s really funny are the covers where the men are so obviously not into women and the woman is trying her best to look sexy and failing badly.
jmc
November 12
7:05 pm
Twincest? Good god, I’d never thought or heard of it until I started reading Harry Potter fan fiction. But -based on the volume of fics out there- apparently a lot of readers get off on the idea of Fred ‘n George.
Being a twin myself, it doesn’t float my boat. But if other people like it…
Amanda Young
November 12
7:14 pm
I just noticed it’s a best seller at Fictionwise and All Romance Ebooks too.
lisabea
November 12
7:21 pm
“I refuse to a throw stone.”
Man. Crack IS whack.
I refuse to throw a stone…
Shannon Stacey
November 12
8:00 pm
I just noticed it’s a best seller at Fictionwise and All Romance Ebooks too.
I quit.
Darlene
November 12
8:57 pm
They’re still abusing punctuation:
“For twins, Ryker and Ranger Good, life has never been easy.”
OK, let’s look at this: If you follow the errant commas, then what this sentence says is, “For twins, life has never been easy.”
While that may be true, it’s a different meaning than:
“For twins Ryker and Ranger Good, life has never been easy.”
There’s a huge difference between “Mom always made us wear matching outfits” and “We were thrown out of the house at 18.”
And then an even larger question is, why am I wasting my time correcting this?
*Sigh*
Anonymous
November 12
10:09 pm
Antz … sayz
So the whole family is gay!!!??? Plus the set of twins are into each other, talk about weird, I have nothing agaist men getting it on when it’s written by a talented author.
Inncest is just to much I think for any normal minded person, but I see it as a black mark on gays, why didn’t she cross the line with a brother and sister ebook.
VC Andrews is one thing like it was memtion before, that’s gothic/horror and did not come across as sexy or even ment to be erotic….
Grrrl
November 12
11:03 pm
you know that icky feeeling when you just throw up a little in your mouth? yeah, same squicky feeling. the fact that it’s carol lynn on top of it, eewww.
Ann Bruce
November 13
12:50 am
EWWW!
Incest. Not. Romantic.
Oh, I need to take a shower now.
As for the Carol Lynne aspect, she must have a lot of closet fans because I just checked out her site and she has something like 11 releases for 2008!!!
I want to hang up my keyboard.
who did Adam and Eve’s children marry?
Always wondered about this, but never had the guts to ask the priest in my church.
Forget the incest! A better question is, why is this publisher’s website abusing the poor apostrophe!
I was actually gonna correct it, but then I thought ahh, fuck it.
Karen, you need to start using “[sic]“.
Ann Bruce
November 13
12:52 am
I just bought HER Riding The Wolf on EC. I gotz cheese burgered!
Teddy, I didn’t realize you’re a masochist.
Desiree Erotique
November 13
1:07 am
Karen, I believe your label, “it takes all sorts” sums it up best. This kind of “romance” doesn’t appeal to me, but it is fiction and I guess what turns one reader’s knobs doesn’t have to do it for all others.
Anonymous
November 13
1:09 am
Did Adam and Eve’s children commit incest?
Q: Was there ever any incest in order for us all to be here from Adam and Eve?
A: Yes, Adam’s children married each other. But incest was not viewed as a forbidden activity until the time of Moses. See Leviticus chapters 18-20. Adam and Eve’s children married their brothers and sisters. Even Abraham married Sarah, who was his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). For further reading see Where did Cain get his wife?
And
Today, brothers and sisters (and half-brothers and half-sisters, etc.) are not permitted by law to marry because their children have an unacceptably high risk of being deformed. The more closely the parents are related, the more likely it is that any offspring will be deformed.
There is a very sound genetic reason for such laws that is easy to understand. Every person has two sets of genes, there being some 130,000 pairs that specify how a person is put together and functions. Each person inherits one gene of each pair from each parent. Unfortunately, genes today contain many mistakes (because of sin and the Curse), and these mistakes show up in a variety of ways. For instance, some people let their hair grow over their ears to hide the fact that one ear is lower than the other—or perhaps someone’s nose is not quite in the middle of his or her face, or someone’s jaw is a little out of shape—and so on. Let’s face it, the main reason we call each other normal is because of our common agreement to do so!
