"Darker Passions" and the Like

Was wondering what folks thought of these?

For those who don't know, these are a series of re-workings of XIXth century novels by author Amarantha Knight (a pen name for Nancy Kilpatrick). She evidently takes the basics of the original and blends explicit sexuality as well as bondage into their plots. The series includes the following titles...

Carmilla (which I've read--a good novel, if rather bloated in terms of just how many and how often folks are spanked)
Dracula
Frankenstein
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Pit and the Pendulum
The Fall of the House of Usher

I should mention while looking up stuff about this subject, I found some other works in the same vein by Colette Gale...
Master is an erotic re-working of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Unmasqued retells The Phantom of the Opera.
Bound By Honor all about Maid Marian of Robin Hood fame.

While Cathy Yardley wrote...
Crave: The Seduction of Snow White
Enslave: The Taming of the Beast
Ravish: The Awakening of Sleeping Beauty

All of which brings some questions to mind. What is it about these works that lend themselves to erotic re-tellings? And (for the sake of inspiration if nothing else) what other characters or stories might be retold in the same manner?

I freely admit that (for example) the works of Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte might well form an interesting basis for such. Or maybe the Erotic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? Alan Moore of course already pretty much united Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz with his (very) graphic novel Lost Girls.

What do others think?

Maryn said:

I've read two of the Amarantha Knight ones (Dracula and Frankenstein) and I thought the pen name might belong to a man. Each lacked the touch and tone that make the telling erotic, for this female reader anyway. Not that they weren't hot at all, but the opportunity to make each one way, way hotter was missed. She failed to have her character react in any way other than physically. No emotional submission, no breaking his spirit, no self-doubt or loathing or fear he's a perv. Just golly-gee that sure hurts.

Click to expand...

Thanks for putting into words precisely what I found missing in Darker Passions: Carmilla. The heroine/narrator is undergoing a definite period of growth as a person, but while that involves a lot of sexual exploration in terms of technique, there was none in terms of personal awareness. She learned nothing new about herself, felt no mixed feelings much less hesitation or doubt. It ended up all rather mechanical. Without a detailed emotional element, one spanking is pretty much like another, after all. Same is true of a blowjob, any penetration, being tied up, tickling, suspension, etc. At least IMHO.

I'll admit to having an ulterior motive for starting this thread. Recently, I downloaded the 1940s penny dreadful Varney The Vampyre and frankly am motivated to do something similar with the text. As it stands, the thing is overblown and melodramatic but methinks the stuff of a compelling erotic re-telling is there. My own thought is that especially at first it would be a matter of editing what already exists.

For the record, I'm not that into bondage and the like, so that will be nowhere near the level of Darker Passions. I'd rather it deal more with submission and seduction, the allure of the senses overwhelming learned behavior, etc.