Women have a tendency to read it, men have a tendency to watch it. This is not a blanket statement, simply a tendency. It is why the romance section of bookstores have titles like “Hearts of Fire” and titles at adult video stores are along the lines of “Anal Cum-hole Schoolgirls”.

They are, however, basically the same thing. It is also not surprising that it should creep into other genres. After a few decades, both the kidnapped Celtic virgin and the Pizza Delivery boy shtick gets old and people want to imagine sex in different situation….like in a space station or with a were leopard.

With books, at least, one does not have to worry about building a realistic background for SF or Fantasy sex.

It is still porn. The difference is one can feel a bit more intellectual perusing the bookstore for a copy of “A Stroke of Midnight” than searching a 24 hour video store for “Night Shift Nurses”.

No one will ever believe you like Hentai for the plot.

While I know it is fashionable to sneer at some genres, I personally try not to participate. Some genres may interest me more than others, some genres may even be more ‘formula’ than others (much mystery for instance) but my feeling is that as long as the book entertains its target audience and leaves them satisfied, I’m not willing to sneer at the field as a whole.

That said, I do think a lot of romance perpetuates some myths about relationships I wish would die a rapid death, but I think the books are mirrors of a broken society…

amysue@16: these are commonly called “alternate history” series now, the unifying theme being something along the lines of “hey, remember back in ‘73 when the vampires came out to the world, and it took 3 years before they were allowed to vote?”… the idea being that the time is now, the place is here, but the recent past includes the supernatural being revealed as real, but without the world ending.

You could put Anne Rice in the group, but I think she fits closer to traditional horror. Alternate History got its current wheels from Laurell K. Hamilton, and the main names (IMO) are Hamilton, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris (that is, the names that have graduated up to hardcover).

My personal favorite is Patricia Briggs, the “Mercy Thompson” books are the best written of the bunch, and they’re not stuffed to the covers with erotica, which is refreshing after reading the exploits of Anita Blake for too long.

The field has filled way up in a hurry, you can’t walk through the scifi section now without knocking over a stack of erotic werewolf novels.