Sexy Songs

I guess the topic is sexy instead of romantic here at Fierce Sex, I mean Fierce Romance this week. So I started thinking about what makes me feel sexy, and I have to go back to music. I love music, all types. It’s what keeps me going on my power walks. I have it on in the car—loud—and sing along. I listen to it when I clean my house. I even dance to it...all by myself in the living room. For me music can be mood-changing. It cheers me up when I’m feeling crappy. It can definitely enhance a romantic situation, and some songs are just plain sexy!

My first sexy song is “Gett Off” by Prince, who epitomizes sex (even though he’s about 5’ 2” and wears heels). The beat just thumps sex. I...ahem...danced to this song for my husband’s birthday one year. My husband was in bed and I started my dance by kicking open the bedroom door with my black stiletto...

"How can I put this in a way so as not to offend or unnerve?
There's a rumor goin' all around that u ain't been gettin' served
They say that u ain't you-know-what
In baby who knows how long
It's hard 4 me 2 say what's right
When all I wanna do is wrong
Gett off - 23 positions in a 1 night stand
Gett off - I'll only call u after if u say I can
Gett off - let a woman be a woman and a man be a man
Gett off - if u want 2 baby here I am"





My next sexy song is pretty mild compared to Prince, but “Stir It Up” by Bob Marley (later sung by Johnny Nash a little more cheerfully) is more subtle in its sexiness. A reggae beat is always sexy to me, and these lyrics are sly and hot!

“I’ll push the wood,
Then I blaze ya fire;
Then I’ll satisfy your heart’s desire.
Said I stir it every, every minute
All you got to do, girl
Is keep it in...”



I loved Marvin Gaye, and he wrote the book on sexy with “Sexual Healing.” One time I was at a bar and the band was playing this song. The singer was incredibly hot and when he sang this song it was like he was singing it to me since I was flirting with him outrageously (uh, that was when I was in my 20’s and unmarried).

“Come take control, just grab a hold
Of my body and mind soon we'll be making it
Honey, oh we're feeling fine
You're my medicine open up and let me in
Darling, you're so great
I can't wait for you to operate
I can't wait for you to operate
When I get this feeling,
I need Sexual Healing...”



It seems today songs are more out there in your face with the sex. Phrases like Bob Marley’s “I’ll push the wood, then I blaze ya fire” would be way too subtle for what’s out there today. Some of the lyrics of today’s “sexy” songs are yucky, but I have to admit some are pretty hot in a raw, sexy way. One I like is 50 Cent’s (is that even how you SPELL his name?) “Just a Lil' Bit.” The beat of this song is really sensuous too, and the way he kind of growls the last line of these lyrics and then gives a little chuckle at the end—damn! (I've included the "clean" version of the video.)

“Baby, you got me feelin’ right
My momma gone, you can spend the night
I ain’t playin’, I’m tryin’ to XXX tonight
Clothes off, face down, ass up, c’mon”



Whew – we’ve come a long way from when the Ed Sullivan Show made the Rolling Stones sing “Let’s spend ‘some time’ together” instead of “Let’s spend ‘the night’ together,” and the camera stayed firmly focused on Elvis's upper body.

Are there any songs that you find almost too hot to handle?

The Naked Male Tour of Austria

I did not go to Austria to view naked men. That was just a side benefit.

We started our vacation in Vienna. The city provides a wealth of inspiration for a writer, with everything from richly decorated historical buildings to fabulous baroque art and even the Lipizzaner horses (amazing show and the riders...yum).

Most every restaurant and cafe has outdoor tables and the city is full of charming side streets and entire city blocks that are vehicle free. Vienna is a walker’s and bicyclist’s paradise in many parts of the city. In the Spittleberg district (where 18th century men could "enjoy life to the full outside their home") we had drinks one evening at an outdoor cafe on one of these cafe-lined side streets. Totally romantic. I went inside to use the ladies room (identified by the bra on the door).

As I was washing my hands, I looked up where I expected the mirror over the sinks to be. What I saw, however, was two young men doing their business about two feet from my nose. In place of a wall above the sinks, there was a large glass fish tank (immaculately clean) which occupied the space between the men’s and ladies’ bathrooms. One could scarcely avoid the "view".

I was shocked, but it’s great for a story tidbit. Dibs, ladies. I reported back to hubby who said that women are total voyeurs, but they don’t want to admit it. Are they? I have to say, I wouldn't have looked intentionally. One has to keep in mind that all kinds of guys use the facilities.

