The Succubus as the Good Guy

I’ve always had an active, some might say over-active, imagination. I learned to read at three, and since my younger brother is six years younger than I, in a way I was similar to an only child. I’ve always been shy and I have spent a lot of my life alone with a book.

I first tried to write a novel when I was 15, a science fiction book set in an alternate reality. I wrote about a dozen pages with a pencil. I kept it for years, occasionally coming across it and reading it. It was awful, and it kept me from trying again for a long time.

So I made up stories in my head to entertain myself. If I don’t have a book and I’m on a plane or someplace else that’s boring, such as driving across the country, I make up stories.

I received a Nook for my birthday a couple of years ago and loved it, and started reading about the revolution in e-publishing, and the success some indie authors had with self-published works. This past Thanksgiving, I was discussing this with a friend, and mentioned that I had conceived a story I thought might be appealing to some people. She encouraged me to write it down.

Coinciding with the Nook, another friend turned me on to J.D. Robb and one of Nora Roberts’ fantasy series. I started downloading some books labeled ‘urban fantasy’ or ‘paranormal romance’ and enjoyed them.

Some of the authors who really hooked me were Kim Harrison, Yasmin Galenorn, Patricia Briggs, H.P. Mallory and Lynn Kurland. I enjoyed the succubus books by Richelle Meade and Nina Harper, but the idea that a woman had to be in league with the devil to fully and freely express a wanton sexuality bothered me. After all, James Bond was a good guy, right? All the lusty bad boys in the bodice rippers were good guys, no matter how many women they seduced.

In the Telepathic Clans, one of the Gifts, along with Teleportation, Empathy, Charisma and Pyrokinesis, is the Succubus Gift, a genetically-conferred ability to attract and seduce men. Yes, my succubi drain a man’s life energy, but not enough to cause permanent harm, and with no damage to their souls. On the contrary, that energy is conveyed to the Goddess as an offering, and in return they receive her blessing.

Sexual wantonness in the service of a benevolent Goddess, that has to put my characters on the side of the good guys, don’t you think?