Guest Blogger Lisa Lane!

Today we welcome to the blog erotic romance author Lisa Lane. She's posting about sex, science fiction, alien sex, and sexual identity. Take it away, Lisa!

---------------------

Thank you so much for having me here today! I am very excited to have the opportunity to talk about my sexy, sci-fi space trek, Lust in Space, alien sex, and sexual identity. We all know how essential of a topic alien sex is . . . okay, so it’s a strange subject. Today, I’d like to show you just how important alien sex can be—both to science fiction and to our sexual attitudes as individuals and a society.

As human beings, it is natural that we identify ourselves in numerous ways, one of which being sexual identity. Although we might define various orientations and roles, for example a gay man in a committed relationship, the association between one’s sexual identity and one’s place in the larger scheme can vary greatly depending on culture and generation. Authors have used themes based on gender orientation, sexual orientation, and role for centuries; science fiction makes for an especially vast venue with which to explore the topic.

Aliens take that theme to the extreme.

Imagine, if you will, a time and a place in which sexual identity might be defined in terms even broader than those known and accepted by current cultural mores. Here, humanoids come in shapes and sizes that force one to redefine any preconceived thoughts regarding compatibility and mass.

Take the Locaru, for example. These little people are not much bigger than a bumble bee, but what they lack in size they more than make up for in confidence and creativity. When Locaru Jim falls for human bartender and exotic dancer Leah, he is able to convince her very quickly that size does not always matter . . . and that a vibrating body can come in peculiarly handy.

But I digress. The world I speak of delves much deeper into the subject of sexual identity, by exposing the very different mores and functions of its various inhabitants. The aliens who offer the most insight into sexual identity are the predominantly bisexual Esirians and the asexual shape-shifting Gatgars.

Esirians, dubbed the “Unicorn People,” both because of the horns that grow on their foreheads and their near extinction as a race, live mostly in small refugee camps scattered across the galaxy. The crew of spaceship Pandora’s Hope are lucky enough to get tactical officer Suxien as a part of their crew—and then, later, a duplicate of her from an earlier time, after a space-bending venture goes terribly awry. The two Suxiens answer the unusual question, “If you were bisexual, and a duplicate of you were to enter your life, would you have sex with yourself?” Suxien’s character is also the archetypal feminist, a woman who knows her place in society—as an equal to all races and all sexes she encounters—and she isn’t afraid to set straight anyone who might think otherwise.

The Gatgars reproduce asexually, the entire race being technically female. When they take human forms in order to tolerate the climate control inside Pandora’s Hope, they find their new sexual roles worthy of experimenting thoroughly. What would you do, if you could be a virgin female one minute, and then a well-endowed male the next? What would it feel like to reverse the two very different roles again? The Gatgars have fun exploring, so much fun that they become disinclined to give up their sensuous human bodies . . . and are willing to take over the ship, if that is what it takes, in order to keep them.

I had a lot of fun layering the theme of sexual identity throughout the story, exploring the various roles out there. At face value, Lust in Space is the simple-yet-complicated love story of Captain Nora Bradley and her First Officer, Robert Smith, with further sexual antics arising through a diverse ensemble cast. I think that is what makes this novel suitable for such a broad audience, and yet still able to go as far as it does. The pushing of societal norms is a little more forgivable, when it takes place two thousand years into the future, in space. Norms have to be altered and pushed, because times change. Just how much those times change depends on the story and the boundaries set by the author. I personally think it would be a crime to have such a vast literary template and not use as much of it as possible.

Plus, writing alien sex is a lot of fun—I hope it is as much fun to read!

For more information on Lust in Space, go to http://www.ravenousromance.com/breathless/lust-in-space.php

While you’re at Ravenous Romance, be sure to stick around long enough to check out all of the breathtaking covers and hot titles—you’ll be glad you did!

Lisa Lane