We saw The Magic Flute at the Viennese Opera. Though I normally enjoy opera for the music, the costumes here were so amazingly vibrant and colorful, they inspired a whole new series for me. The performance was fabulous. The Opera House itself was a bit of a disappointment, as much of it was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt during the 50s in, unfortunately, a 50s style. There were glimpses of the original splendor.

We moved on to Salzburg, a unique city that has been carefully maintained to retain much of the beauty and charm of the past. (Mozart was born and raised in the yellow house on the left.) However, the old city has been given over almost entirely to shopping, and chain stores abound. We accidentally stumbled upon the Mirabell gardens where (supposedly) the original Maria von Trapp and her stepchildren could be seen singing and dancing around the fountain. What we saw was my next naked man, a fellow who was strolling inside the fountain pool, attempting to hang onto his shorts. But he lost the battle just as we walked by and we were successfully mooned. You know, I bet the children were a lot more charming.

Next we drove up into the lake district for some hiking. When we passed by Lake Mondsee (also a setting for The Sound of Music movie) hubby noticed a nude beach. We did not even take a peek (having learned in our travels that there is rarely a person on a nude beach you want to see, well, naked).

But we did not escape the lady sitting on a bench on the regular beach who was changing her clothes. Took off her bathing suit top as we approached and, by the time we were walking by, she was in the process of removing the bottom. Okay, that’s the naked lady story. Off subject.

However, I do feature this nude beach in an epilogue to my story Scarlet and the Sheriff. The free epilogue is available here.

We drove into the Austrian Alps on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, a white-knuckle ride up to the highest mountains in Austria. This road hugs the Alps, ascends to more than eight thousand feet in the course of 30 miles, and was lined with bicyclists making the ascent. Can we say fit men? Unfortunately, none of them removed their clothes for my enjoyment. When we got to the top, however, there was a male hiker disrobing. Standing right there in the parking lot, with dozens of people milling around. He stripped himself naked to change his outfit. I don’t know why, though it’s not the first time I’ve seen such a thing. However, he wasn’t hot. Not that I looked.

Our last night in Austria taught me, oddly enough, why everyone wants to know what a Scotsman has under his kilt. It is well worth knowing about. Now, I am happily married and can’t take advantage of this knowledge. But, if you’re not, get yourself over to Scotland.

So, here’s the tale. We were at Octoberfest in Salzburg. (Technically, it’s a religious type holiday in Austria, but even the Austrians admitted it was hard to tell the difference.) As you see from the picture, they gather in large groups to drink excellent beer, sing along to an oompha band, and dress in native costume. (Think flowered dirndl dresses with aprons for the women and leather shorts and checked shirts for the men.)

The sight of two Scotsmen in full kilted gear added to the festive atmosphere. Added considerably, as you will see.

Everyone sits at big picnic tables family style, that is, wherever you find a seat. The Scotsmen were at the table next to mine, and I was keeping a casual eye on them. (Yup, casual.)

Though we were all eating dinner, it was still full daylight. They were bantering with an Austrian woman at my table, laughing and having a grand time (in German).

The guys stood up, still joking with her, when suddenly one of them simply pulled up his kilt and exposed his wares for the Austrian lady.

That’s right. He wore not a stitch under that kilt and not only that, he was shaved as bald as a robin’s egg. No, dinosaur egg would be a better simile. Because that man had a set of pipes…whew, I’m still agog. It’s amazing how shock immobilizes you, and yet allows you to focus intently.

He dropped the kilt and the Austrian lady and I started to cry.

No. No. We didn’t. She blushed brighter than the red stripes on the tent. (We think she had dared him to do it.) I managed to close my mouth and tell my husband what had happened. The man sitting next to me and I laughed for ten minutes (though he was blushing). It was so unexpected. The two Scotsmen sat back down and within five minutes, there were two young women sitting across from them (coincidentally, I’m sure.)

Well, in the US, that stunt would probably cost him a night in jail. But the Europeans are much more casual about public nudity.

I have to leave you with one last set of pictures, because I love libraries.

The National Library of Austria. Now that's a library (with an amazing collection of rare books).

Finally, I have a brand new web site if you'd like to check it out here.

Sexy Men and Their Weapons

I seem to be on a weapons kick these days. I do love creating strong, sexy heroes who know how to use weapons, whether blades or guns. There's just something about them that's so hot. I especially love a hero who protects the heroine or fights in defense of those he loves or his country. Movies and TV shows give us some great sexy images.

