History Is Sexy

And Three Erotica Authors Prove It

While Harlequin is known primarily for romance, they also offer hotter fare. Today, authors Stephanie Draven, Laura Kaye and Leia Rice are here to tell us about the unique historical aspects that play into their latest novellas.

Ladies, where are your stories set?

Stephanie: My paranormal contemporary erotica story, The Fever and The Fury, is set in the exotic city of Budva, Montenegro, which is very near to Greece. The setting is modern but the history of that place plays such an important part in helping my hero and heroine find love!

Laura: My erotic vampire romance In the Service of the King is set at Castle Dunluce on the cliffs of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. I love taking actual places and using them as settings for my characters–here, the vampires have lived for centuries in a bunker underneath the castle’s ruins.

Leia: My story, The Revolutionary Mistress, is set in Revolutionary France, in Paris at the heart of the mayhem. Tensions are high, and no one can trust each other. So where and who will Mariette turn to when she needs to escape the impending war?

How does history play into your stories?

Laura: As a 700-year-old vampire, Kael the Fair has a long history ruling the vampire clans of Ireland and fighting the evil Soul Eaters in the ancient war between the two types of vampiric immortals. I used some of the real history of Castle Dunluce’s 17th century owners in Kael’s backstory and wrapped in the castle’s actual destruction with a battle that created a soul-deep wound within Kael he still hasn’t overcome when he meets the heroine. Kael’s clan continues to live in a bunker under the castle’s ruins, a kind of hiding-in-plain-sight that’s kind of interesting to imagine at a place that’s a public tourist attraction! I always enjoy using the local history of a place to add depth, flavor and interest to my stories.

Stephanie: The mythological history of Budva is that it was founded by Cadmus, the exiled Greek hero. Before coming to Budva, Cadmus slew the dragon who killed his fellow soldiers. The problem? That dragon was one of Ares’ favorite pets and when you anger the Greek God of war, nothing can come of it.

Consequently, Cadmus was forced to wander the world until he settled in Budva and took sanctuary. Now, the weird thing about this is that I chose the setting of Budva because Montenegro was the only semi-civilized place I could find that didn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States. I only discovered the story of Cadmus later, and it was one of those moments of serendipity that made my heart squeeze.

You see, this history is very meaningful to the hero of The Fever and the Fury, Lieutenant Luke Lazaros, who is on the run for having leaked classified information to the press. He did it to avenge his men and uncover corruption in his unit, but now he has to live the life of an exile.

Budva is a fortress. A beautiful fortress that has been turned into a place for partiers and sinners these days–but it ends up being a refuge for Luke, too. The place he falls in love with Phaedra. It’s a refuge for people who don’t follow the rules and neither Luke nor Phaedra do. It’s also a place of sandy beaches, blue Mediterranean water, and a fortress filled with semi-shaded alleyways in which a couple like Phaedra and Luke end up in a very compromising position…

Leia: I am beyond fascinated with the unraveling of the French Revolution, and how quickly everything came crashing down, changing the face of monarchy forever. It’s really quite a sad story, and I’ve studied it from all different angles to get each of their unique perspectives. I wanted to base this story from a revolutionary’s point of view, since without them, France’s king would have never been overthrown. The common people, while so powerless before, rose up and dethroned a monarchy that ruled for hundreds of years. It’s so amazing to me. My goal was to capture the spirit of these people while intertwining it with the human need for touch and being wanted as well.

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About the Authors:

Stephanie Draven is a multi-published award-nominated author of myth-inspired paranormal romance. Writing for HQN Nocturne, Stephanie’s Mythica series asks the question: What if the monsters of ancient mythology still walked the earth…and what if you found out that you were one of them? Currently a denizen of Baltimore, that city of ravens and purple night skies, Stephanie lives there with her favorite nocturnal creatures–three scheming cats and a deliciously wicked husband. And when she is not busy with dark domestic rituals, she writes her books.

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Laura Kaye Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of a half-dozen books. Hearts in Darkness is a finalist for the EPIC eBook Award for Best Novella, Forever Freed won the NJRW Golden Leaf Award for Best Paranormal of 2011, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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Leia Rice is an avid lover of everything Parisian, Ancient Grecian and Ancient Roman. She wishes that women would still wear the pretty dresses and petticoats that they did back in the 18th century, but she’s well aware how much of a pain they must have been. Leia writes historical fiction, romance and erotica in these areas, because she cannot get enough of each respective time period.

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