The more distantly related parents are, the more likely it is that they will have different mistakes in their genes. Children, inheriting one set of genes from each parent, are likely to end up with pairs of genes containing a maximum of one bad gene in each pair. The good gene tends to override the bad so that a deformity (a serious one, anyway) does not occur. Instead of having totally deformed ears, for instance, a person may only have crooked ones! (Overall, though, the human race is slowly degenerating as mistakes accumulate, generation after generation.)
However, the more closely related two people are, the more likely it is that they will have similar mistakes in their genes, since these have been inherited from the same parents. Therefore, a brother and a sister are more likely to have similar mistakes in their genes. A child of a union between such siblings could inherit the same bad gene on the same gene pair from both, resulting in two bad copies of the gene and serious defects.
Adam and Eve did not have accumulated genetic mistakes. When the first two people were created, they were physically perfect. Everything God made was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), so their genes were perfect—no mistakes! But, when sin entered the world (because of Adam—Genesis 3:6, Romans 5:12), God cursed the world so that the perfect creation then began to degenerate, that is, suffer death and decay (Romans 8:22). Over thousands of years, this degeneration has produced all sorts of genetic mistakes in living things.
Cain was in the first generation of children ever born. He (as well as his brothers and sisters) would have have received virtually no imperfect genes from Adam or Eve, since the effects of sin and the Curse would have been minimal to start with (it takes time for these copying errors to accumulate). In that situation, brother and sister could have married with God’s approval, without any potential to produce deformed offspring.
By the time of Moses (a few thousand years later), degenerative mistakes would have built up in the human race to such an extent that it was necessary for God to forbid brother-sister (and close relative) marriage (Leviticus 18-20).[12] (Also, there were plenty of people on the earth by then, and there was no reason for close relations to marry.)
Ann Bruce
November 13
1:20 am
The acceptable terms are “recessive” and “dominant.” “Good” and “bad” makes it sound like all recessive traits are negative when they are not. For instance, blue eyes are recessive traits while brown eyes are dominant.
As for why incest is bad, look at the high rate of hemophilia in the British royal family–or the “Home” episode of THE X-FILES.
Tracy
November 13
2:10 am
“she must have a lot of closet fans because I just checked out her site and she has something like 11 releases for 2008!!!”
I wandered over there b/c I was curious. One of the books has this Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.” What in the world?!?! I cannot wrap my feeble little mind around that one.
Heather
November 13
2:30 am
I have this overwhelming urge to point out, for the record, that I only said the “twin’s” vs “twins” aspect of the blurb was fixed. I never mentioned the poor abused commas and such. What did that poor ole blurb ever do to anyone to deserve such torture?
Okay, I’m done with it. Honest. However, I must make a parting remarks, blatant mistakes in a blurb not only reflect badly on the book it’s attached to but the publisher putting it out as well.
Shiloh Walker
November 13
3:15 am
Did Adam and Eve’s children commit incest?
Q: Was there ever any incest in order for us all to be here from Adam and Eve?
A: Yes, Adam’s children married each other. But incest was not viewed as a forbidden activity until the time of Moses.
I’m impressed.
I knew the answer to this but I lacked the clarity… and the drive to look up the scriptures.
Side note regarding blurbs… a few people have commented on whether or not some publishers have the author write the blurbs.
It’s not uncommon for epubs. I personally hate and abhor writing blurbs, but eh, I do what I gotta do.
Now honestly, I suck at proof reading. My brain sees what I MEANT to say instead of what is really there.
However, this is a shortcoming I’m aware of. My shortcoming…my book… my responsibility to address. So I use advance readers to help me fix things before I even send my books/blurbs whatever to my editor.
Mistakes are going to happen… but when they are glaring mistakes, excessive mistakes, repeated mistakes, it’s not only going to cost said publisher and author some readers, it’s going to keep some serious minded authors from submitting to them.
Tracy
November 13
4:52 am
Shiloh~do you need any more advance readers? *wink*
I knew the Adam and Eve answer too but my sinus headache warned me not to try to articulate it. LOL
sybil
November 13
5:05 am
I liked the August men. Didn’t know the Adam/Eve answer. Am sad shi never sends me reads to test. And ashamed there is a review up for Lynn’s last (not this one) up at TGTBTU. I didn’t read the book, blame bev(qb). I did like VC Andrews Flowers and Petals in the Wind.
I am not at all sure why incest has an appeal, guess it is the whole ‘forbidden’ thing. maybe… And am ashamed that I have never heard of twincest. Cuz I use to know fanfic damn it!
And woot! Home! awesome ep! You know they start to shoot X-Files II in December right? Just saying…
SCULLY: But he also implied that they practice inbreeding. Now we all have a natural instinct to propagate…
MULDER: Do we?
SCULLY: There are theories which pose that our bodies are, are simply vehicles for genes needing to replicate.
MULDER: Yeah, yeah, but there’s no sister. The mother’s been dead for ten years.
SCULLY: But if the instinct and the need is strong enough, they will answer it any way that they can.
Lynne Connolly
November 13
11:08 am
Doesn’t do it for me, and I’m British which means we can marry our cousins if we want to.
I always thought Adam and Eve were metaphorical representations of evolution, not to be taken as literal fact, but that’s the Anglican church for you.
But no. I loved Maya Banks’ “Colters’ Woman,” where 3 brothers share a woman, but the brothers don’t share each other, just the woman. Even that squicked me out a little bit.
I have a sister and the very thought of getting nekkid with her and (sorry, pause for a mind scrub) is not nice. I fought her, argued with her, comforted her, helped her with her homework, we even shared a bedroom when we were little, but – ugh, no, the only time we shared a bed was when we went and stayed with our grandparents and then we kept strictly to our own side!
Genetically and practically, no. Feel romantically or sexually towards my sister?
Pulease.
Shiloh Walker
November 13
12:53 pm
Shiloh~do you need any more advance readers? *wink*
lol… I’m good right now, thanks.
am sad shi never sends me reads to test.
am sad that Sybil is sad.
Ann Bruce
November 13
2:48 pm
Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.” What in the world?!?! I cannot wrap my feeble little mind around that one.
Maybe Jane and Ned can help with a demo through the power of Lego!
Teddy Pig
November 13
3:11 pm
I just bought HER Riding The Wolf on EC. I gotz cheese burgered!
Teddy, I didn’t realize you’re a masochist.
Well Ann, I am. But besides that I figured how could she ruin Gay Werewolf Romance? I mean it matches her style exactly. Sex in 5 pages or less, no waiting.
I was wrong Ann. So very very wrong, she did ruin it.
Tracy
November 13
3:42 pm
“Maybe Jane and Ned can help with a demo through the power of Lego!” I laughed so hard I almost fell off my chair! Not sure that’s a lego animation I’d want to see though LOL
Laura
November 13
4:32 pm
F/M/M/M/F sex? They must play a game of gangband Twister or something.
Karen Scott
November 13
5:55 pm
I can’t believe that there is such a thing as twincest. I guess you learn something new everyday.
Hey Anon 1.09, you certainly taught me some stuff.
Karmyn
November 13
6:24 pm
I have no brothers, but I do have four male cousins and while they may be nice looking when dressed up, I would never entertain the thought of doing anything with them. Two are married, one is the same age as me so we’re close, but not that close, and the youngest is just 18. I changed his diapers when he was a baby. Not conducive to getting it on.
There’s some natural thing that in most people prevents forming sexual thoughts about somebody you had sibling like relationships with in childhood. Which explains why I never had crushes on any of the guys I grew up with.
Sarah McCarty
November 13
6:51 pm
“Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.”
Maybe Jane and Ned can help with a demo through the power of Lego”
You know, there are some places I don’t think we need to take legos, and this strikes me as one of them. *G*
lisabea
November 13
7:07 pm
“Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.”
All at once together like? I have a sordid past and all, but this boggles even my mind. How many folks do we need in a love scene????? Between the brother twin sex and the huge horse dicks, (I’m guessin’ but I’m right. right?) and all these folks swapping body fluids… Ew. Just ew.
M.
November 13
7:21 pm
I miss the times when erotic romance was erotic romance and not smut or something written just for the tittilation (sp?) factor … I can’t even try any new “erotic romance” authors for fear that I am going to end up having to gouge my eyes out. *shudders* Good thing I build a LONG list of autobuy erotic romance authors that started over 4 years ago, before EC went down the drain.
For some reason this thread reminds me of one of the first erotic romance books I read from eXtasy books, it reeked of pedophilia. The heroine had this disease that stunted her sexual development, when the story begins she’s an adult trapped in the body of a very young teenager or even prepubescent girl (or something along these lines). When the hero meets her, he lusts after her … a girl that he believed to be 14 or even younger, as she didn’t divulge her real age to him for a while.
And here I was thinking the eeew factor couldn’t get worse …
At least the publisher warns of the content, which I always appreciate… though this is not conducive to my changing my stance to try out new erotic romance authors at all
I guess that each of us has a different “red” button … incest and pedophilia definitely do not do a thing for me.
Bernita
November 13
9:59 pm
Inevitable, I suppose.
After while there’s no place to go but over the line into what is usually considered deviance.
Anonymous
November 13
10:05 pm
Karen I got thay adam and eve info by googling “did adam and Eve commit incest?” Great how you can find out just about anything on the net.
The weird thing is I’ve never even thought of incest between the two until it was mention above in one of the post,
Anonymous
November 13
11:12 pm
I’m the Anon who brought up the Adam and Eve question and I must say the response from the web leaves me a bit speechless. I don’t think that genetic defects are the result of sin– that would impugn the probably blameless ancestry of children who are victims of genetic misfortune.
However, I did have a wonderful moment in which it occurred to me that if incest (which by the way exists in all cultures to a greater or lesser degree) was part of the Law then after Jesus freed us from the Law by Grace then incest should be no more a sin than wearing clothes of mixed fibers.
However, I also remember from one classics class or another the commentator who stated that one could go half way in Greece (marry a half sibling) and all the way in Egypt (marry a full sibling). Ancient Egyptian love poetry is often addressed to “my sister” or “my brother.” However, that shouldn’t be taken as literal.
One last thing, I was raised on a farm and there is such thing as line breeding which means that healthy stock may be bred with descendants or ancestors to improve the line, so don’t assume that close relatives always produce undesirable offspring.
Anonymous
November 13
11:15 pm
Oops, all of that stuff about grace and law was not meant to offend anyone of another faith. It was just the things I was taught as a child turned on its head. I really wish I had thought of that when I used to argue with my more religious relations. It might have caused some gaskets to blow.
Jenyfer Matthews
November 14
6:33 am
“Reader Advisory: “This book contains F/M/M/M/F sex scenes.”
All at once together like? I have a sordid past and all, but this boggles even my mind. How many folks do we need in a love scene?????”
Not sure about the guidelines of other publishers, but EC encourages authors to write in use of condoms when they can. The idea of trying to write in condom use in a scene like that just melts my brain…
Dawn
November 14
10:21 am
Karen said: “I can’t believe that there is such a thing as twincest. I guess you learn something new everyday.”
My thought was you learn something eeeewww everyday.
I do like to read about guys getting it on together, but brothers? Nuh-uh!
Anonymous
November 14
5:24 pm
I once read a book w/ M/F/M/F/F (I think) scenes in it. But it was written by anonymous and was called “porn.”
–Jackie L.
Anonymous
November 14
5:30 pm
Okay, aside from the atrocious plot to this inane book, I stopped by TEB web site and saw Ms. Lynne’s profile.
Umm…can someone please let her know that she can, and should, dispose of the Aqua Net. I know it’s hard, plenty of us lamented when we had to part with this wondrous hairspray that could second as a blowtorch over a decade ago. But we tredged on!!
And please, oh dear Lord, puhleeze, grow out those butterfly bangs woman!!!
katiebabs
November 14
7:57 pm
In the immortal words of Rocky Horror- Incest is best….
bleck.
Anonymous
November 14
11:25 pm
I have to laugh about this a bit. Incestuous romance may be taboo, but it’s also extremely popular. VC Andrews was the queen of it, and have no doubt about that. If you really think it’s that odd, check out Literotica. Their incest section gets some of the most hits.