Gerard Butler as Beowulf

Eric Etebari

Troy

a very cool ad

Russell Crowe in Gladiator

Gerard Butler

Henry Cavill in Tristan and Isolde

Josh Holloway as Sawyer on Lost

Those Sexy "S" Words

I love words. I suppose as a reader and a writer that goes without saying, but I’ll say it again. I love words. I love reading them. I love writing them. Finding just the right word to convey just the right meaning is so satisfying.

Which leads me to the subject of my blog today. The “S” word. Have you noticed how many sensuous (See! An “s” word) words we have at our disposal when we’re writing our sexy (another “s” word) stories?

Some give you a slippery (OMG – another one!) sound - slather, slide, silky, slip…

And then there are those hard sounds – slap, slam, spank, shatter, suck…

What about actions – saunter, shimmy, squeeze, simmer, snuggle, stamp, sheathe, spasm, submit, savor, smolder, spark, stimulate, screw, shudder, shiver,stroke, shimmer, satisfy…

And the myriad descriptive words that begin with “s” boggle the mind – seductive, sinewy, sensual, succulent, smooth, savage, sleek, smoky, spicy, sinful, steamy, stiff, strong, shiny, shadowy, sweaty, swollen, sultry, serene, sassy, sculpted, searing, soft, sensitive…

I’m sure you can come up with ones I’ve missed. With all the amazing words we have to choose from, how can we help but want to write sensual, sexy stories incorporating as many "s" words (and other words) as possible.

For the record, though it’s hard to pick just one, I admit I love the word “sultry.” It can mean “very hot and humid” like summer, which I am missing already. Or it can mean “hot with passion/capable of exciting strong sexual desire.” Mmm, sounds like a great “s” word to me.

What’s your favorite “s” word?

Natasha
www.natashamoore.com

It Ain't Sexy...

I've looked forward to autumn for some time now; however, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the warmth of the summer sun. Thoughts of the sun bring thoughts of the ocean, which I adore, and thoughts of the ocean invariably bring thoughts of sailors and pirates. So, I thought that I would write something about sexy pirate heroes, since it would connect nicely to the post about anti-heroes. After all, how can temperamental scalawags with a penchant for wild women and too much port be the object of any woman’s desire?

That post was my intention, but it didn’t work out quite that way. I went searching for some new hunk pics, hopefully some in pirate costumes, to, you know, add a visual perspective to the text, and that’s when I decided my post needed to take a different direction.

I haven’t searched for images in a long time, so I’d forgotten what happens when one types in search terms like “sexy men” or “erotic+men” on a royalty free image site. After the first couple of photos popped up, it all came flooding back. Yikes!

What you get when you do a search like this is about four pictures of sexy men and 2,809,654 of what other people consider “erotic” or “sexy,” and it ain’t pretty. Granted, some photographers tag their work with that label just to get their pictures to come up in a variety of searches in a lame attempt to get more sales, and thus along with sexy or erotic men, you might also get pictures of a male zebra taking leak, Godzilla doing the tango through some poorly constructed model of Tokyo, or a toddler blowing out birthday candles, which is just creepy. However, I got the impression that some photographers label their pictures truly believing they know what constitutes sexy or erotic in the eyes of others, as well as their own, when in fact the results of their artistic efforts are anything but.

I have my own ideas on what is considered sexy, as I’m sure everyone does, and I’d like to know what yours are. Please feel free to elaborate in the comments section at will. In the meantime, I’d like to, based on the results I saw, explore what is NOT sexy. I've included some photos I thought had the potential to be sexy just to, you know, add some verve. :)

A picture with a man and a woman engaged is some kind of sexy activity or posed in an erotic way is not sexy at all if one of the participants looks like he or she would rather be anywhere else, or dead. If a guy is fondling or licking a woman in a picture and she looks like jumping off a cliff is starting appear as a viable alternative…it ain’t sexy.

Also, bodily functions…not even in the realm of erotic. Pictures of a guy’s bared chest, with muscles rippling, can be sexy. If said guy’s intense expression—squinted eyes and a grimace—even though intended to send a carnal vibe, indicates he could be having a bowel movement…it ain’t sexy. Ditto for drooling. People drooling on each other is not close to being sexy, even if one is supposed to be a vampire and the drool is red. On the realistic side, drooling means someone probably needs medical attention. On the fantasy side, you really have to know why vampires are considered hot to stage a pose that looks like a creature of the night delighting in lustful abandon with his damsel as opposed some cheaply costumed model slobbering for all he’s worth on his counterpart, who’s probably hoping she doesn’t get rabies.

