Note: boldface links are affiliates. I earn a small commission on any sales generated through these links.
Roaring with pleasure
I first read about human sex with dinosaurs when I was a teenager, working my way through my uncle’s collection of classic science fiction. Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein. And many, many more.
I remember the West of Eden trilogy by Harry Harrison. An alternate reality - and isn’t that science fiction all over? - where humans had evolved from New World primates, Across the Alterlantic, dinosaurs had formed a civilisation with the dominant species roughly human-sized, their technology derived from bio-engineering, and their aim colonisation and domination of the Americas.
It was well-thought-out, an intriguing “what-if” on a grand scale, and the concept sustained three novels.
The most interesting passages described female dinosaurs initiating sex with the male human protagonist.
Vaintè looked at Kerrick with interest. He had changed, grown, and she stared at him now with a mixture of attraction and disgust. She went across the chamber and reached down to him and Kerrick shivered at her touch. Vaintè laughed with pleasure.
“You are a male, very much like our males. Just one instead of two—but you respond just as they do!”
Kerrick felt unease at what she was doing, tried to pull away but she seized him tight with her other hand and drew him close.
Vaintè was aroused now, the aggressor as all female Yilanè were, and he was pulling away yet responding at the same time like any male.
Kerrick had no idea of what was happening to him, nor what were the strange sensations he was feeling. But Vaintè was well aware. She was Eistaa, she could do as she willed. With practiced motions she hurled him to the floor and mounted him, while Etdeerg watched with appreciation.
Her skin was cold on his, yet he was warm, strangely warm, and then it happened. He had no idea of what it was, just that it was the greatest and most wonderful thing that[…]
Excerpt from West of Eden by Harry Harrison
This was a book published the same year I was born, already a dusty old paperback by the time I discovered it in my novel-a-day teenage period.
Dinosaur sex is still a thing:
There was no response from the creature save for a gentle lowering of her body toward that massive phallus. Drin stilled as she felt the first touch of the creature’s rock-hard, red-hot, moist flesh bobbing against her thighs. Waiting for the final push which would surely split her in two, Drin felt tears dampen the side of her nose and cheeks as her emotions boiled over.
Excerpt from Taken by the T-Rex (Dinosaur Erotica) by Christine Sims
You may not want to walk too far down that path. Don’t worry, I’ve been there, I have looked on with horror, and can report back.
“As the Raptors mounted them Janee and Tara held hands, gripping each other tightly as the Raptors went deep inside. The talons scratched the girls’ backs as the dinosaurs went wild, and the night was alive with screams of pleasure. When the Raptors had emptied themselves the girls collapsed, breathless, and cradled each other. ”
Excerpt from Tempted by Raptors by Natalie Black
Kind of exciting, kind of disturbing. Gentle Reader, do not look too deeply into this genre unless you want to know what really got Triceratops horny.
So how did dinosaur sex become a thing?
Let me begin by saying that Harry Harrison’s world where intelligent dinosaurs - lizards rather than dinosaurs in those pre Dinosaur Heresies days - is one that is more carefully researched and detailed than the typical modern dinosex tale, where humans and dinosaurs just happen to be living side by side and every so often the rampaging dinosaurs raid the human village and somehow comely maidens wind up on the point of dinosaur penetration. And enjoying it.
One distinguishing feature is that mainstream writers don’t get into this genre. Writers of Harrison’s calibre find other topics. The field varies in quality, and probably the best part of any story is the title.
That was the worst short story I've read in my whole life. Not only the worst erotic short story, but ever! So boring and uninteresting. Not even funny. (The e-book does not cost anything, and even this is still too much;) —Amazon review of Sex With the Rex by Yvonne Charles
But wait, isn’t this bestiality?
Technically, no. Amazon doesn’t allow bestiality in their erotica stable. You write a spicy story about mounting a horse or stroking a pussy and you’ll find yourself removed from access to the world’s biggest self-publishing platform.
But sex with extinct species is allowed. So long as the dinosaurs or trilobites or whatever aren’t too closely analogous to modern animals, you’re fine.
Um, you may want to consider using a pen name to avoid awkward conversations.
“Say, aren’t you the author of Velocirapture and The Billionaire Bronto’s Bride? I’m a huge fan.”
“Uh, no, Father, I’m just an ordinary suburban housewife. See you next Sunday!”
What’s your pleasure?
Amazon has other restrictions. Incest, underage sex, rape and so on. However, there are ways, like the sex-with-extinct-species loophole, to skirt the boundaries.
You can’t write an erotica story on Amazon about sex with close family - even first cousins are good for no more than kissing - but stepbrothers, stepmothers, stepchildren, yeah, that’s fine.
Any combination of kink, gender, race, age, you name it. So long as everyone in the tale is consensual, legal, or extinct, it’s fine to publish. Just don’t make the “audience-facing” elements of cover art, title, and description explicit and you’re good to go. No overt nudity. I’ve gotten away with implicit nudity, but that’s skirting on thin ice.
Plain vanilla don’t sell
The characters in my stories are what is called plain vanilla. Straight heterosexual M/F pairing. No kink, no threesomes, no hotwife, no bondage. The wrinkle is setting, preferably somewhere exotic and interesting. Some mild inter-racial sex.
This is not to say that I don’t write other themes under other names - I do - but here I’m not going too far off the rails.
My first erotica story - Coding by Candlelight - is as about as extreme as I go. I describe how I came to write it elsewhere but suffice to say that I took the situation - a nerdy white kid and a buxom Indian teacher at a coding camp - and made it my own.
It was a lot of fun to write and I explored various themes. First sex, teacher-student relationship, barely-legal. I filled in some backstory and fleshed out the setting and it turned out - at least in my mind - a whole bunch better than the original drivel.
It didn’t make me a million dollars. It made me happy and I liked reading the reviews but people weren’t lining up to buy copies.
Here’s the bottom line
Dinosaur erotica is a legitimate sub-genre almost solely because Amazon doesn’t allow bestiality erotica unless the non-human species are extinct. I found one title published in 2015 that is still selling a copy or so a day for a monthly income of $275, though the 63 reviews may not be entirely genuine. (I used a product called KDSpy to research sales and keywords.)
Other niches exist through the whims of online retailers. You can find a market for almost any kink. Write a good story in that genre, write another, bundle five or six together, keep on going.
It may not be a huge market - or maybe it is, witness the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon - but like romances or detective stories, the devotees will be loyal if you can scratch their itch.
Self-publishing isn’t hard. It’s usually a matter of creating an account, uploading a file, ticking a few option boxes and waiting for the dollars to roll in. There are a number of outlets such as Smashwords, but essentially it is Amazon and everybody else.
The way to write a good story is a combination of setting, voice, and storyteller tactics. Put these three factors to work and you can become master of any niche, simply by looking at what is already serving the needs of that readership and improving on it.
You don’t have to have sex with a dinosaur to write a dinosaur erotica story. Just as the writers of murder mysteries - hopefully - don’t write what they know. Likewise for all the other kinks.
The key is psychology. Find readers that like that stuff, give them more of it. Make it irresistible. Get them addicted.
What are you waiting for?
Britni