Ramblings By Rhianna

I have to admit I don’t know a lot about my fellow bloggers.  So, in the interest of getting to know each other better, decided I would put together a 13 things I enjoy.  It a potpourri of guilty pleasures.

1.       Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. I read it the first time when I was 13, and by the time I was 20, I’d read it 30 times. I still pull it out every couple of years and read it.  (I told a friend in college how many times I’d read LOTR and he responded with, “I got it the first time.”  I loved that comeback.)

2.       I love Star Trek, in all it’s many inceptions. I will be the first one in line for the new JJ Abrams version too.

3.       My favorite historical author is Georgette Heyer. Jane Austin’s good too, but not as prolific. I do like the fact there is more sex in the modern versions though.

4.       I love smooth Jazz.  Trumpet playing slow and bluesy just does it for me. Chris Botti and Rick Braun are two of my favorites. I prefer the songs that have only trumpet and maybe a guitar or piano, no percussion.

5.       I love science fiction, been reading it longer than LOTR. I read everything on the shelves until about ten years ago and then I got disappointed. I still read it a lot. I give props to A.C. Crispin, because I took her writing class at Dragon*Con two years ago and she critiqued Shaking Off the Dust and recommended I start sending it out. She admitted paranormal romance wasn’t her genre, but encouraged me.  So Thanks Ann!

6.       Okay, I’m hooked on urban fantasy.  Anita Blake, Dark Hunters, Sookie Stackhouse, Riley Jensen…there’s a ton that I am already hooked on and more that I read every year.  (The sexier , the better.)

7.       Romance in every genre, whispers sweetly to me as I walk by the book shelves. I switched form buying Sci Fi  to Romance.  I go to the bookstore every Tuesday and see what books are put out in romance, then I buzz through sci fi and horror.

8.       I’m a candy ass about watching horror movies.  I don’t read Stephen King, because he scares the bejessus  out of me.  But, I can watch the movies made from his books. Not at the actual theatre though. I have to have the stop, pause and skip over buttons at my fingertips.

9.       I love rock and roll. Country if I’m at a country bar, but not just playing on the radio. Hate fusion Jazz. Did disco in my earlier life. Mellow is good. Give James Taylor singing anything and I will be there.  Into female singers-Imagen Heap rocks-.  Will not be buying Britney Spears.

10.   Of all the paranormals,  I still love Vampires the best.  Two favorite vampires in books are Jean Claude,  from Anita Blake books, and Eric Northman from The southern Vampire series. (can’t wait to see what Alan Bell does with that series on HBO this next year. Way to go Charlaine!)

11.   Don’t care much for reality TV.  I suppose that’s because I get too much reality at my day job.  I cringe when people are insulted or treated like poo in front of millions of people.  I will watch American Idol, but only after the tryouts.  Listening to bad singers beg for another chance doesn’t draw me back.  Once the competition begins, I watch.

12.     I like chocolate mixed with other things. Not a fan of dark chocolate.  I want to cut the chocolate with something milder.

13.   What are my current favorite shows.

Torchwood (on BBC America), Dr. Who, House, Dexter, Heros, Stargate Atlantis (got hooked with the original), Chuck, Earl, Life, NCIS, Moonlight, Men in Trees, Monk

Rhianna Samuels

I have to admit I don’t know a lot about my fellow bloggers.  So, in the interest of getting to know each other better, decided I would put together a 13 things I enjoy.  It a potpourri of guilty pleasures.

1.       Lord of the Rings is my favorite book. I read it the first time when I was 13, and by the time I was 20, I’d read it 30 times. I still pull it out every couple of years and read it.  (I told a friend in college how many times I’d read LOTR and he responded with, “I got it the first time.”  I loved that comeback.)

2.       I love Star Trek, in all it’s many inceptions. I will be the first one in line for the new JJ Abrams version too.

3.       My favorite historical author is Georgette Heyer. Jane Austin’s good too, but not as prolific. I do like the fact there is more sex in the modern versions though.

4.       I love smooth Jazz.  Trumpet playing slow and bluesy just does it for me. Chris Botti and Rick Braun are two of my favorites. I prefer the songs that have only trumpet and maybe a guitar or piano, no percussion.

5.       I love science fiction, been reading it longer than LOTR. I read everything on the shelves until about ten years ago and then I got disappointed. I still read it a lot. I give props to A.C. Crispin, because I took her writing class at Dragon*Con two years ago and she critiqued Shaking Off the Dust and recommended I start sending it out. She admitted paranormal romance wasn’t her genre, but encouraged me.  So Thanks Ann!

6.       Okay, I’m hooked on urban fantasy.  Anita Blake, Dark Hunters, Sookie Stackhouse, Riley Jensen…there’s a ton that I am already hooked on and more that I read every year.  (The sexier , the better.)

7.       Romance in every genre, whispers sweetly to me as I walk by the book shelves. I switched form buying Sci Fi  to Romance.  I go to the bookstore every Tuesday and see what books are put out in romance, then I buzz through sci fi and horror.

8.       I’m a candy ass about watching horror movies.  I don’t read Stephen King, because he scares the bejessus  out of me.  But, I can watch the movies made from his books. Not at the actual theatre though. I have to have the stop, pause and skip over buttons at my fingertips.

9.       I love rock and roll. Country if I’m at a country bar, but not just playing on the radio. Hate fusion Jazz. Did disco in my earlier life. Mellow is good. Give James Taylor singing anything and I will be there.  Into female singers-Imagen Heap rocks-.  Will not be buying Britney Spears.

10.   Of all the paranormals,  I still love Vampires the best.  Two favorite vampires in books are Jean Claude,  from Anita Blake books, and Eric Northman from The southern Vampire series. (can’t wait to see what Alan Bell does with that series on HBO this next year. Way to go Charlaine!)

11.   Don’t care much for reality TV.  I suppose that’s because I get too much reality at my day job.  I cringe when people are insulted or treated like poo in front of millions of people.  I will watch American Idol, but only after the tryouts.  Listening to bad singers beg for another chance doesn’t draw me back.  Once the competition begins, I watch.

12.     I like chocolate mixed with other things. Not a fan of dark chocolate.  I want to cut the chocolate with something milder.

13.   What are my current favorite shows.

Torchwood (on BBC America), Dr. Who, House, Dexter, Heros, Stargate Atlantis (got hooked with the original), Chuck, Earl, Life, NCIS, Moonlight, Men in Trees, Monk

Rhianna Samuels

You may laugh at this, but I write erotica to de-stress. A storyline is attached, but it is sex in its purest form, uncomplicated voyeuristic sex. I see my characters in excruciating detail find release. Writers have to see it in our head to get the words on paper.

When I write straight paranormal or erotica, the sex is not always anchored to a romance. It may be the nature of the character, a curse or a blessing, depending on their world view. I am a romantic at heart, so eventually it will lead to love, and hopefully romance. The two are not naturally intertwined. A character may love someone and sex is part of the relationship, but if it is one sided it is not a romance. Pleasure can be noncommittal, momentary and necessary for the majority; whereas, romance is a committed relationship. Friendship is a committed relationship. Sexual pleasure is the core of erotica. Some may believe that it must be kinky, but that is a matter of taste.

When I write in the romantic suspense genre I follow a parallel rule to life. The consummation of a romance to sexual intimacy leads to a lot more sex. In life, when you become intimate, do you wait months to see each other again? If you enjoyed the experience and want that person, the sex is frequent and lustful. For that very reason you will never see only one sex scene in my books. We are primitive in new relationships, loosing ourselves for hours and sometimes days in our lover’s pleasure. Or so my world view insists.

If you don’t agree, then I challenge you to ask someone who is in a brand new sexual relationship. How often do they see each other now that they have cleared the hurtle of sexual intimacy? Unless they are long distance lovers, they probably see each other several times a week and sex is integral to planning their time together. Why do you think there’s always a hidden parlor off the ballroom when you read historical romance? Sex allows a male and females to become one.

What is your world view on sex?

Rhianna Samuels
Rhiannasamuels.com