What do books on the Amazon Women, the planet of Gor, and telepathic lovers have in common? They are all what fabulously nerdy people crack open when they want to get that sexy tingle in their spine. The paranormal, supernatural, and alien genres form the perfect framework for exploring the uncharted territory in our sexuality—especially when were crossing the borders of into the land of taboo.

Yes, I’m talking about BDSM.

Oddly enough, BDSM and paranormal erotica are a match made in geek heaven. When they play off of each other, the results are stunning, and hot. Why? Because BDSM in a paranormal setting can be far more palatable to people who ordinarily might not be able to accept it.



Jabba the Hut and Princess Leia. BDSM in space?

Even those who are curious can find BDSM intimidating to explore in the real world, so very unrealistic power dynamics—such as those between captured human slaves and aliens—can be just the thing to wet one’s feet and whet one’s appetite. Conversely, for those already in the know who are practitioners of BDSM, extravagant plotlines and impossible feats of domination can still be a thrill.


Off-worlder sex is very well-established sub-genre of paranormal erotica. Alien invasion or encounter has been part of the sexual consciousness since those cheap, early films where big ugly aliens snatch the hottest earthling babes. What makes big ugly aliens so appealing? Well, for one thing, they are very “Other.” They literally come from a galaxy far, far away. They exert unfathomable power, and thus the victim is helpless in every capacity. They are strange, exciting, scary…sexy. And if you play alien, the bottom could be righteous and rebellious, or completely brainwashed. Aliens have been explored from many angles, and depicted in various ways, from the hotties of Dune to the S&M overtones of Jabba the Hut and Princess Leia.

Vampires
Another paranormal phenomena that much lustful ink has flowed over is vampires. You know, the slender, moonshine-skinned, pearl-toothed stalkers of the night. They are sensual, magical, beautiful, and deadly. They, like aliens, are “Other,” steeped in mystery. But, unlike aliens, they are usually very physically beautiful, even intoxicating. They also carry ties to various fetishes and BDSM play, like takedown scenes and blood play. Vampire sex lends itself to ritual and already established power dynamics.

Sex in the Afterlife
The fantasy of a tryst with a ghost or supernatural being is appealing in a unique way. Part of it is perhaps the purity of the thing—it lacks mess, but is often steeped in ethos. The gentle, fleeting touch of a ghost is one way to experience bottoming—to a gentle but omnipresent top.]
Sometimes, the games that kinky people play do carry a lot of baggage. Master/slave dynamics already engage millennia of real human suffering. Some people find this kind of play cathartic and healing. Others don’t want to hear about it. But paranormal power dynamics are pretty far from reality. Alien/captive, vampire/victim, ghost/human: these power dynamics carry very little baggage. They have rich cultural associations, and are, in vital ways, the same as earthly power dynamics. But overall, they hardly hit close to home.

One of the reasons that erotica survives, despite the flood of free explicit porn, is that it offers sexual situations in the context of a larger plot. Erotica, especially in whole-book form, is not just content. It is an entire story with an arc that flows from beginning to end, fraught with the sexually charged plot twists its characters encounter and endure, and unlike other genres, in erotica, that are carried out to their end in intimate detail.

Another aspect of erotica’s ability to contextualize is that it can portray sex as easy and intuitive—in other words, how we all wish it was, but know it isn’t. The title of the book Telepaths Don’t Need Safe Words is a fine example of erotica plugging into BDSM fantasies that, in real life, would be absurd and unsafe. Even for a person that wouldn’t want to watch Kink.com’s intense but decontextualized BDSM play scenes, erotica about big, sexy Amazon mistresses might be just the thing.