The theory goes that everything cycles. I know this is true in fashion. I’m sad to admit I’ve lived long enough to see bell-bottom pants come and go twice now. Will romance go full circle as well? I remember stealing one of my mother’s Silhouette Romances when I was young. Reading and thinking it was so scandalous when the couple kissed and then “made light love before eating lunch”. Now as the pendulum swings further out than ever before, I wonder where we can possibly go next.

As I monitor the best selling list on All Romance eBooks, I see themes that shock even me, and I write erotic romance for a living. What were not one but TWO of the best selling eBooks of 2008? Twincest. Books that feature love, and yes a sexual relationship between twins. Male twins, not that their sex matters since they are siblings having sex and that is where the shock value comes from in my opinion. Let me reiterate. Two of the ten best selling books of the entire year spanning all genres of romance featured twincest. Other recent best sellers? eBooks featuring multiple partners. Not just threesomes either but many men, three or four, sharing one woman, sometimes against her will.

So now I have to wonder, where can the industry go from here? Is the only place to go backwards? Will future best sellers feature a whole bunch of sexual tension and hand holding? Doubtful, but I can’t imagine where else we can go moving forward. There is already BDSM, orgies, polyamorous relationships, Male/Male, M/M/F, M/M/M/F, 4Ms/1F. What’s next? Not to mention the newest fad–Zombie romance. Yeah, I don’t get it either. I guess vampires and werewolf romances were becoming too commonplace. The industry, and the readers, needed something more.

I suppose we will all have to wait and see what the future holds. In the meantime, I started a new story today. A plain old military romance again, a genre which you all know is close to my heart. I’m still deciding how far I will push this one. Maybe a threesome? Maybe a boring one man one woman romance, though that will kill my best seller potential I suppose. Who knows. I can assure you there won’t be any twins. Right now I’m more busy researching Operation Enduring Freedom-Horn of Africa. I haven’t ironed out the romance aspect yet, though it is beginning to form. I guess we’ll have to wait and see about that too.

Cat