Reflections

Anyone asking me why I write might as well ask why I breathe.
Why erotica? That’s a little harder to answer. Actually, I write mainly Science Fiction, with erotic contents.
A friend of mine, after reading my book ‘Daughter of the Dark’, kept snickering about the sex-scenes. I was happy he liked them but I hope my readers see more in my books and stories than the erotic scenes.
Writing can be used as a vehicle for many things. It can be entertaining, arousing, thought provoking, teaching. Not only for the reader but also for the writer. To write a convincing story, a writer has to do research, has to be familiar with the topic he/she writes about.
I like writing Science Fiction because that’s a milieu I’m comfortable with. I’ve been reading Science Fiction novels ever since I discovered SF as a teenager. I don’t remember the first book or story, but the great SF authors Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Philip José Farmer, Poul Anderson, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, A. E. van Vogt, Jack Williamson, they all created worlds and stories of such wonder I could never get enough of them. After awhile just reading wasn’t enough, so I started to create my own worlds and peopled them with my own characters.
There are other writers who definitely influenced my writing, like Larry Niven, Roger Zelazny, Jack L. Chalker, Piers Anthony, and even Non-Science Fiction writers, like Mickey Spillane and Norman Mailer.
One of my favorite writers was E. C. Tubb, who created the character Earl Dumarest of Terra, a man from a far future Earth, lost among the stars, searching for his home planet Terra, considered a myth. After over twenty novels, he still hadn’t found his home world. I don’t know if he ever did.
I didn’t read only Sci-Fi. There was a time when I read nothing but Sword-and-Sorcery. Authors like Robert E. Howard (Conan), Karl Edward Wagner (Kane), Lin Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan, Carson of Venus, John Carter of Mars) were among my favorites.
In the late 1960s, Berkley Publishing printed a number of books by Ted Mark (a pseudonym for Ted Gottfried). The first of many titles was ‘The man from O.R.G.Y.’, definitely erotica, but not as explicit as the stuff one can download these days from e-publishers. I read most of them and enjoyed them. Some of the material probably stayed in my head and might influence my writing today, who knows. Everything one reads will leave some residue behind.
I don’t write anymore for just my own entertainment. Now I’d like to share my imaginary worlds with others. I hope that I can bring to my readers at least some of the sense of wonder and excitement I found when I read the stories from my favorite authors. If I can do that I have achieved my goal and my dream.