Free feminist dystopian short story: ILU-486

Holy crap, I was just pointed to this by Violetta Vane, who referred to it as “The Handmaid’s Tale 2012.” And she’s not wrong.

ILU-486 isn’t a romance, but I think anyone who reads romance should read this short story anyway. It’s a story about being a woman when it’s hard to be a woman.

This near-future, not-too-unbelievable world springs from some of the very scary legislation being proposed in both Virginia and Pennsylvania right now. It doesn’t have a happily ever after. Instead, it shows how some of us have to work for our ever afters to stay happy, and how we can’t take it for granted that there will always be heroes/heroines to save us. Let’s hope it never comes to pass.

More than that, let’s work to make sure of it.

On the Inclusion of Naughty Bits

Tara Lynx just posted a thoughtful piece on why we write erotic romance. I can’t really think of anything to add to it. Sex is not evil; it is an important part of our physical and emotional well-being for most of us. It’s also something we put a lot of intense emotional investment into, before, during, and after the act itself. If I’m writing in a genre that’s all about emotional interactions and emotional journeys, how can I tell the whole story without including the interactions that take place during sex?