Why do I write ‘sizzling sorcery’?
I sometimes get asked why I write sizzling sorcery – basically why my fantasy adventures contain adult scenes, and it has caused some interesting conversations. Some people are shocked, a few are offended, some laugh and look embarrassed, some tell me that’s awesome.
When I first published The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book I my late mother was in the last stages of cancer. The book was published in early June and she died in mid-September. I’d told my parents about the book, and they were delighted. Neither of them were fantasy readers, or readers of erotica (as far as I know) but they were pleased nonetheless. My mother had told everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Whether she mentioned the bedroom scenes I have no idea, but my mother’s elderly neighbour visited whilst I was there and asked about the book and could she read it.
I hesitated – this was a lady in her late 60s, I’d known all my life as a neighbour to my parents and I was not sure what she’d make of the ‘naughty’ scenes. I told her she might be a little shocked, it wasn’t a standard fantasy book – there were scenes of a bedroom nature which she might object to. She laughed, and told me she’d been married for 45 years, so there wasn’t a lot she didn’t know…I gave her the book. My mother couldn’t stop laughing.
So why do I write in the bedroom scenes? Primarily because they are fun to write, and fun to read. They lighten the darker tone of the books. But it’s more than that – Dii and Archos, the two main characters are very passionate and sensual, it’s part of who they are and their bond with one another. Dii has been kept as a concubine and required to pleasure men not of her choosing, and now she has a man she loves, who loves her, and who wants to please her. I believe the scenes strengthen their relationship both for the characters and how they are portrayed to the reader.
There are some very dark scenes in the books, but the love, and the playfulness of the characters, the slow build relationship of the naïve Ozena and the worldly Olek, and the magic entwined mages brings an added dimension.
I read a lot of fantasy, and I find sometimes the characters don’t seem like real people. It’s all about finding the magic ring/defeating the dark lord/being the chosen one and there’s no passion in the characters. It’s all business and no pleasure.
I agree, it’s not to everyone’s liking but that’s true of any book. There is always someone who will be offended/dislike it. I like to write what I like to read. I’ve read a few fantasy and historical fiction books that have sexy scenes and they are always fun.
I write sizzling sorcery – because it’s fun, I believe it enriches the characters and because many people like a bit of mischief with their magic.
*****
Excerpt from the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book I
Dii could feel his Power, and his concern, real concern, real Power. His heartbeat fast beneath the robe he wore, and she was experienced enough to know the desire he felt. Never before had a man held her close like this, comforting in such a way, and the feeling made her tremble with desire and affection for him. Yet, she felt his loneliness, and although he had never said as much, she knew it to be so. The feelings she felt swirled around her; and she wriggled close to him, needing the comfort of another person, the warmth and touch, yet also providing it.
She looked into his silver-grey eyes, eyes filled with many things: Power, desire and concern, knowledge. She brushed his lips with the tips of her fingers, snuggling into him and letting her head fall against his chest. Gently he kissed her hair and ran his fingers through the curls. Dii let her fingers gently caress the back of his hand, sending little bolts of longing through him. Turning over her hand, he saw the red burns on her wrists, fading and no longer raw but still visible. They would never fade entirely, branded for all time as a mage. Gently he kissed them, tender and kind.
As she leaned into him, Archos slid an arm around her waist. Still murmuring sweet nothings, he gently and almost absently stroked his fingers across her arm. He tipped her face to his and searched it with hungry desire. Her eyes were the darkest blue he had ever seen, eyes like the midnight sky full of mystery and infinitely fascinating. He saw Power yet vulnerability, desire yet shame, and a deep strength. Archos kissed her gently, allowing her the chance to pull away. She did not, but returned his kiss, at first hesitantly and then with fire. Dii pulled away and smiled at him. At that moment, he was completely lost in her spell, her smile almost making her glow in the light of the glowglobe.
“You are so beautiful, Dii, alluring and so deeply desirable. I do not think I have ever desired anything as much as I desire you. Would you let me lie with you this night?” Archos asked, not demanding as so many men had before.
Looking into her eyes, he touched her face. “I know what you were…what the life of a Kept such as you can be. How you may have been…used. I wish for you to give yourself freely, and of your own choice. I would not take from you anything but that which was given by your own will.”
Dii looked at him, unused to such remarks, unused to having choices. She smiled the enchanting smile and touched the hand on her cheek. “I…I would like to feel you close to me, my lord. I would like the comfort of your touch. I would like to feel you, taste you. I see the desire in your eyes and find it reflected in my own. You are so kind to me. I would like to please you.” Her eyes flickered down from his and a blush rose across her face.
Archos touched his other hand over hers and bowed his head to her. “I wish to see your passion and to delight in it, to experience so much with you. Let me distract you from your nightmares, bring you to the edge of ecstasy and beyond.” Archos gently ran his finger down the edge of her jaw, sending a little tingle of desire through her, and he tilted her face to his softly brush her lips with his fingers.
The beautiful mage smiled again with the light of desire and mischief lighting her eyes, her confidence returning. Kissing his hand, she sucked on the ends of his fingers. “My Lord Archos that depends on how much of a distraction you can provide does it not?”
He kissed her and laughed. “That remains to be seen. I feel that you would be kind enough to inform me should I not provide suitable…distraction. If indeed this is the case, I pray you indulge me to beg your leave to try again until you are satisfied. Or perhaps it will be the case that you will beg me to take you again.”
Dii snaked her hand beneath his clothing, swirling her nails across his chest. “You are sure of yourself indeed.” As her hand began to circle, Archos kissed her again, a kiss loaded with passion and desire. He cupped her breast and gently circled her nipple through the soft cloth, gently massaging with the tips of his fingers until her nipple was hard and pointed.
Sighing, she kissed a line down his neck, nibbling at his collar bone and eliciting a moan of desire from him. They were soft kisses, yet full of so much emotion. The hard edges of her teeth sent a shiver across him as he tugged at the edge of her night-robe, slowly pulling it away and revealing her pale skin and the alluring tattoo. Hungrily his hands and eyes took in the soft painted skin against the paleness, softly he murmured as his lips caressed her. Archos lay close and looked at Dii; her red hair bright against the white bed linen, and naked before him, Archos knew he had never seen anyone quite as alluring as the young woman next to him. As he kissed her, the Archmage breathed in her smell and the taste of her, committing it to memory as his hands played, stroking across her softness.
Lips running across her shoulder, Archos exhaled warm breath onto her skin, making her shiver with need of him. He could see the faint red lines from the lash, now fading but still visible. He sighed, murmuring, “I should have got to you sooner.”
Fingers carefully stroked the scars as Dii kissed his neck. “Let us not talk of such things, my lord. We are here and this is now. That which is past is not for this night,” she murmured.
Nibbling at the edges of the swirling tattoo, he trailed his mouth ever so slowly across her. Dii began to sigh with pleasure as his mouth slid down to her breasts, his tongue swirling around her nipples. He breathed onto the moist skin, making her moan and arch towards him. She crept the hand on his chest around to tickle the back of his neck before she rippled little sparks of magic down him. Slowly she pulled away the fastening of his robe and the shirt beneath and then moved her hands to explore around his belly, tickling him, teasing him. Scoring softly with her nails, she rippled more magic across him.
Moaning, he pulled her close. “Magic?” he growled. “Naughty girl, using your Power to tantalise me.”
*****
Blurb and buy links:
The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book I
In a dark world where magic is illegal, and elves are enslaved a young elven sorceress runs for her life from the house of her evil Keeper. Pursued by his men and the corrupt Order of Witch-Hunters she must find sanctuary. As the slavers roll across the lands stealing elves from what remains of their ancestral home the Witch-Hunters turn a blind eye to the tragedy and a story of power, love and a terrible revenge unfolds.
*18 rated for adult scenes and violence.
Available as ebook, paperback, hardcover, large print and audiobook.
Universal Link https://www.books2read.com/Lightbeyondstorm1
The Shining Citadel – The Light Beyond the Storm – Book II
Who rules in this game of intrigue where magic is forbidden, and elves enslaved? Journey where beliefs shatter like glass, truth is unwelcome, and monsters from ancient times abound: share the romance and revenge, magic and passion, and the wages of greed in a world of darkest fantasy.
*18 rated for adult scenes and violence.
Available as ebook, paperback, hardcover, large print and audiobook.
Universal Link https://www.books2read.com/ShiningCitadel
The Stolen Tower – The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles – Book III
What stalks the land cannot be but is.
Where magic is outlawed a troll Shaman calls from her deathbed to her heiress, Mirandra Var, daughter of the storm. Mirandra vows to find her missing kin, sort friend from foe, and claim the dangerous secrets guarded by unthinkable creatures. If she succeeds, she will become the leader of her tribe. If she fails, there will be no tribe to lead.
*18 rated for adult scenes and violence.
Available as ebook, paperback, hardcover, large print and audiobook.
Universal Link https://www.books2read.com/StolenTower
*****
Author Bio and Links
British-born A. L. Butcher is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet, and a dreamer, a lover of science, natural history, history, and monkeys. Her prose has been described as ‘dark and gritty’ and her poetry as ‘evocative’. She writes with a sure and sometimes erotic sensibility of things that might have been, never were, but could be.
Alex is the author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles and the Tales of Erana lyrical fantasy series. She also has several short stories in the fantasy, fantasy romance genres with occasional forays into gothic style horror, including the Legacy of the Mask series. With a background in politics, classical studies, ancient history and myth, her affinities bring an eclectic and unique flavour in her work, mixing reality and dream in alchemical proportions that bring her characters and worlds to life.
Alex is also proud to be a writer for Perseid Press where her work features in Heroika: Dragon Eaters, Heroika Skirmishers – where she was editor and cover designer as well as writer – as well as Lovers in Hell and Mystics in Hell – part of the acclaimed Heroes in Hell series. http://www.theperseidpress.com/
Awards:
Outside the Walls, co-written with Diana L. Wicker received a Chill with a Book Reader’s Award in 2017.
NN Light Book Heaven awards:
The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales won the best fantasy for 2018
Echoes of a Song – one of her Phantom tales – won the best fantasy in 2019
Tears and Crimson Velvet won the best Short Story category in 2020
Dark Tales and Twisted Verses – won the best Short Story Category in 2021
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