Most of my May was spent either in Florida (at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention) or driving to/from it.
As I drove South and East through the Smokey Mountains, taking in the dramatic scenery, and also the aquarium at Gatlinburg, I thought of alien heroes, and also about a shark's sex life.
I am incorrigible that way! Not just about fish, of course. Any animal with interesting or excessive reproductive habits or equipment may serve to inspire an alien romance.
The concept of a shark's claspers (which look like labia when not deployed) fascinates me. However, I am not about to give alien males claspers in their groins. A penile bone and a tattoo is about as far as I'm willing to deviate from the conventional wisdom of what is romantic and "normal" in a hero's wedding tackle.
The Gatlinburg aquarium has a very long viewing tunnel of three inch thick glass (it might be perspex), through which visitors progress majestically on a travelator.
Sharks lie on it. One hears how sharks have to keep swimming. Not these boys. Their bellies and genitals were pressed to the glass above the gaping tourists. I wonder whether the tunnel vibrated pleasurably --because of the travelator-- or whether it was warm, or whether the sharks are exhibitionists.
That thought led to musings about figuratively cold blooded heroes, which is unfortunate for me. As I mentioned earlier, I went to the RomanticTimes convention to promote myself, Mating Net, Forced Mate, and the February 2007 release of Insufficient Mating Material.
Insufficient Mating Material takes up where FORCED MATE left off. Now it is written, I am conjuring up the book that should follow it.
The logical choice for the next Great Djinn to fall in love and live happily ever after ought to be Rhett. He's the elegant, calculating, slightly anachronistic swordsman, inspired more by Adam Adamant than any of George Lucas's knights.
Adam Adamant was Rip Van Winkle with a sword.
However, I'm beginning to think that Rhett is too shark-like to fall in love.
No matter! Today I chanced upon a photograph that put a face to a much younger hero. The only problem --the challenge-- is that in FORCED MATE he was a bit of a "Beavis" (if I can say such a thing) !
I shall think on....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
About fish and sex, are you familiar with the mating habits of the angler fish? In at least one species, the (very small) male burrows into the female's side, attaches himself permanently, and degenerates into basically a blob of sperm-producing tissue, remaining there to fertilize her eggs for the rest of their lives. What fascinating things one can learn from the Animal Planet network's "The Most Extreme." However, this would probably not be a viable model for an alien romance plot. :)
ReplyDeleteMargaret Carter
Oh, I so love watching ANIMAL PLANET! Did you see the Jeff Corwin experience episode where he held up a toad with spiked nipples (this may not be a quite accurate report) so the toad had better purchase on the female during reproduction?
ReplyDeleteI don't think the male angler fish would qualify as a popular alpha male, do you?
However, I have made use of trivia about various sharks, tasmanian devils, lions, tigers, hippos and other animals with either extreme mating habits or extreme genitalia.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry