Erotic Fiction by Louisa Burton

I'm often asked how I got started writing erotic fiction. It all started in early adolescence, when my sister and I discovered that a bobbie pin would unlock the drawer containing our father's cache of classic Victorian erotic novels, such as The Way of a Man With a Maid, The Lustful Turk, and My Secret Life. The books must have made an impression, because the romances I wrote early in my career as Patricia Ryan were very much on the steamy side. The transition from erotic romance to erotic fiction was a natural one.

So, why incubi and succubi? I’ve always been fascinated by the prevalence of certain myths and mythological characters all over the world. Every culture seems to have its own versions of such sexual demons as incubi, succubi and vampires, and also of a “Dark Mother” who is viewed as a goddess, a demoness, or both: Ishtar, Lilith, Kali, Hectate, etc. My fascination gave birth to a world in which these entities, descendents of the Dark Mother, actually live among us, using humans to satisfy their primal needs and urges.

That world is the setting for the Hidden Grotto erotic fiction series: House of Dark Delights, Bound in Moonlight, Whispers of the Flesh (tentatively scheduled for Oct. '08), a fourth book I'm working on now, and if the series continues doing as well as it has been, hopefully many more to come.

Each book in the series is comprised of two or more linked stories set in a French chateau where the sexually voracious residents—incubi and succubi, and occasionally their vampiric "cousins"—seduce and enchant their human visitors. These stories may be set in the present or the past, and are connected not only by their recurring cast of otherworldly entities, but by story threads that weave themselves throughout the book.

On this website, you can read excerpts and reviews of my erotic fiction, enter to win a signed book, connect to my blog and Inigo the Satyr's MySpace page, and learn about the darkly seductive world of inubi and succubi, particularly those four who make their home at the château.

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Nestled deep in the lush highlands of France’s Auvergne region, there is a castle no tourist has ever seen. You won't find it on any map or sightseeing brochure, and it can only be accessed by an unmarked path winding through miles of primordial woods and gorges. Built of black volcanic rock in a remote valley, it is so well concealed as to be indiscernible even from the air.  It is called Château de la Grotte Cachée, or Castle of the Hidden Grotto. Those who have experienced a night beneath its roof, however, know it as Château des Plaisirs Foncés: The Castle of Dark Delights.

For centuries, the infamous chateau has lured guests with its whispered promise to make any erotic fantasy come true. Inside the House of Dark Delights you'll discover a world of sensuality, magic, and mystery, courtesy of the chateau's residents, beautiful and reclusive immortals who strive to fulfill their guests' most secret desires even as they pursue their own insatiable gratification. You'll meet a tall, seductive incubus who can morph from male to female, a bewitching succubus from ancient Babylonia, a playfully lusty satyr, a djinni obligated to satisfy the unspoken appetites of any human he touches, and a vampire as sexually rapacious as he is bloodthirsty.

Louisa Burton is a lifelong devotee of Victorian erotic fiction, history, and mythology. Of particular interest to Louisa are the beings known by demonologists and mythologists as Sexual Demons: the incubus, succubus, satyr, djinni, and vampire, among others. With the Hidden Grotto series, beginning with House of Dark Delights, Louisa is weaving those passions together into an epic work of erotic fiction.

Photographs copyright © 2006 Rigel Klingman.