{"id":939,"date":"2016-09-09T22:07:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-10T02:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=939"},"modified":"2016-09-09T22:07:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-10T02:07:00","slug":"the-themes-behind-vengeance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/the-themes-behind-vengeance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Themes Behind VENGEANCE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Oh,<\/a>
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was supposed to be ashamed of the act that creates life and consummates love. I’m just gonna cock my gun here while you explain to me the depth of the shame I should be feeling.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019ve read my latest novel, VENGEANCE, then you know it\u2019s chock-full of what we in Romancelandia call the \u201csexy-times.\u201d Specifically, there are romantic relations between M\/F, M\/M, F\/F, and M\/M\/F. If you haven\u2019t read the book yet, well now you know! If that kind of thing is really not your jam, read SPICE OF LOVE<\/a> instead! There are only two relatively tame sex scenes in that one, I swear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy so many sexy-times?\u201d you might ask. \u201cAre you kind of a pervert?\u201d \u2026\u2026\u2026Maybe, a little. BUT really, there are lots of sex scenes because the book is about<\/em> sex.<\/p>\n

What is sex, and why do people have it? Is it good or bad? It can be both, really, depending on the situation and the people involved. There can also be huge strings attached, like pregnancy, STDs, social consequences, etc. In a nutshell, sex is kind of a big deal, even though most people shy away from talking about it.<\/p>\n

Sex is a critical element of romance, even the conservative Inspirationals. Love can be lots of things, but romance<\/em> is love plus <\/em>a sexual element, either implicit or explicit; otherwise, it\u2019s not romance.<\/p>\n

Many of the characters in VENGEANCE are sexually fluid, existing along a spectrum of sexuality. A good number of them are having trouble accepting their sexual identities. The main characters, Max and Val, have a complicated relationship with sex\u2014because of their shared condition, often it\u2019s merely a means to an end. When they begin to accept their sexual identities and view sex as an act of affection, that\u2019s when love blooms. On the other end of the spectrum, the antagonist\u2019s shame over his sexuality enables other, more clever people to manipulate him. He loses power.<\/p>\n

The theme: being honest with yourself and accepting who you are gives you strength. The characters who accept their sexual identities are the ones who have power. And those who pair their sexual identities with love have the most power.<\/p>\n

SO, that\u2019s what\u2019s up with all the sexy-times in VENGEANCE. Tell your friends next time they give you the side-eye for reading a \u201csmutty\u201d book!<\/p>\n

You: \u201cHey, I\u2019m reading about the power of honesty and love! What\u2019s the life-affirming theme of that last Tom Clancy thriller you read, huh???\u201d<\/p>\n

\""The<\/a>
“The theme is sometimes men gotta do man things. It’s the theme of all my books, duh. Hey, your grandpa thinks I’m the SHIT, so you can take your empowered vaginas or whatever and beat it, sister!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve read my latest novel, VENGEANCE, then you know it\u2019s chock-full of what we in Romancelandia call the \u201csexy-times.\u201d Specifically, there are romantic relations between M\/F, M\/M, F\/F, and M\/M\/F. If you haven\u2019t read the book yet, well now you know! If that kind of thing is really not your jam, read SPICE OF … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Themes Behind VENGEANCE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Vyi8-f9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":941,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions\/941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}