Response:

Emotion, Eroticism, Romance – It’s What Sets Black Velvet Seductions’ Books Apart

June 3, 2007 5:28 PM
Posted by -- Richard Savage, Cover Artist and Author Black Velvet Seductions

So here I am… My first blog… 

I have always wondered about blogs.  Do people read them and do people really give a stuff one way or another?  I guess if nobody responds to this I will have my answer.

Ok having said that ………here we go…..

My name is Richard Savage.  I was born in the north England (just outside Sheffield to be precise) in 1962.  No doubt in future blogs I will whittle on about the other things I have done.  I started my first company at 18 and I have been a professional DJ as well as having owned a pub and restaurant for over 20 years. 

In my time doing other things I never stopped drawing and painting. My mother said I was drawing at the time I could hold a pencil. So I have been, what I would call an enthusiastic painter most of my life.  Over the last 20 years I have been very active on the art scene.  I have had a number of exhibitions, including being featured at the “Washington Museum of Contemporary Art” in Washington DC.  I have painted all kinds subjects but it is figurative art which is my overriding passion.

Having read Laurie’s blog on romance and eroticism, I hope she doesn’t mind me making my own take on this.  The erotic is something I have looked at for quite some time now and I have a few views which I hope will be relevant.

There is more to a great erotic romance than just romance and eroticism.
I believe there is room for all shades as a writer. I find a lot of pleasure in developing the characters, building romance, and building the erotic tension between hero and heroine.  I like the blend, which comes from melding the erotic and the romantic.  And as a writer I like the freedom to explore both the erotic and the romantic and see no conflict between the hardest erotic D/s or BDSM scene and the most romantic of meetings. 

At the end of the day for me, people that engage in D/s or BDSM, do it within the most loving of relationships, so why not reflect this in romantic literature?

As a reader I very much enjoy exploring the emotional aspect together with the eroticism.  I very much enjoy the blend I have found in the BVS collection which combines both romance and the stronger erotic.

The artist in me tries to reflect the same. I try to inject more than just titillation into my art work.  A large percentage of people that buy my work are ladies.  A fact that pleases me, the more so because I feel it indicates that I am hitting the right balance between the erotic and the emotional.  I like my art to ask questions.  I like the people that enjoy my work to interact with the art and have the opportunity to see a story.  Obviously not every picture is so demanding of the viewer, but it is nice to have the audience engaged with my art.  

The erotic, in art and to an extent in writing, is not what is immediate.  It is the feeling that you are not quite sure if you can see it.  The whole lingerie industry is founded on the principle that the slightly covered has more allure than the nude.  It is that little tease, the wondering if the characters will or won’t do something.  With art it is almost seeing something.



My publications include:

First published story “The Anniversary” in the anthology “The Crimson Z”, Black Velvet Seductions, publication date November 2006

Short story “The Key” Black Velvet Seductions, publication date February 2007

Short story “Temporally Yours” for the anthology “The Crimson Z Two,” coming soon from Black Velvet Seductions.

First published Novel “The Trainer,” coming late fall from Black Velvet Seductions.

Featured artist in “Jade” Magazine March – April 2007

Illustration published in Spiritual Transformation through BDSM; Stories and Submissions from Fellow Travelers
Edited by Sensuous Sadie June 2007

I will leave it there.  If any of this throws up any questions or comments I would be pleased to hear from you.

http://www.swage.net

ric@swage.net

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