PRAISE for Jess C Scott
“. . .erotic without being pornographic, emotional without being sappy, spiritual without being preachy…just enjoyable reading. Kudos to Jess C Scott.”
— Paul G. / Amazon review (unsolicited), July 2010
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“The main character, Caitlin [in The Devilin Fey], is awesome. You really feel for her at the beginning of the story—how many ladies have been in that situation? You feel all the things that Caitlin feels and it really gets you involved in the story. . .”
— Ashley @ Back of the Book Reviews, 2011
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“Just read Real Love Versus Romance...loved the ideas & compilation of ideas...great!! :) i agreed with many of the points of how romance has been commercialized for effect instead of portraying the actual depth of true romance...i roll my eyes at what is considered “love stories” nowadays...even being a guy (haha), i can appreciate a story that portrays real love & shows depth in what romance is (means)....a lot has been lost to appease a tween generation or to generally confuse people of all ages on the expectations of romance...”
— P.H. / Chesapeake, OH, April 2012
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NAKED HEAT: WALKTHROUGH
By JESS C SCOTT
Copyright © 2012 by Jess C Scott.
Cover Image © 2012 by Julian Tysoe (Kradlum).
Jess’s Website: www.jessINK.com
Julian’s Website: www.flickr.com/photos/kradlum/2496676967
1. Education—Reference
2. Social Science—Popular Culture
Summary: In this promotional eBook, Jess C Scott talks about the themes and inspirations behind her Naked Heat Anthology (incubus/succubus stories).
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
I. Introduction
II. Excerpts + Commentaries
1. The Devilin Fey (Incubus)
2. SVEN (Incubus)
3. Tongue-Tied (Succubus)
4. Kylie (Succubus)
5. Tempt (Guest Post)
III. Naked Heat Anthology
Teen Guide Interview
Other Books
Author Bio
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NAKED HEAT: WALKTHROUGH
Preface:
The Naked Heat anthology by Jess C Scott is a collection of incubus and succubus stories.
Naked Heat: Walkthrough is a freebie mini compilation.
In this promotional eBook, Jess talks about the themes and inspirations behind her incubus/succubus themed project.
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Introduction:
Hello, my name is Jess and I’m an author/artist/non-conformist.
I’m also the founder of jessINK, an innovative publishing company that focuses on substance over current fads and marketing hype. I’m in my mid-twenties at the time of this writing.
I first wrote The Devilin Fey in late 2008 (followed by Tongue-Tied). They were part of my first erotic anthology, 4:Play. I wanted to try something new within the paranormal genre, since the commercial paranormal genre tends to focus a lot on romantic and erotic fluff.
I think it was in my mid-teens that I first heard about what an ‘incubus’ was. I found incubi and succubi to be fascinating paranormal beings.
For those of you unfamiliar with the terms, here’s a quick definition:
* Incubus: An evil spirit supposed to descend upon and have sexual intercourse with women as they sleep. (The Free Dictionary)
* Succubus: A female demon fabled to have sexual intercourse with sleeping men. (The Free Dictionary)
All of us experience love, sex, and romance to some degree or other, with the relationships we’re involved in throughout the course of our lives.
There are certain elements which tend to feature in stories in the occult and folklore/mythology genre. There are usually some kind of rituals involved, and perhaps some sorcery in which a person can engage the “demons” in the story (which brings to mind TV shows like Charmed).
I might explore those situations in future, though I left them out in this initial collection of incubus and succubus stories. I wanted to ground the stories in a contemporary and realistic setting. I find it captivating when I wake up some mornings feeling a sense of ‘hauntedness’, like as if I couldn’t tell for sure whether the strangers in my dreams at night were people and events that had really occurred in real life.
I guess that was the basic inspiration for tackling incubus/succubus stories, where the incubus/succubus being might not be as “obvious” to spot as we might think (with deviled horns, draconic wings, etc.), yet still be very much “among us” without us even being aware of their presence in real life.
I’ve written a few short commentaries to accompany each story that features in the Naked Heat anthology. In each section, I elaborate on the choice of characters and setting in each of the stories that features a lead character that’s an incubus or succubus.
Stories in the Naked Heat Anthology
1. The Devilin Fey (Incubus)
2. SVEN (Incubus)
3. Tongue-Tied (Succubus)
4. Kylie (Succubus)
These stories are available as individual eBook novelettes, or collectively as an anthology (print + digital editions available).
I mostly kept the “evil” aspect of each incubus and succubus a little ambiguous. After all, love and sex can be very complex matters, and sex is definitely involved with an incubus or succubus. That being said, I wanted to steer clear from going a pornographic route (especially with Sven and Kylie).
If you’re not too sure between the differences between erotic and pornographic writing, you might want to check out the erotic fiction versus pornography page on my website. My personal take on it is quite straight-forward—one’s erotic life is not defined by explicitness (which differentiates it from pornography).
I hope you enjoy the Naked Heat: Walkthrough I’ve put together.
