Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Spice For Your Tea?

The name of our site got me to thinking about what it is we'd want to "spice" our tea with, should we be engaging in an evening of...well, let's not beat around the bush (heh!) here, gals...we're all adults.

...For an evening of lurid, luscious, non-stop sex! Er...at least for the characters in our books.

So I did a quick Google (doesn't that sound dirty? Or is my mind in the gutter? I'm going to Google you. Will you Google me? Can I watch while you Google me?)

Okay, sorry.

Anyway, I did a quick Google (*giggle*) for aphrodisiacs, and found a common Chinese drug, complete with its own advertising copy. Opium, apparently, is the most famous of Chinese aphrodisiacs, because, according to the Jin P'ing Mei,

Take but a speck of this, set it upon you, then
Rush like a whirlwind to the bridal chamber
The first engagement will leave you full of vigour;
The second, even stronger than before.
Though twelve exquisite beauties, all arrayed in scarlet, wait your onset

You may enjoy each one, according to your fancy ...
And so on and so forth ~
"Ten women in one night will be as one to you."

Sounds promising to me!

And then there is the direct translation of Jin Pi'ng Mei, which is a Chinese novel of explicit sexuality, aka, erotica. "The Plum in the Golden Vase."

That is erotic. Makes me want to quiver. How delicate and lovely that sounds!

So...fellow authors, is it oysters, chocolate, or opium for your heroes and heroines?

And as a reader, does it bother you if the characters in the book indulge in a bit of hashish before embarking on their orgies? (As they do in The Count of Monte Cristo!)

Do tell!

7 comments:

Lacy Danes said...

Great post!

No it does not bother me if characters drink a little, smoke a little, or ingest a little something, to relax them or heighten the experience.

I figure hell, if I was going to go to an orgy... I would probably need a shot of Vodka or something before entering too!

Grin,
Lacy.

Unknown said...

I'm all for the use of spices be they smoked, inhaled or drunk.
For me, being British, a nice cup of tea always does the trick!
My characters tend to talk dirty to each other rather than imbibe, I find language a great turn on.

Celia May Hart said...

My characters have gotten a little drunk, but maybe they need to indulge more .... Hmm...

Pam Rosenthal said...

In The Slightest Provocation, there's a flashback to a young Mary and Kit eating opium. I don't actually know if anyone ate it, but I was thinking of De Quincy (which I confess I have still to read), and of hash brownies.

Colette Gale said...

I agree, Lacy. I'd probably need something really strong to keep me going in an orgy!

Hash brownies, huh, Pam? I remember my first experience with them~~I had no idea what they were, and I love brownies. Boy did I have a surprise when I bit in!

(But I didn't inhale.)

JRMullany said...

For me, being British, a nice cup of tea always does the trick!

Oh, same here, Kate. I believe (tho this sounds like an urban legend) that a survey which asked British men what they liked best in bed had a unanimous response: A nice cup of tea.

Anonymous said...

I am not a fan of drugs, so that would/does jar me out of a story.

Oddly enough (and I'm pretty sure that this is a culturally instilled bias) other aphrodisiacs don't bother me.

I love chocolate as an aphrodisiac, and other foods. Food's my drug of choice, so I can relate to it. ;)