Maria Eppie

Gone Wild

First published (in paperback) by Black Lace, 2002.

Black Lace have been around for only a decade or so, in which time they have proved very successful in satisfying their growing market. Black Lace produce erotic fiction, with the special feature being that it is written "by women for women". The novels come in two styles: contemporary and historical. The latter are bodice-rippers where the ripping of bodices is: followed by something a lot more explicit than simply heaving bosoms. The former are perhaps best summed up by the warning on a flyleaf "Black Lace books contain sexual fantasies. In real life, always practise safe sex.". This warning is not strictly accurate. It's not so much that the books contain sexual fantasies, each is pretty much one extended and lovingly detailed sexual fantasy.

As would be expected in a book with the primary object of relating a long series of sexual encounters, there's quite a bit of nudity. Gone Wild may well be unusual in the canon in having some non-sexual nudity too. One of the secondary characters is Cy, an artistic drop-out and superstud, who is "into nude t'ai chi. Cy's into nude, full stop.". This is delightful for heroine Zita, and Cy gets her juices flowing on more than one occasion.

There is a plot in Gone Wild, although it seems to be there primarily to provide variety in the sexual couplings. Certainly I couldn't get particularly concerned about Zita's media career, her projects, friends and associates. Maybe my feminine side was taking too much of a back seat? Although I'm not an expert in the field, it seemed to me that the sex was written well, and I'm sure Gone Wild will satisfy its intended readership. I doubt mainstream naturists are considered a significant section of that target market, but I have to be fair and give credit where it is due: not all the social nudity is written as a form of foreplay - there are a couple of moments where characters seem to enjoy simply being clothes-free. You'll find examples of both types in the extracts.

If you're after some competently-written erotica, and have a whole shelf of Black Lace titles to choose from, then by all means spend the naturist pound (well, £6.99 actually) on Gone Wild. Just don't expect much about non-sexual social nudity - but then you shouldn't expect much non-sexual anything from a Black Lace book. If you're wondering why I have not used the description "pornography", see the relevant section of the general notes to these Webpages.

Ratings:

Nudity	Naturist nudity	A good read?

Last updated 2004 November 24.
 
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