Louisa Burton | Confessions of a Research Slut

When I first set out to write stories about incubi, succubi, and vampires, all
I really knew about them was that they were mythological beings known for
ravishing humans—a good premise, I thought, for a series of scalding erotic
romances. Being an obsessive-compulsive researcher, I read everything I could
find on the subject in order to build a world for my characters: a Babylonian
succubus, a brooding djinni, a cheerfully lusty satyr, a tall, babe-alicious
Nordic elf, and the occasional bothersome bloodsucker. It turns out that, until
fairly recently, most people, no matter how learned, regarded “sexual demons”
as real (in fact, a surprising number still do).

St. Augustine (354-430) wrote that “...sylvans and fauns, who are commonly
called ‘incubi,’ had often made wicked assaults upon women, and satisfied their
lust upon them.” Nine hundred years later, St. Thomas Aquinas explained that
incubi could actually beget human beings, “not from the seed of such demons...
but from the seed of men taken for the purpose; as when the demon assumes first
the form of a woman, and afterwards of a man.” Hmm... Digging deeper, I found a
17th century treatise by Father Ludovicus Maria Sinistrari de Ameno, in which
he described in salacious detail how an incubus, having morphed into a female
succubus, will ravish “ardent, robust men” for the purpose of capturing their
high-test seed. (Nice work if you can get it.) After turning back into a male,
he targets “women of a like constitution, with whom the incubus copulates,
taking care that both shall enjoy a more than normal orgasm...”

I am not making this up.

As I pored over Sinistrari’s deliciously raunchy description of demonic hanky panky, it occurred to me that my premise—incubi luring humans to a secluded French chateau to satisfy their hunger for sex—had the potential to be not just good, but well, smoking hot! When the first book in my Hidden Grotto series, House of Dark Delights, won the Romantic Times BookReview award for Best Erotic Fiction of the year, I knew I was on to something. The books aren’t actually novels per se, but anthologies of two or more closely linked novellas set both in the present and the past. Although it’s a series, I pride myself on bringing my new readers up to speed without resorting to big, indigestible chunks of exposition, so each book can be enjoyed all on its own. My July release, In the Garden of Sin, is my fourth Hidden Grotto book from Bantam, and the favorite so far of my editor and everyone else who’s read it. In this book I bring back one of my readers’ favorite characters, the vampire Anton Turek, whom we haven’t seen since his ill-fated visit to the chateau in 1749. He returns in the present day, as archly metrosexual as ever, although he’s traded in his powdered wig and lace sleeves for trendy haircuts and Dolce & Gabbana jeans. For more about the series, including excerpts, check out my website. And please leave a comment below! I’d love to hear from you. Libidinously yours,
Louisa

Comments

13 comments posted.

Re: Louisa Burton | Confessions of a Research Slut

Today we just call them perverts :>)
(Karin Tillotson 8:20am July 14, 2009)

Very interesting! Thanks for all the info. This sounds like a good read. Best wishes!
(JoAnn White 9:05am July 14, 2009)

That is cool information! Your latest book sounds like a hot read!
(Sharla Long 9:12am July 14, 2009)

Your titles are attention grabbers.
(Robin McKay 11:39am July 14, 2009)

Gonna have to read these! Great research!!
(Kelli Jo Calvert 11:59am July 14, 2009)

You've hooked me and I will have to read your books. Thank you for your fascinating research - great when a writer gets so much into their story.
(Patricia Reed 12:28pm July 14, 2009)

I had already read the excerpts before this blog came into being, and I can guarantee that these books are smoking hot!! I just haven't been able to find out if they are available in print or not! The second I find that out, I'm at that bookstore buying them!!

Later,

Lynn
(Lynn Rettig 1:52pm July 14, 2009)

well I have to honestly say I haven't yet seen your books in a bookstore; but I'll make sure to check next time I'm there
(Diane Sadler 3:44pm July 14, 2009)

Amazing what people seriously believed
in the not so distant past. Some if it
makes you wonder. And on dark and
stormy nights, you are not so sure they
weren't right.
(Patricia Barraclough 9:43pm July 14, 2009)

One reason I read is for the interesting information that I find in a good story.
(Rosemary Krejsa 10:23pm July 14, 2009)

I read partly to learn interesting things, too. My favorite books take me someplace I know nothing about, and maybe never even thought about, eg. Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January mysteries, which are set in New Orleans in the mid-1830's. When you're reading one of those books, I swear you're really there.
(Louisa Burton 8:57am July 15, 2009)

Oh great on the new book coming Louisa! Great info on the research! I learn most I do now from the romances I read!
(Cathie Morton 10:01pm July 15, 2009)

Great covers:)
(Bridget Hopper 8:47am July 17, 2009)

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