Thanks to all of you who are checking this out—both new and old readers :)
– Jess C Scott / jessINK, May 2012
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Excerpts + Commentaries:
1. The Devilin Fey (Incubus)
a) Summary: A demure young woman unleashes the “devil in” her, through the intimacy with an incubus—her incubus.
b) Excerpt:
Chapter I: Zac
Zac Walsh.
He shared some physical likenesses with the stranger in my dreams. The pale, moonlit skin. Light, ash brown hair. A well-proportioned, good physique.
What a mix-up.
Nobody dared to say anything about a famous alumnus of Art Ex University. Zac was the NYT-Bestselling Author of Seduction 101: All The Dirt on Women. It was obvious his entire existence centered around putting females ‘in their place’.
I was writing an exposé for the widely-read quarterly school magazine, entitled, Zac Walsh’s Portrayal Of Women. It focused on the derogatory, negative social impact of the publication (complete with a hot pink cover of a platinum blonde bombshell with her heart shaped tushy, high up in the air), and why anybody with half a brain should take him for the scum he was.
He must have heard about it. He sent me an e-mail, saying he wanted to meet me in person. I didn’t feel like replying, so I didn’t.
In the next e-mail, he said he wanted to share his perspective, and be quoted as an original source in the write-up.
It would be “a unique opportunity”—I couldn’t argue with that. I decided to be upfront, professional, and beat it after that.
We met at Bound’ry, a trendy upscale restaurant in the heart of town. I picked my best little black dress for the occasion, a chiffon tiered one shoulder by BCBG Max Azria.
Zac had
a...presence. There was something in the way he carried himself. His medium layered hairstyle with side swept bangs exuded a daredevil, roguish kind of attitude. He looked younger than his twenty-nine years.
It made me think: maybe he was the stranger I had been dreaming about, for the past week or so. Sometimes, the stranger and I would be making love. I seemed to hear his soul: it was struggling, seeking something.
The crazy sentimentalist in me went one step ahead: perhaps I had been lucky enough to find ‘the man of my dreams’...literally?
Zac’s light grey eyes met my green, speckled ones. We had just been seated at the table.
“You know, Miss Fey,” he said, leaning in on my last name. “I think you and I are going to end up in the same bed, by the end of the night.”
He sounded more confident, than lewd. Still, I was going to stay on the smart, safe side.
“Really?” I replied. I even arched my boobies up a little bit, a subtle tease. “That’s charming.”
I took a sip of my drink before firing off some questions about his publications, all of which he calmly responded to with incredible rationality.
“I’m guessing you’re single?” Zac said.
“Is there anything wrong with that?” My tone was a tad bit...condescending.
“No—it’s a pity though. You make good company.”
If this smooth-talker thought he could flatter his way into bedding me, I was going to show him otherwise.
“Funny how you don’t say that of women, in your writing,” I pointed out.
“It’s a matter of intelligence, or lack thereof.”
“That says something about most of the women you meet.”
“Well, I guess you’re not most women.”
That comment got my defenses down. I tried to look nonchalant, though I was rather pleased inside. It wasn’t something I heard often.
Which got me right where he wanted.
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c) Jess’s Comments:
I realized I didn’t really write commercial romance or commercial erotica when I was halfway through with completing this story. “Relationship-based fiction” (a term that describes Jackie Collins’ books) might be the most accurate label for the type of stories I enjoy working on.
I enjoy stories that still have a storyline even if the “romance” is removed. As I wrote in an article titled Real Love Vs. Romance on jessINK, commercial romance is similar to pornography in the sense that it’s geared towards satisfying emotional lust (like how porn is geared towards satisfying physical lust).
I’ve nothing against porn on its own, though porn is an adult fantasy that is a business. Should what we see in porn define our sex lives?
The Devilin Fey’s main female protagonist, Caitlin Fey, was a character I used to explore the virgin/whore dichotomy that a young woman can experience, as she makes her way into the world of intimacy and sexual activity.
I remember the “Miss Fey” character in this story quite fondly, since missfey AT gmail.com ended up becoming my primary email address from 2008 onwards (I couldn’t get jesscscott AT gmail.com, or jessc, or jess.c, or jess.c.scott...).
The character, Caitlin, isn’t really me a hundred percent.
I was aiming for a character that could reach out on a broad scale. I wanted a realistic female character to combat a Bella-type protagonist (from the wildly popular and influential Twilight franchise).
Twilight was very unenjoyable for me because I found Bella (1) had no personality, (2) was a female who was completely satisfied to allow her desires to be dictated by “her man”, and (3) turned out to essentially be the “virgin archetype/stereotype” who bagged the “rich/handsome man of every girl’s dream” and lived happily ever after, after “sacrificing” herself to be a vampire so she could remain forever ageless with Edward.
Maybe that’s the mainstream depiction of a female that the current tween and teen demographic can easily identify with. That doesn’t necessarily make it right.
