On the surface, I write for the same reason many, if not most, authors write: to create the stories I want to read. But why dark erotic fiction? Why dark love stories?

Well, beyond the base answer (they turn me on and thrill me), it’s to scratch this itch that so many novels, video games, TV shows, movies, comics—all the stories I grew up with left me with. I was always endlessly curious about what I call “the dark what-if.”

I’ve always wanted to explore the bad ending, especially if that bad ending implied something sexual and taboo.

I thought about this dark what-if again because of a passage in the introduction of the erotic horror anthology I just started, I Shudder at Your Touch.

“…The truth is that anyone who relishes the sensations aroused by the looming shadow of a caped monster does experience at least a moment’s fleeting disappointment when the creature is forced to slink away, unsatiated. Or, put in another way, what was King Kong going to do with Fay Wray?”

Michele Slung, Editor, I Shudder at Your Touch

I had to stop reading to shout at the book, “that’s it! Exactly!”

It’s that dark curiosity to go where stories almost never dare to tread that drives me. I want to peer into the dark, forbidden crevices of story possibilities and see what’s in there. What would have the villain done to the damsel after she was sent to his chambers? What if the hero heard the villain’s “join me” speech and was actually convinced? What would it be like to be the servant of the dark lord—one who didn’t turn to the good side?

Wrap this badness up with sex, and it’s irresistible to me.

These are the stories I crave, so these are the stories I write.