Standards change over time, of course. As does usage. To Jane's way of thinking, making violent love is when a man picks up a dropped handkerchief and returns it to its blushing owner. Or, perhaps, when a would-be suitor offers a ride home in his carriage (elderly matron accompanying the two as escort, of course).
Still, as a novelist, I've often thought what a fascinating conversation it would make to ask Jane, were she still with us, whether she would choose to include a modern sex scene in one of her novels.
I mean, sure, in a modern thriller, a rousing and (hopefully) erotic sex scene is a staple. But in the sort of thoughtful fiction that Jane wrote?
In Fighting for Eden, I found myself grappling with the same dilemma. Here I have my main character, quite thoughtful and often hapless Andrew, forced into the media spotlight when his best friend is killed fighting in Iraq.
Not the kind of story where one would expect a love scene. Still...
His door quietly opened. And, as if another one of his dreams, she floated like a spirit without stepping to the edge of his bed. Her legs, he saw for the first time, were quite shapely in their musculature, stretching down in fine detail under the flannel nightshirt she was wearing, a musky heat shimmering around her in the night air.
Why did I include such a vignette?
I'd love to say that I was stretching myself as an artist.
No, at the time, it simply seemed like the kind of thing my fiery Jessie would do.
Happily, it still does.
Fighting for Eden is available on Kindle and from Lulu Publishing.
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