The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure

I felt I needed the anonymity of the pen name to write freely, to pursue an authentic erotica without being inhibited or self-conscious. The pen name says: Anne Rice is doing something very different here. But the Roquelaure material is erotica, without reservation, and it needs that pen name on the label, so to speak. Of course, there are many people who have read all my work, including the Roquelaure novels, and they see me as a multifaceted writer. I don’t like the idea of confusing or disappointing readers, so the pen name helps with that. And some might find it far too spicy for their taste. We go into a gilded dream here, luscious and engulfing, in which we’re free to imagine all sorts of things-a fairy-tale world indeed.Īs Anne Rice, I’m known for certain kinds of novels the Roquelaure books retain the name Roquelaure (even with my name added) to indicate that this is something “different.” If Anne Rice is one kind of savory dish, well this is another entirely. And of course the fairy tale removes us from everyday life it removes us from the intrusion of garish headlines, literal violence, and all the ugliness of crime. And it seemed to work exquisitely with the old fairy tale. Beauty’s slavery is delicious, sensuous, abandoned, and ultimately liberating. The books aren’t about literal cruelty they’re about surrender, the fun of imagining you have no choice but to enjoy sex.

And I thought, all right, what if he brought a kind of liberation, an induction into a world of bizarre yet irresistible delights? It has to be remembered that within the frame of a sadomasochistic fantasy like the Beauty trilogy, the readers are invited to identify with and enjoy the predicament of the slaves. I’ve always loved the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, and found something erotic at its core.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure