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Sex sells, or so they say. But I'll probably never find out. I mean, yes, it's true, those of you who have read Halo Round the Moon will know that much of it is to do with sex. And it does have a single sex scene in it. The new Maliha Anderson novel Wind in the East also has a couple of erotic scenes (all done in the best possible taste). Even my comic book The Lazarus Device also has a sex scene in it (not yet available).

But "a" sex scene (or even two) does not erotica make.

I have thought, quite seriously, about writing Steampunk erotica. And it took me two weeks to come up with a satisfactory (for me) plot line which might involve a lot of sex. When I say satisfactory I mean a story line which doesn't involve the female protagonist being a type of fairy who feeds on sexual energies. Not a succubus, mind, because they're bad; she's the protagonist so she has to be good and not kill her partners.

Do you get the idea I've read such a book? You could be right. I call it "research". That wasn't a great book, but I have read decent - and, in one case, extremely good - erotic romances, so it can be done.

No, it would need to be a better reason than "must have sex to live" and besides, I don't have supernaturals in my setting.

Anyway, I did come up with a story line that would work: Set in the mid 1930s in a Berlin that's not quite the same as our one, with a female spy who sleeps with people a lot.

So did I write an erotica story? No, I did not.

You see, I kept on thinking through the story, plot and characters; and as I did so I added action/thriller ideas, horror ideas, and end-of-the-world ideas, which pushed the erotica bits further and further into the background. Until finally they weren't there at all.

It's a good story. I will write it at some point, I even know who I'd like to narrate it - a German actress of my acquaintance with a gorgeous voice that would be perfect.

You can even read a short horror story version of it here.

But not erotica. Somehow it's just never going to work for me.