An article titled, Monster Porn: Amazon Cracks Down On America’s Latest Sex Fantasy, was brought to my attention by one of my Facebook friends. Like many authors, I’m aware of the censorship craze rocking the ebook industry, but I didn’t know there was such a genre until I read that article. I find it an interesting concept. Apparently, when sex is performed between humans and creatures like bigfoot, Minotaur, aliens and so on, it’s considered monster porn.
Hmm… After reading a little “monster porn” for myself, I saw that it wasn’t that different from paranormal romance lit. Nevertheless, Amazon and other retailers have pulled titles that involve humans sexing monsters like bigfoot and etc. I guess, to them, it falls in the lines of bestiality. That’s what the article suggests.
A few questions were brought up in the article.
“Where do you draw the line? Sex with beasts is a common theme in paranormal romance. Do dinosaurs need to be a protected class of animal? What about a Sasquatch? When are they real, when are they not, when can you have sex with them and when can you not?”
All valid questions. And they sort of had a poetic rhythm to it as well. 😀
For example, in my latest release— SHIFTING DARKNESS, the hero Tajaé Zhang has never had sex with a human before, simply because he shifts during sex, so it’s safer to get it on with his own kind. But when he hooks up with his love interest—Faith Miller, who happens to be a human, he has to try to suppress that beastly side of himself, and he fails. No, he doesn’t take on his full black panther form, but he transforms into a cross between a black panther and a man. Think Thundercat. From there, a wild animalistic love scene happens where the word “fuck” is said a couple of times. 🙂
Is that considered monster porn?
I, for one, don’t think monster porn, as they call it, should be yanked from the cyber shelves, since there is a market for it. However, I do think it is the author’s responsibility to inform the reader on what they’re buying. Whether it’s a warning on the buy page description, or in the first pages of the book, it should be addressed. But that’s just my two cents.
I usually slap a big warning on my books, so there are no surprises when you get into the good stuff: *WARNING: Not suitable for the faint of heart, prudes or those easily bothered by strong and vulgar language, urban dialect, demon and vampire seduction, kickass female characters, sword-wielding bad asses, super-hot shifters, dark smutty sex and extreme violence.*
I haven’t added this warning to Shifting Darkness yet, but you better believe it’s coming. That aside, I promise you the warning resides within the book, right after the acknowledgements. No surprises here. I like to let you know what you’re getting. 😉
Click the link to check out the article, Monster Porn: Amazon Cracks Down On America’s Latest Sex Fantasy: http://www.businessinsider.com/monster-porn-amazon-crackdown-sex-fantasy-bigfoot-2013-12
yvonnenicolas.blog 
I find monster porn disturbing. One book I saw was human and dinosaurs! Maybe it is like PNR but at least the couples in most PNRs are humanoids.
Briane, I agree. Some of it is indeed disturbing. But the one I read was pretty hot. It was based around a romantic relationship between an alien and human. To me, it was no different from paranormal romance. However, it’s labeled “Monster porn” because of the erotic scenes with the alien. I think it’s a little unfair in that respect, because vampires are monsters, but when a novel is presented representing a sexual relationship between a vampire and human, it’s labeled paranormal romance.
Now I will admit, I read a story involving bigfoot and his enormous penis and it was difficult for me to get through it, because it involved an unsettling amount of rape and it didn’t register as a sexy read to me. Different strokes for different folks. Regardless on my opinions of it, this genre is catching on. 🙂
I think they should decide one way or the other. If bestiality is NOT okay, then sex with dinosaurs and gorgeous shifters shouldn’t be okay, but if they are going to allow sex with dinos, and bestiality from large publishers, then they should allow all.
Picking and choosing is not a good thing. As long as there is a warning in the book’s description, then it should be okay.
I wholeheartedly agree, Thianna!
The warning label is very important in this matter. Let the reader know what they’re getting. If it’s risqué sex with a dinosaur or Bigfoot and it involves rape, that should be in big ass letters on the description of the book. That way, there’s no confusion when the reader makes the choice to purchase the book.
I agree with your points. Potential readers should be clearly informed of content. Ultimately, it’s up to the buyer to decide not the seller.