How to (Make) Love (To) an Alien - My Galaxy Fest Presentation, Conclusion

Because of the content of Runner's Moon: Jebaral, my books were labeled "controversial". But once that hoo-hah died down, I decided to push the envelope again. I wrote Beauty's Alien Beast for Carina Press Harlequin. They retitled it to Captive Surrender. In the book, I have a human-looking female cop with psionic powers. She gets involved with another alien who looks like a minotaur of Greek legend.

This was my visual inspiration for the book. As you can see, he's complete with horns on his head, enormous clawed hands and feet, and other body parts that are... Well, let's just say they're equally "impressive". Carina Harlequin loved the premise that these two are kidnapped and held captive, and forced to do the sexy hokey pokey for select people who pay exorbitant sums of money/rupees/credits to watch them perform because inter-species fornication is a galactic offense. Yet, again, there were some problems with the "ick" factor. So on the cover I have a naked human female being hugged by human male.

I have no idea why there couldn't be alien arms and claws on the cover. I guess the "ick" factor remained.

The point I'm trying to make is this. For decades we've been stuck with human aliens. And everything they did simply echoed what we Earth people have been doing for millennia.

If we were confronted today with a creature that looks like Chewbacca, what do you think the chances would be that a romantic interlude could occur?

Although, I must confess, on a very cold winter night, snuggling up to the big guy might be a plus.

Oops! Sorry! Wrong slide.

Here we go.

Oh, and for those of you who are still waiting for the answer to "How to Make Love to an Alien", it's quite simple, and can be summed up in two words:

Very Carefully

That's my presentation. Thank you again for coming. I hope you enjoy the festival!