One thing about erotica, you can count on it to push the boundaries of the taboo. For the erotica writer, the question is not so much "Am I allowed to write about this?” (because with today’s publishers you probably are), but rather "Is this so weird it’s more a turn-off than a turn-on?” After all, one person’s yuck is another’s yum, or else those websites that feature people with farm animals wouldn’t exist. And I doubt you’d read much further if you thought this column was going to be about cows.

Sure, most of us agree Fido and Tabby are for light, not heavy, petting. But since animals just came up, and let me ask a question. What if the animal is, well, not totally animal? If I was a huge fan of that great 80s show "Beauty and the Beast” and fantasized about Vincent, was that sick and wrong? Well, who could think that? He was more man than animal, right?

And maybe that’s the issue, maybe it comes down to percentages. For example, my new anthology coming out this month includes a mermaid story called "Hunter.” Because I was writing about sex with a mermaid, I had to theorize some rather ingenious erogenous zones and genitalia. I also had to face up to the fact that the human hero, Hunter, was attracted to a girl who was half a fish. Well, if Tom Hanks did it in "Splash,” could it be so wrong? She was still half woman, and although her genitals were in the fish half, her brain was in the human half.

This whole weird area became more personal to me lately when I developed a crush on Mr. Tumnus, the faun in the wholesome family film "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” (Just an aside: I thank C.S. Lewis for having a longer title than my books do; it makes me feel better about all the space it takes up to say "Soulful Sex: Erotic Tales of Fantasy and Romance Volume III.”) I use that cute word "crush,” but I will admit to you all privately that yes, I have thought about sex with a faun. A faun, for the uninitiated, is half man and half goat. And as far as the animal kingdom goes, a goat is not typically a sex object.

I know from being familiar with popular erotica titles today that there are lots of people who can find sex appeal in wolves, panthers and other jungle cats, and various exotic wild mammals of their ilk. But goats? I can’t believe I’ve fallen for a goat-guy.

But you see, the right goat guy really can do it for a girl. James McAvoy is a damn cute fellow in the first place, with his curly hair, strangely shaped but alluring nose, pretty eyes and charming smile. And then you add the little beard (goat, remember) and all that nice fur below the waist, and not a stitch of clothes but the knit scarf...Okay, okay, I’ll admit he’s not the sort every girl would find hot, but what can I say? After all, fauns have cute little horns, and are reputed to be great dancers, wild partiers and amazing lovers. It all works for me, until--

Well, until I get down to the hooves. Paws you can get your sexual mind around; they are soft and have those sexy claws, know what I mean? But hooves? I get down to the hooves and I think, "Why, oh why have I fallen for a goat?”

Faun. Faun is a much better word.

Or so I tell myself. But the bottom line is, I have a crush on a creature that is part animal. And when I think about running my hands over his fur (please recall on a faun all the fur is below the waist, so that is where my hands are), I admit I get excited. And when I think about wrapping my naked legs, etc., around his thigh, well, I mean, fur is really nice. What’s not to like about fur, as long as the eyes you’re looking into as your vision fades to a bliss-induced blur are human?

And I guess all’s fair in love and fantasy life. It’s not like he’s a real goat-man; a real goat-man would probably have that coarse, smelly fur that real goats have, not desirable at all. A real lycan would not make the wildest, most violently exquisite love to you that you’ve ever experienced. A real lycan would hump you quickly and then rip off your head. A "real lycan,” what am I saying? Well, you know what I mean.

Of course there are no real wolf-men, or goat-men, but lycans and fauns abound in fantasy for a reason. They represent something very important to sexuality: wildness. When we get tired of the refined, civilized love and lovemaking that is part of everyday life, when we long for the extreme, that’s when we wander off to the borderline between Human Society and the Animal Kingdom. There we find lovers who display animalistic lust. They have fun, dangerous claws and teeth, or sleek and sensuous tails, or even hooves.

So I guess I shouldn’t worry about my faun-fetish any more than you should worry about your attraction to lycans or cat-guys or mermen. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with fur.

Now pardon me while I fantasize about Tumnus...without his knit scarf.

Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies published by Living Beyond Reality Press (www.livingbeyondreality.com). Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com, and read her blog at www.eroticawithsoul.blogspot.com. Download her free fiction from the LBR Press READ FREE Project at www.livingbeyondreality.com/readfree.html.