You know how drug dealers often give out free samples of their wares, then charge you once you’re hooked? Well, that’s one way to look at my READ FREE Project stories. I’m so devious...I let you try out my fiction in the hope that you’ll want more. Is that so wrong? I don’t think so, especially considering you could busy yourself for quite awhile reading the seven stories, novellas, and entire novel that I offer for free. It’s better than a Las Vegas buffet, especially at what they charge in Sin City nowadays.

A lot of you are already aware of READ FREE, and a lot know all about my work, but for those who don’t, here’s a little guide to help you select your first taste of crack, er, Diana Laurence romance fiction. I’ll describe you as a reader, then the free book I recommend, then a book you might consider as your first purchase. Just a little service I offer because I care! :-)

SWEET ROMANTIC

You: Like some sensuality, but most of all like your romance sweet. You enjoy love stories in a magical context: knights and maidens, fairies, wizards, all that supernatural stuff.

The topic of the appeal of bad boys has been beaten to death (including by yours truly). From Rhett Butler to House, M.D., it seems bad boys finish first and are the ladies' choice when it comes to sex appeal.

Well, as true as this phenomenon is, Ashley Wilkes and Dr. Wilson have their fans too. So I thought it was time to trumpet the virtues of the virtuous guy for a change.

Readers of my Erotica with Soul blog well know of my House obsession, and I'd be the first to vouch for the sexiness of the curmudgeonly, nasty, and self-absorbed doctor. However, lately I've found myself giving a lot more fantasy time to his nice-guy sidekick, Dr. James Wilson (played by Robert Sean Leonard). This week's episode of the Fox show was Wilson-centric for a change, and gave viewers a good, long look into the life of the kindly oncologist.

Employing biting wit of his own (Wilson's no wuss), the good doctor plays House's conscience as well as a foil to his nastiness. His personal warmth and nurturance is demonstrated both in his selfless dealings with his friend and his dedication to his patients. You can't watch Wilson in action without wishing every doctor who ever treated you could be just like him.

I’m really pleased by the popularity of the new show, “Glee.” Someone figured out that musicals aren’t just suitable TV viewing for high schoolers, and that you could fuse the appeal of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “American Idol,” add a script, and make a hit show. Bout time.

Because a some of us grew up smitten with Broadway stars, equating romantic allure with Robert Goulet crooning “If Ever I Would Leave You” and Yul Brynner doing a bare-chested polka to “Shall We Dance?” We had crushes on the guys in our school that got cast as The Student Prince or Oklahoma’s Curly. We fantasized about doing a romantic duet of “Tonight” with our own handsome Tony, like in “West Side Story.”

Broadway musicals made a huge impact on my personal romantic sensibilities, and even eventually shaped my erotic “vocabulary.” As I grew older, I integrated elements from other musical genres as well: sexy performances by rock stars such as Rick Springfield, and scenes from classic music videos like “Thriller.” What emerged was my conviction that singing and dancing can be perhaps the most potent expressions of sexuality we humans possess.

And also, sorry for that teaser title! Point is, I’m apologizing in advance for shamelessly plugging my book in this month’s column. There’s something in it for you, though: you’ll learn how to enter my contest to win $100 Amazon certificate and/or autographed books. And if you like vampires as much as I do--enough to want to date one--you’ll definitely benefit from reading on.

How to Catch and Keep a Vampire is my first title to be in wide release; it’s already in the majority of bookstores across North America and arriving worldwide in the next three weeks. Translation: my publisher thinks people will like it! LOL The first few reviews:

"Might Jane Austen and her zombies be getting some company--and/or friendly competition?... Diana Laurence evidently knows whereof she speaks" --Publishers Weekly

"If you love yourself some Cullen, you NEED this book" --Sugarscape (Sugar magazine)

"A brilliant take on the vampire mythos…a book that would make Anne Rice blink" --Jazma

"Devoured in three hours…grab this book, it’s adorable!" --Bella’s Novella

Unless you’re a fellow fan of “So You Think You Can Dance,” you probably haven’t heard of Evan Kasprzak. Bear with me though, this month’s column may still have some relevance for you! Evan is just the latest example in my own life of non-traditionally attractive guys who make cute seem sexy.

Evan was a standout this season not only because of his talent, but because he was the one male dancer who didn’t seem to have sexy in his repertoire. While the other guys could pout, and gyrate, and strut, and glare perfectly convincingly, Evan couldn’t quite pull it off.

As he said in an interview with the New York Post, “I’m very comfortable being the kind of goofy guy, that’s my hometown, so to speak. So I’m nervous to pull a Latin Ballroom, or something like that where I have to try and be sexy...shaking my hips and getting a little sexy are definitely out of my comfort zone.”

Funny thing, though...Evan survived week after week due to his huge fan base. Women in droves adore the guy.

I was reminded of this recently when I watched a newly-released short film called “After Hours” in which Evan plays a goofy janitor dreaming of attracting an unattainable young woman. His dancing wins the day, of course. The interesting part was reading the comments; so many females attested to the swoonworthiness of the cute Mr. Kasprzak.

This past week I read two viewpoints on the issue of whether the popularity of vampires has topped out, or if there is still some life left in them. So to speak. If we had a crystal ball we could tell if indeed, the release of another “Twilight” movie is a mistake, HBO should not have renewed “True Blood” and Charlaine Harris should stop writing her books. Could it be that all the artists and marketers banking on this phenomenon (my publisher included) are in trouble?

Hey, I just have to tell you about this tattoo. Yes, I said "tattoo." No, I'm not going to be writing this month about "LA Ink" and the erotic connotations of skin art. I simply have to crow about something very cool that happened to me this week: I found out that I had a fan so enamored of my book Bloodchained that she wanted to get a tattoo of the iconic "carylian" symbol featured on its cover. A tattoo!

This is not the sort of reward I expected to see when I set out to be an author. I think most would-be writers hope for more ordinary things like contracts (as if a contract is ever ordinary!). Well, this year I got my first advance check from a publisher, something I assure you I treasured so much I considering framing it rather than cashing it (but nah, I cashed it). First an advance check, now a tattoo. Man, I'm really amazed at the rewards that come to a person in the writing business.

So I just wanted this month to digress from my usual topics and tell you about the sorts of rewards that authors find really amazing.

I don't normally use this forum to blather about what's happening in my career; what's oh-so-exciting to me is probably boring as dry toast to you. However, this time I'm making an exception, because Novelspot, and this very column/blog, played a key role in making something pretty unusual happen in a writer's life.

I'll give you the back story as succinctly as possible: Girl grows up loving to write. Girl spends a couple decades writing articles, stories, books, selling occasionally, getting plenty of rejection slips. Girl finds publishers for her work but they tend to go out of business without warning. Girl decides she is sick of the frustration, will publish her own work from now on, swears off submissions forever.

Fast forward about three years. Here I am, happily humming along publishing my books with a reasonable amount of success. Then one day (April 13, 2009 to be exact) I get an email that starts out, "I came across your writing as I was searching the Web looking for potential writers to author a book idea. I found your piece 'Bite Me Please: The Erotic Lure of the Vampire' and really liked it."

Last month, you remember, I invited people to share with me the guys they classified as Unforgettable Heroes of film, books and TV. I put the word out on my Erotica with Soul blog, Facebook and Twitter too, and I received some great nominees.

Sure, taste is a very individual thing, particularly if you're talking about taste in men. Nevertheless, I expect there are common traits among the guys that get into your blood and fascinate you for years. So let's take a look at these guys and see if we can glean any common themes.

Unforgettable...that's what they are... I'm speaking of those certain protagonists of books, movies and television that get into your system and never quite get out again.

In the process of being a romance author and erotica blogger, I hear a lot from fans about both their favorite men among my characters and in general. It's amazing which of these fellows just keep turning up again and again. I have my theories as to the elements that make for unforgettable heroes, but I'm hoping in the next few weeks to hear from readers and perhaps draw some new conclusions. In the meantime, I'd like to share with you three of my own classic examples and what I see as their appeal.

The other day a 12-year-old girl emailed me asking if my vampire romance novel Bloodchained was appropriate for her to read. (Clearly she'd read her way through the Twilight series and was hungry for more.) It was a tough question. I wrote BC for adults, so in the strictest sense, it's not a YA book. At the same time, I had to ask myself if there were content in it that I as a parent would not want my kids to read at that age.

Kids and sex is a very tricky topic. For one thing, adolescence is an inexact science to say the least. A 12-year-old girl could be entirely still a child, with parents who haven't told her a thing about sex. Or she could be well-informed, or even sexually active. Young teens clearly should have parental supervision in this arena (which I why I made a point of telling this girl not to buy the book without involving her mom in the decision). Older ones, while still "underage," should play a part in the decision-making process when making choices that involve sexually-oriented media. Family values, religion, and personal taste all come into play.

Do you sometimes wonder why your fantasies head down such dark paths? We all do it...we all think about things we would never dare do, or even enjoy, in real life. In your dreams you let the vampire take you, give in to the bad boy, cheat on your husband, seduce the married guy, surrender to all those dark urges no one knows you even feel. To paraphrase the question: Why do bad fantasies happen to good people?

These issues have been a lot on my mind lately. You see, I just published my newest "erotica with soul" collection, Soulful Sex: The Darker Side. I also just published a spinoff of my vampire romance novel Bloodchained in comic book form (yes, I did say comic book!) called Sign of the Bloodletters. So for the past few months I've been fantasizing about blooddrinking fiends, stalkers, aphrodisiacs, inappropriate infatuations, adultery, and all kinds of sinister stuff. Fun, hey?

You've got yours, I've got mine, but for what it's worth, here are the erotic highlights of my year. So read on!

Well, the vampire archetype, initially considered a figure of horror, has gone through a number of transformations in popular culture over the past century. Nevertheless, I maintain that the inherent sexual aspect of vampires is not new. The great thing about vampires is that they can be reinvented again and again, in forms acceptable to different tastes. The even greater thing about vampires is that they can express the socially unacceptable in a literary form that is acceptable. That's why creatures who essentially celebrate Dominance/submission--a concept that is taboo in many circles--can be tolerated as the stars of children's books. Nifty, hey?

Now to me this is not at all a bad thing. When kids pass through puberty, suddenly there are a lot of weird feelings and concepts wrestling with one another in their minds and bodies. Fantasy, in this case, fiction, can help a person make sense of the conflict. Young girls experiencing their first sense of being thrilled by the feeling of submission, get to practice that emotion with imaginary vampires. Coming to terms with the new sensations goes a long way towards accepting your new, nubile self.