I should just state this here. While this particular post involves erotica, I honestly don't read all that much of it. I have nothing against it, and I will obviously write about it if I come across it, but I will be talking about a wide variety of books on this blog. Just so happens I thought to start this blog while I was reading a dirty book. Lucky me!
I am actually reading the book, but this was for sure not written by Savanna Samson. Just to clarify.
So I have been wanting to write an erotic thriller recently. Just thought I would try my hand at it, and in working on this I decided it would be a good idea to read some erotica to get an idea of what is out there, and what audience expectations are for the genre. While the story I am working on is M/M, as that is my preferred genre of erotica, I was kind of checking out everything. That was when I spotted Vamp "by" Savanna Samson.
Vamp was a novel published as part the "A Vivid Girls Book" series back in the early 2000's. For those not aware, Vivid Entertainment is a major player in the adult entertainment world. They were especially huge during the 90's and into the 2000's.
During the early 2000's, and with the mainstream success of Jenna Jameson, who was one of their contract performers at the time, Vivid was looking to get some of their other performers into the spotlight. So, using ghost writers they created four novels that were "written" by four of their top performers. Those novels were Vamp by Savanna Samson, Day of the Dead by Mercedez, Lust Ranch by Sunrise Adams and Private Access by Tawny Roberts. The covers used spicy, although fairly tame, glamour shots of the performers with simple and appealing design and were sold in major bookstores like Borders (remember that place!) in their erotica sections. Although, I am pretty sure I originally bought this book from Borders when I found it in the Romance section back in 2005, but it has been 20 years, so I could be misremembering. My friends and I used to go to the Erotica section and read Penthouse Letters out loud to each other, so I could have found it then.
Each novel featured the contract star as either the main character, or in the case of Vamp, as a major focus of the main character's lust. From a quick glance at Day of the Dead that book has Mercedez as the POV character. I'm guessing it switches depending on the books narrative.
Obviously, with only the original four books published, I'm guessing the series wasn't a success. If I remember correctly, the performers also really didn't throw much support behind the books either. I am also unclear as to who these books were written for. While erotica is largely written and sold to women, what I have read so far is very much written to the male reader. Kind of unsure on who the target was here.
Either way these four media tie in oddities came into existence, and now I am reading one of them... and may have ordered the other three to add to my ever growing collection of movie novelizations and media tie in books.
I should point out that I actually have a very brief history with Vivid, as I wrote some scripts for them back when I was in college, and part of the reason I searched these books was to find a copy of Day of the Dead. I had done some writing work for Mercedez after she left Vivid (a movie that has seemingly vanished off the face of the earth called Mercedez Takes Control), but I also wrote a film she did while she was still under contract (Blue Collar). Having remembered these books, I decided that I had to have them. As for the decision to read them... I have no idea what I was thinking. The fact that I am planning on reading all four of them (not back to back), has me worried for my mental health.
Out of all the books, Vamp arrived first. So, that is the book that is getting read first. Savanna Samson was a Vivid contract performer for a while if I remember correctly, and very popular back in the early 2000's. Since then she has left adult films and has gone on to start a VERY successful winery.
That has nothing to do with this book, I just thought I would start with a positive note before digging into my experience with the book so far. Should note I am on page 133 out of 280.
Alright, here we go. I am about halfway through this book, and I can say without a doubt it is not good. Am I going to finish it? You bet! Why? As not good as it is, I oddly find myself enjoying parts of it. Namely, I enjoy the parts where I am not reading about dripping fluids or thrusting. There is a very interesting idea behind this story that could make for interesting erotic fiction. The main issue is that it isn't interesting.
Erotica, for me, has to walk a tight rope of giving the reader what they want in a way that does not become overwhelming or desensitizing. Also, it needs to give me characters that I can attach to so that experiencing their journey feels like I am right there with them. Explicit detail is fine, but attaching it to emotional detail makes it so that I the reader is more invested (and in turn, turned on) by the material.
This book does not do that.
The main plot follows a guy named Sergio who is going to a Halloween Party at a sex club with his buddies Tony and Mark. I should note that this book focuses solely on hetero and girl/girl (but for hetero readers) tastes. Not my tastes, but you know, different strokes. Anyways, three dude bros go to a sex club, and have a wild night. While they are there Sergio is told by every woman he bones that Savanna is waiting for him. Who Savanna is, what she wants with him? Who knows? We do know that Halloween is when Savanna chooses her new slave, so could that be Sergio's fate?
I mean, yes, it is. I haven't even finished the book and I can tell you that.
The book follows a basic pattern. Sergio and his buddies go into a themed room in the club. So far we have a basic dance club, blue (the whole theme is blue), a 50's diner, a full on dungeon, and I have just gotten to an indoor forest. While there they witness various sex acts, erotic performances and occasionally a drag queen shows up for a touch of queer. Eventually Sergio will hook up with a woman (or multiple women) in said room. After they are done hooking up, and the woman has marveled at how amazing Sergio's penis is, they will clean up from all of the dripping fluids, and they will make an ominous comment about Savanna waiting for him. Then they will shuffle him off to the next room. Rinse and repeat. The locations may change (the meat locker was on odd choice), and the tone of the scene may be different sometimes, but it starts to feel like Sergio, and in turn the reader, is stuck in a time loop.
I'll give a full review when I finish the book, but as of right now... it is a bit much. It is very dated, and there was one scene that made me really uncomfortable. So I for sure won't be recommending this one to people easily.
I think I did myself dirty by making a mental reading challenge to read all four of the Vivid Girls books this year. At least there are only four!
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