A lot of my work combats the low self-esteem that seems to be in epidemic proportions nowadays (especially among the female tween and teen demographic). The Devilin Fey was a way to explore a young woman’s “sexual awakening” in a meaningful and entertaining way.
One of the early reviews for The Devilin Fey went along the lines of: “In 5 Words: A Story Where Nothing Happens.” I forgot the reviewer’s name, though I remember she was a self-proclaimed vampire addict.
One of the later reviews for The Devilin Fey was by Ashley from the UK, who had better things to say: “The main character, Caitlin, is awesome. You really feel for her at the beginning of the story—how many ladies have been in that situation? You feel all the things that Caitlin feels and it really gets you involved in the story. . .”
In essence, “Miss Fey” isn’t me, but a persona that potentially exists in every female who’s willing to be sincere and give their all when it comes to being engaged sexually.
In Caitlin Fey’s case, her “sexual awakening” came about through meeting Lucius (the incubus), whose kiss turned out to be more than she could’ve ever imagined. The story also touches on a few social/sexual issues along the way, in the midst of the “dangerous liaisons” going on.
P.S. The incubus details explored in this story served as reference for the other stories (in terms of whether they’re dead or alive beings, how “evil” they really are, etc.).
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2. SVEN (Incubus)
a) Summary: A novella, in which an incubus makes it his mission to rectify a teen starlet’s first sexual mis-encounter.
b) Excerpt:
Sven was right up at the edge of Chelsea Church’s bed. He knew all her secrets—he’d been watching the Teen Queen for a while, since a couple of years ago, during his earliest days as an incubus. She had been through so much—so, so, much—and her demons were catching up with her.
Chelsea was a teen pop singing sensation, a young, slim but curvy, fresh-faced reddish-brunette that had inherited the best genes from each of her parents. One couldn’t find a sweeter eighteen-year-old.
Chelsea rocketed to stardom after a music executive discovered her YouTube channel, of her dancing to and singing other people’s songs in cover versions. A production committee penned the ballads of teen love for her first two albums. She had a flurry of BillBoard Top 10 hits, was earning her own keep at sixteen, driving a $100,000 Mercedes at seventeen, and was the spokesperson for a major international cosmetic brand. She was famous.famous.famous, filthy rich and famous. She was the ultimate teen starlet others could only dream of being.
She had been packaged ever since she appeared on the scene, as the wholesome, innocent girl-next-door. Her estranged parents were in on it too, each struggling to cash in more on their daughter’s every perfect move and pretty pose.
But she couldn’t be a slut, even if she wanted to—which a small part of her truly did—and she knew it. She was trapped in the manufactured image the whole world expected of her.
Sven considered himself a man-slut. He was entitled to be one, as an incubus which fed on the sexual energy of mortals while they were asleep at night. He’d have his fair share of sampling the female populace whether he was a human or an incubus. But a guy could do that, and it’d be okay, whereas a girl who dated two boyfriends at once would be labeled a whore.
Sexist, much? he’d always thought.
c) Jess’s Comments:
Sven actually started out as a short story (about 7,000 words). “Chelsea Church” is kind of a mash-up between Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and maybe Britney Spears when she first arrived on the music scene.
I first heard Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child when I was fifteen. When YouTube came along later, I’d go around (and still go around) searching for old videos of bands and artistes who actually could sing and perform live.
Nowadays, the music industry is mostly about making music for the eyes (not the ears or soul), and mainstream music has become a strange combina
tion of soft porn and auto-tune packaged as “pop music.”
This is something that bugs Chelsea Church, since she’s a “manufactured product” who’s also trying to find herself (on a personal as well as sexual level).
Things can get very warped when you live your life out in public. Most members of the public have always been fascinated (to some extent, at least) with celebrities, with me being no exception. I like reading tabloids—some of my favorites are Dlisted.com, Daily Mail UK and In Touch Weekly. The articles are entertaining and also educational as they tend to reflect society’s values.
Media manipulation is a key component in this story. Chelsea’s bi-curious crush, a fellow popstar by the name of A.X., is able to work the media (and therefore the public) to his favor, something that Chelsea is less savvy at doing because of certain circumstances, some of which are out of her control.
Sven is the incubus who attempts to engage her before she edges into a downward spiral. He steps in a little earlier before a “mortal” (i.e. non-celeb) character makes his acquaintance with Chelsea.
When I have some time, I’ll probably expand this story sometime in future—a full-length novel would allow more time and space to further explore the psyche of the love triangle or quadrangle that could be set up.
While working on this story, I kept in mind some of the young stars in real life who have begun a downward spiral. Many of them might not ever recover.
One of my aims with Sven was to capture the dark side of fame, fortune, and celebrity worship, masked behind the mesmerizing veil of “Hollywood glitz and glamor.” This is something I’ll keep exploring in a future continuation of the story.
I’ll end this short commentary with a perceptive excerpt by Lesley Pocock, editor of the MEJB International Board, who has this to say: