Tuesday, April 15, 2014

PARANORMAL: THE DARK ALLURE OF EROTIC HORROR ROMANCE

by Lise Horton


As someone who likes her erotic romance dark, and edgy, and replete with BDSM, including pain play, the perfect genre to combine it all, with a sepul­chral atmosphere that can’t be beat, is erotic horror romance. Unlike erotic horror which, reasonably, includes both erotic sexual elements as well as the horrific supernatural aspects, and which usually leads to blood and often death or unfortunate ends for the characters, with EHR, you actually can have the HEA as well.

Taking the edgy, dark hero of a contemporary romance one step further in EHR you have a dark, edgy and potentially deadly hero. He can be a vam­pire, a demon, a sorcerer – those supernatural beings that deal with blood and the soul can often be the perfect hero to attract, seduce – and torment – our heroines.

I have written a number of erotic horror romance short “flash fiction” pieces and my published short story, “The Vampires’ Embrace” is a hot horror ménage where the heroine is seduced with pain and sex by her three vam­pire masters. Imagine, if you will, Dracula in all his blood sucking glory, as romance hero. The Frank Langella seductive bloodsucker as opposed to the really freaky Nosferatu dude. Whether the heroine becomes his human servant, or joins him in eternal darkness, the erotic scenes can be blistering hot, or chilling, but they are always seductive. And the BDSM elements of edge play most certainly fit in beautifully, especially with a bit of blood involved.

I have read a number of erotic romances that I would consider either actual horror, or to possess major elements of horror. The darkest of Anita Blake’s novels are erotic horror with the elements of romance that she is known for. The sexual eroticism that permeates those books is inextricably linked to the lengths to which author Lau­rell K. Hamilton forces her human protagonist, Anita Blake and her shifter and vampire lovers. Pain is a great accompaniment to these scenes and in her most recent Blake title, AFFLICTION, amid zombie attacks and humans dying of zombie flesh-eating disease, Hamilton weaves in the trio of lovers (Anita needs sex to feed an unwanted sexual vampire-like hunger, without which she, and her vampire servants, will wither and die) having sex amid the horror. Given the backdrop, the sex itself is dark and intense, but she goes further than she ever has before, and includes a consensual choking scene that was riveting in its eroticism. Additionally, the extreme act dovetailed well with the outside events.

One of the final lines of my flash fiction blog post “The Sweet Sting” is, I feel, a perfect definition of erotic hor­ror romance, where the heroine welcomes to her bed, eagerly, her midnight lover, and his promise of exquisite pain:

“And the night became as fire as he used me. As he pleasured me. As he showered his torments upon me.”

Be it lovers in the throes of ecstasy bearing with it that sweet sting and the taste of blood, or dark magic that enthralls a heroine to give herself over to the wicked torments of her sorcerer lover, or the chilled embrace of a ghostly lover who wrings from his partner screams of climax – and shrieks of pain – erotic horror romance pushes all the envelopes. To my great delight! ♥



Lise Horton’s debut novel WORDS OF LUST launched in September 2013, and she is finalizing book 2 of the Stellato Siblings series for submission. You can read more about Lise, her books, and her blogs, by visiting her website, www.LiseHorton.com, and join her in the madcap whirl of social media!

7 comments:

  1. Yowzers! That's some hot stuff you got cooking over there, Lise, and very alluring. Congrats on your upcoming debut! I'll definitely be spreading the word...;)

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    1. Thanks, Steve! I always love to share, and yes, hot stuff is my stock in trade!

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  2. I love the mix of romance and paranormal. Best of sales.

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    1. Thanks for visiting April! (Hope I didn't scare you .....)

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  3. "Showered his torments upon me." LOVE that line. You should use that in a twitter quote! Best of luck with sales!!!

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    1. You rock, Kate! Thanks so much for the visit AND the compliment!

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  4. Never mind. I'm going to tweet it. LOL

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