SFF erotica - what possibilities really catch your imagination?

Aliens, advanced technology, magical creatures and spells... what science fiction or fantasy ideas do you think have a lot of interesting potential for use in erotica (or romance)?

Personally I like the idea of human/alien pairings, probably in much the same way some people love interracial erotica. I also like pairings within an alien species. An alien species is like a blank canvas for a writer - you can exclude some of the human traits you like least, add animalistic, computeristic, or totally imaginary traits you find very appealing, or stick quite close to humanity physically and simply invent a unique culture and customs.

Pretty much anything that can be done with aliens can also be done with a fantasy race. Then on top of that you can have spells to seek out soulmates, spells to induce lust, fantasy versions of drugs with no harmful side effects, fantasy versions of delicious food with no excessive calories or other problems, and fantasy versions of plastic surgery and sex-change spells without the pain, danger, or side effects of the modern-day versions of these things.

What do you love about writing SFF erotica or steamy romance?

That publisher may be tired of the stories listed there, but I'd bet the readers aren't. I'd quite like some "human/alien sex as part of diplomatic relations" stories. I've read a dozen erotic romance novels with the premise that alien men somehow have a shortage of women and acquire a group of earth women as mail order brides; I'd be eager to read two dozen more erotic romance novels with the same set-up because it's just something I really enjoy reading. I think both romance and erotica are two genres where readers are likely to be 'collectors' who want to read everything available that tickles their kinks and have much higher tolerance for repetition than the readers of some other genres.

I'm enjoying hearing about everyone's topics of interest too. I also find kemonomini yummy; winged races too. I agree about liking sex as a topic to write about because it can get at a character's deep feelings and thoughts - there's a reason the word intimacy has both a psychological meaning and a sexual one. As far as people with powers I love mages and shapeshifters. I've written an empath and quite enjoyed that; I've had a few dreams about being precognitive that I think could be a good story but I haven't felt quite brave enough to tackle it yet - would be way too easy for it to come out contrived, and/or kill the conflict because the MC would know what to do to avoid it. Tentacles, robots, and ghosts are three things I haven't come up with an idea for yet, but who knows, I may in the future. Tentacles in particular go very well with my favorite theme of impregnation - I've read a few hot stories about a plant capturing a woman with it's tentacles and pumping her full of seeds, or an alien doing the same, using the woman as a surrogate to incubate the alien's eggs.

Underthelivingmoon said:

Even if it were possible to have sex with a six-breasted alien or a creature with tentacles, would anyone actually want to? Probably not.

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Rule 34 and rule 36 - anything that someone can imagine, someone wants to have sex with.

For me, I'm not interested in reality. I think the real world is boring, depressing, and hopelessly screwed up. I find that fiction in non-real settings is both more interesting and easier to enjoy because the author can leave out many of the annoyances of real life which would distract me from enjoying the story if they showed up.

Everyone's allowed to have preferences and be frustrated to be unable to satisfy them. I personally get frustrated when I see paranormal or UF romance because I wish there was a lot more low fantasy romance with low-tech settings and nobility and mages and dragons and mercenaries and that sort of thing.