As to whether it squicks me or not, I suppose it depends on how it’s written. I loathe VC Andrews. I found her stories stomach churning and abhorrent. However, I’ve read some twincenst/incest in my later years that was well written and enjoyable, much to my surprise. While I can’t personally say anyone in my blood family gets me excited, the prevalence of familial sex, whether pedophilia or not, should tell folks that incest not only isn’t rare, it’s much more common than we’d like to admit.
And considering how much inbreeding has been done through the centuries by the human race, there must be something biologic there. As the previous anonymous pointed out, line breeding is quite common – not just with stock. Isn’t that why royalty inbred for so long? And while humanity would certainly like to think themselves above ‘lower’ creatures, our genes mix and match when we reproduce the same way all other mammals do. Meaning that not all line breeding turns out an undesirable result.
Shirley
heather (errantdreams)
November 15
4:10 pm
I just have to say that the baby pic is freakin’ hysterical.
avidbookreader
November 16
12:04 am
VC Andrews books were labeled horror novels, so, the stories were not to be seen in any kind of “romantic” light if you will. As soon as you mentioned incest, VC Andrews name gets mentioned each and everytime. She was a great storyteller.
Hey, I loved the series, personally. The love between the brother and sister was one of the best I’d read and he (Chris) had himself fixed (as he was a doctor) to make sure they didn’t have children. Anyway, more info that you wanted to know as I’m sure most of you won’t be reading it.
Keishon
Karen Scott
November 16
7:38 am
Hey Keishon, Flowers, Petals, If There Be Thorns etc are some of my fave books. And you’re right about the fact that the series was never meant to be romantic. As I recall, there wasn’t even one moment of cheer throughout the books. So dark, but I did love them.
Shiloh Walker
November 16
11:39 am
VC Andrews books were labeled horror novels, so, the stories were not to be seen in any kind of “romantic” light if you will.
I have a feeling if the CL story was written/marketed as something other than erotic romance, this wouldn’t be bothering so many people.
It’s the fact that it’s being sold as a romance… and erotic romance IS romance, that’s got a lot people going huh. The typical romance reader, if there is such a thing, isn’t going to go for incest books.
That doesn’t mean every one of them, obviously there’s a market for it.
I’ve read VC Andrews…the first few books anyway, and I did enjoy her. But I didn’t read it thinking I was getting a romance. It can make a huge difference, IMO.
Karen Scott
November 17
4:25 pm
I just looked to see if the book was still number one, and of course it was. (The things I do for that woman) Anyway, I think they’ve actually increased the price of the book. Sales must be really good huh? *g*
Aline de Chevigny
November 25
12:04 pm
That books was number one on Fictionwise also.
hehe I was checking on my own stadings and am always curious to see what’s #1.
Aline
Silapa Jarun
November 30
6:49 pm
Hello, I first wrote twincest because an e-pub posted the challenge. The result is Katana Duet: Samurai’s Forbidden Love and it has romantic elements but ultimately the story is about brothers trying to avoid or deny their feelings for one another. At the heart of the story is a fear of abandonment and betrayal based on what happened to them as teenagers and to tone down the “sensationalist” aspect of the taboo I compared the twins to another pair of siblings in the story. In any case I understand how readers can get grossed about by incest but I don’t actually advocate it in my story, just sort of lay out the facts. Oh, and I’m not pimping my story either—it hasn’t been sold and may never be published (T_T). In fact, I’ll give it away for free if anyone wants to read it and promises not to copy it. Email me at silapa(at)silapajarun.com to read about twincest, but not told in a “mainstream” way.
christine
October 29
12:37 am
I have read V C Andrews incest-themed Gothic romances and liked them. The incest was treated as clean, romantic(ized) fantasy of forbidden love. No need of scrubbing my memory with rose-fragrant soap after that, so they were OK reading.
AztecLady
October 29
2:06 am
V.C. Andrews novels are not romance *head desk*
Google them, please–they are Gothic horror or, at best, dysfunctional family sagas.
christine
October 29
3:01 am
AztecLady, I don´t need googling. I have read them. And they are not horror. Perhaps “romance” is wrong genre to them, but horror?
AztecLady
October 29
4:24 am
Okay, I concede that horror is strong, though they are very Gothic and dark. But romance they ain’t, fer shure.