I’ve discovered in my research that pictures can be half sexy. I found one very expensive shot of a handsome man, shirt open, sporting an inviting, smoky, come-hither stare. That part was sexy. The other part, a blonde standing behind the man clutching him, ruined the whole shot. Why? Blue eye shadow. She wore enough for both of them, and though I could see she was beautiful, it made her look like she came from another decade and gave off a really maternal vibe. Dudes dating their moms…definitely not sexy.

In doing my searches, I was also reminded that society apparently thinks that guys need more sexy material than women. When I typed in "sexy," I got about 8,101 results. When I limited the search to "sexy men," the numbers when down dramatically--173. But "sexy women" netted 1,920 results. So, 2% versus 23%. It's as if no one could believe women like us would have any interest at all in scantily clad men. Noooo, not us innocent ladies. HA!

Other results included psychedelic colors and stone therapy, which are, I guess, supposed invite ardor in some way. One benefit of my efforts was that I was heartened to find the following pictures and to discover that it is now, according to the photographers on the royalty free image site, sexy to do the following:

Work in a lab (test tubes as phallic symbols?)


Carry a cool purse and wear ridiculously-heeled shoes and tight metallic pants...


Use the bathroom (although you must have matching shoes and panties!)

And best of all, it's sexy to have cellulite!

So, what is sexy to you? What is NOT sexy? Any sexy trends that you think are just complete bunk? Any sexy trends you'd like to see?

Dexter

I was recently introduced to Dexter. For those of you who have not seen the series, it is a Showtime dark drama that I highly recommend. I’m not going to spend this blog talking about how freaking good it is- BTW it is superb:)--I’m going to talk about the writing as well as the acting.

When I first started hearing the hubbub over the series, I was like yeah-whatever. How could anyone enjoying watching a show based around a serial killer, much less like the man.

I was stunned to be proven wrong.

That, people, is genius writing. Taking something as serious as serial killing and being able to portray a character is such a way that even the most cynical person—myself included—could actually sympathize with him and root for him. I have to give mad props to Michael C. Hall as well. Combined with the script and his portrayal of Dexter, I was hooked from the very first episode. I found myself thinking thing I never imagined I would think. Oh my God, he can’t get caught. Dexter get that bastard. Dexter would never do that, he’s too good of a person. Yeah, that last one really got me. But I thought it.

One of the oddest moments, for me, came in the middle of Season Two. As the first season had, this one also started with a bang and I was riveted. A new character was introduced and I had the oddest conversation with a friend of mine. She had just finished watching the season and we were doing our typical female banter. Can you believe this? Oh my God did you see that? What if this happens? Yada yada yada. Then we started talking about this new character and I said “that character” is a bad influence on Dexter.

Say what? Did that I really just say that? Someone a bad influence on a serial killer? I have finally lost my mind.

That is why I love this series so much. I’m a TV junkie, I will admit that. I can get hooked very easily on almost anything, BUT Dexter has been different. There is an appreciation for the acting and writing like none I have felt before. Mostly because it is such a sensitive subject matter and they walk a very fine line. One wrong step and Dexter becomes evil, not a hero.

So my question to you, have you ever watched/read something that made things come out of you mouth you never thought possible?

Esme
www.esmereldabishop.com

What are you reading?

by Kristin Daniels

I've got a bit of downtime coming to me this weekend before I head off to Ellora's Cave Publishing's RomantiCon on Oct 9th (stop by and see me!), and I'd love to pull out a book and read just for pleasure. I have to so many books in my TBR pile, but I'm just not sure what to pick. I'll share a few of my favorites with you, if you share yours with me! I'm always looking for great books to read.


Heat Seeker by Lora Leigh.

I started this one last weekend, and so far so good. I've read this entire series, and love all the hunky, to-die-for heroes.






Whisper No Lies by Cindy Gerard

I'm a huge fan of Romantic Suspense and Cindy Gerard rocks it out! This series has it all. Troubled, angsty heroes. Strong, dependable heroines. And thrill-a-minute action. I recommend it!




Bad Attitude by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I'm just coming into this series by one of my favorite authors, Sherrilyn Kenyon. I've read all the Dark Hunter books, but when I met Sherrilyn and her co-author, Dianna Love, during their signing for the BAD series, it compelled me to move into her other works. I've not been disappointed. Her guys are always so yummy, and the story lines keep me riveted.



Night Secrets by Cherry Adair

Want a little paranormal thrown in with your Romantic Suspense? That's exactly what Cherry Adair does with her Night Trilogy. I'm only 2 books into it, and love it so far. Hmm, time to get book number 3, huh?




I have other faves, and I'll share more with you later. But for now, tell me, what are you reading? Do you have any favorite series you follow, or have you picked up something randomly that you just love?