Wednesday, April 25, 2012

From Sex Therapist to Erotic Romance Author

By Robert W. Birch (Guest Blogger)

I have often said, I grew up in the country living in the city of Pittsburgh. Our house sat on what was then the western edge of the city, and we had no front street. A cinder alley led to our back yard. I walked through woods from three directions to get home, passing farms on two of these wooded paths. When I was fifteen (1952), my family moved to rural Ohio. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that several of my novels have a country setting. In one, the path that looked down on a farm found its way into my story. In another, it was the farm in the valley down the dirt road from my brother’s hunting cabin in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania that became the home of my main characters. In another the setting was the basement of my Pittsburgh home, back when we still had a coal burning furnace. The chicken house from my uncle’s farm made it into that story also.

But each of these, and several others, fall into the sci fi genre. So, imagine a country boy going off to college for two years, majoring in a beautiful girl named Carolyn and minoring in the consumption of beer (back then “low” beer was legal in Ohio for those having reached their eighteen birthday). I felt I needed to grow up, and enlisted in the army. Eventually I ended up stationed in Korea (after the conflict had ended) and spent long nights alone, sitting in a radio hut surrounded by rice paddies. I passed the time writing sci fi short stories. I was twenty-one at the time (1957). These stories sat in a box in my attic for over fifty years before finally being published.

Many years passed during which my writing was confined to term papers, research reports and journal articles. I received my Ph.D. in psychology 1967, eventually specializing in marital and sex therapy. In 1996 I published my first non-fiction book, an illustrated manual on cunnilingus. ORAL CARESS was an immediate success, as it was one of the very first written on this delicious topic. Sex manuals on premature ejaculation, sex and aging, and female orgasm followed. It was not until retirement that I launched my late-in-life career as an erotic romance writer.

I will admit that my first 400+ page novel, published in 2002, was more erotic than romantic. One reviewer wondered if I had used my case files to come up with the characters and some of their kinky behavior. Another reviewer wondered if a reader would learn anything reading fiction by a retired sex therapist, answering her own question by stating my book was full of "novel" advice. To date, I have published eight adult novels, and a four-book series of erotic-romance sci fi novellas. I also have two collections of erotic short stories in print.

Most of my stories have science fiction plots. There are those involving aliens and some involving time travel. All are heavy on the erotic end of the continuum and most are sprinkled with a bit of humor. One reviewer was disturbed by the blue tongue that slid out of an alien female’s genitalia that was located high on an inner thigh. Why would one expect an alien’s genitals to resemble those of humans?

I am guilty of using strong sexual terminology and describing the sexual encounters in graphic detail. One female reviewer felt I should have left more to the reader’s imagination. I am also guilty of staying realistic. In my books you’ll never find sexual marathons with a dozen encores. I am also guilty of not always having a budding romance and watching it grow, but all my books have love and commitment woven into a strong plot with a happy every after ending.

STRIPPED AND SNATCHED: Abducted for Harvesting

Young men and women are vanishing into thin air, leaving clothing behind, layered just as though their bodies evaporated. Julie, a virginal farm girl, is on of the abductees. She suddenly finds herself naked and surrounded by dozens of other naked young adults. She has been snatched and transported into the year 2510, where she is subjected to propaganda and mental manipulation. She soon discovers that the women are their for their fertile eggs and the men for their sperm.

Physical contact between the abductees is forbidden. As a control, twice daily the abductees are ushered into the Palace of Pleasure, a room in which intense orgasms are computer generated without human touch. Abductees who have been there the longest have had their memories erased, but Julie fights to retain hers. When her boyfriend Fred arrives they join with other newcomers and plot their escape.

Why do those in the future need to harvest eggs and sperm? How has the appreciation of sensual love and erotic touch been lost? Can the abductees find a way to travel back in time and return to their homes, and will Julie and Fred finally get to make love?

EXCERPT

The door opened and naked young people, white, African American and Latino, began walking in from the dining area. Sheep having been fed and now filing into the breeding pen, Julie thought as she looked at the variety of breast and penis sizes and the distribution and colors of pubic hair, but what struck her most were the excited expressions on the faces.
My gosh, they’re actually looking forward to this.

The group of nudes was followed in by six tall uniformed technicians wearing what looked more like slippers than shoes. Each carried a metallic container. From these containers they handed each man a collection bag that he then pulled over his penis. To Julie there appeared to be something stimulating about these thick condom-like collection devices, for each man hardened as he pulled it on. She was surprised, however, to feel herself begin to turn on and lubricate. She looked around at the other females lying on the mat and between their spread legs noticed that each pussy glistened with moisture. Julie’s heart actually raced with anticipation. I’m feeling so excited. What’s happening here? She looked around at the different angles of the erections and wondered if it was the visual stimulation that was turning her on.

After sliding what looked like rubber sheets under several of the young women’s hips, the technicians left the room and closed the door behind them. Why’d they do that and why’d they leave? There was a barely audible hum coming from behind the walls, but the sounds that grew louder were the moans and groans emanating from the aroused naked occupants of the room. As Julie’s own sexual excitement grew she found herself begin to moan also. It was an involuntary response to her escalating arousal, which was amazingly intense and extremely pleasurable.

Suddenly an orgasm began and the series of powerful contractions that followed caused her to yell out with pleasure, her cries blending with the orgasmic cries of all the others, male and female. All the orgasms in the room occurred simultaneously with each wave of pleasure synchronized. Julie felt the Earth move, or so she thought. Her powerful orgasmic contractions seemed also to fade in synch with others, timed just as precisely as was the simultaneous initiation of the climactic responses. Julie now understood the purpose for the rubber sheets, for the technicians had obviously identified the female ejaculators in the group. The gushers gushed, the squirters squirted, and Julie witnessed something she had only heard of in the vaguest of terms.

The collective feeling of shared afterglow in the room was almost palpable. Julie felt all warm and snuggly. Briefly she sensed she was really quite alone in this post-orgasmic glow, but this fleeting moment of loneliness was replaced by a wonderful feeling of ultimate internal satisfaction. After a few minutes of quiet purrs and other sounds of contentment, those in the room began to stir and put their feelings into words.

TO LEARN MORE OR BUY

Kindle format at www.amazon.com
Ebook format at www.carnaldesirespublishing.com
Print copies at www.erotic-romance-novels.com

4 comments:

Lisabet Sarai said...

Greetings, Bob, and welcome to Beyond Romance!

Your story strikes me as akin to the venerable pulp tales of the fifties.

Despite your focus on scifi plots, I imagine that your training as a therapist helps keep things real.

Warmly,
Lisabet

Lynn Chantale said...

Hi Bob. Lovely to see you again.

Bob Birch said...

Lisabet, your comment on my sex therapy background (keeping things realistic) might be a mixed blessing. I have been accused of being "too clinical." I suspect that's because of my explicit detail not leaving much room for fantasy.

Glad to be here on your blog. Thanks for the invite.
Bob

Unknown said...

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that several of my novels have a country setting. In one, the path that looked down on a farm found its way into my story.sex therapy

Post a Comment

Let me know your thoughts! (And if you're having trouble commenting, try enabling third-party cookies in your browser...)