Janine Ashbless - Main Page

I write erotic fantasy fiction which gets published in the UK by Black Lace books, an imprint of Virgin Books Ltd.

Please note that the sometimes contentious views expressed on this website are mine alone and not to be taken as the opinions of Black Lace Books or its employees.

"Vivid and tempestuous and dangerous, and bursting with sacrifice, death and love. "

I write erotic fantasy and paranormal stories and novels – ‘Fantasy’ as in swords-and-sorcery or magical realism, set in others worlds or in this one. Sometimes I put my own twist on fairy tales and mythology, folklore and traditional ballads.

Will you like my work? Well, are you the sort of person who loved The Lord of the Rings or Gladiator? Did you think the characters in Troy were hot? Do you love Angela Carter's fairy stories? Do you like some action and emotion and drama with your erotica? Are you intrigued by the idea of werewolf initiation rites, battles between shapeshifting sorcerors, talking (and doing rather more) to dragons, or rakes who return from beyond the grave for one last conquest? Do ancient temples and ruined palaces seem the natural settings for sensual fantasies to you? Are you able to see the erotic potential in characters that are not human, perhaps alarmingly so? Then you may be my ideal reader…

Will you dislike my work? Well, if you’re even slightly prudish then I’m probably not the writer for you: I don’t concentrate exclusively on any particular fetish but in different places I’ll write about bondage, S/M, watersports, incest, gay and lesbian sex and even necrophilia. I also like men and women of action, and there is blood, sweat and sometimes death in my pages. Black Lace books are publicised as ‘Erotica by women for women’, but I don't adopt an exclusively female viewpoint. Men like my tales too.

I aim to transport you to other lands and times, places where life hangs by a thread and that stranger might be about to bring you terror or ecstasy or both; he may be about to destroy you or transform you, save your life or damn your soul…

Avril Shearing is a landscape gardener borught in to reclaim an overgrown woodland for the handsome and manipulative Michael Deverick. But among the trees lurks a tribe of environmental activists determined to stop anyone getting in, lead by the enigmatic Ash who regards Michael as his mortal enemy. Avril soon discovers that on the Kester Estate nothing is as it seems. Creatures that belong in dreams or in nightmares emerge after dark to prowl the grounds, and hidden in the heart of the wood is something so important that people will kill, or die, for it. Ash and Michael become locked in a deadly battle for the Wildwood - and for Avril herself.

Publisher’s Synopsis:
Love in the time of Tyrants
Two lovers brought together by a forbidden passion are on the run from their pasts. Veraine was once commander in the Imperial Army; Myrna was the divine priestess he seduced and stole from her desert temple. But travelling through a jungle kingdom they fall prey to slavers and are separated. Veraine is left for dead. Myrna is taken as a slave to the city of the Tiger Lords, inhuman tyrants with a taste for human flesh. There she must learn the tricks of survival in a cruel and exotic court where erotic desire is not the only animal passion.

Myrna still has faith that Veraine will find her. But Veraine, badly injured, has forgotten everything: his past, his lover, even his own identity. As he undertakes a journey through a fevered landscape of lush promise and supernatural danger, he knows only one thing - that he must somehow find the unknown woman who holds the key to his soul.

Publisher’s Synopsis:
Fantastic tales of lust, magic and strange enchanted realms.
This is a stunning collection of unique and breathtakingly beautiful erotic fairy tales. The stories feature the enchanting as well as the disquieting, with creatures such as winged demonesses, undead lovers, and a dragon with a sexual appetite as fiery as his breath! Transcends the boundaries of fantasy fiction and erotica to enthrall and delight. Seductive, dazzling and strange, each story is a journey into the marvellous realms of a fertile imagination.

ISBN 0 352 33483 5

"An erotic classic, and with the recent surge in interest in paranormal erotica this book still shows how it's done. A must have" - Reflection's Edge

Available as an audio download at www.audible.com

Publisher’s Synopsis:
Like Gladiator set in a mythical realm.
In the ancient temple city of Mulhanabin, the voluptuous Malia Shai awaits her destiny. Millions of people worship her, believing her to be a goddess incarnate. However, she is very human, consumed by erotic passions that have no outlet. Into this sacred city comes General Veraine - the rugged and horny leader of the occupying army. Intimate contact between Veraine and the Malia Shai is forbidden by every law of their hostile peoples. But she is the one thing he wants - and he will risk everything to have her. A beautifully written story of opulent palaces, extreme rituals and sexy conquerors.

ISBN 0 352 33719 1 (UK) 0 352 34151 8 (USA)

"Searing passion and mundane lust, unearthly wisdom and ordinary confusion, divine fate and mortal blindness" - Erotica Revealed

magic and desire cover

'The House of Dust' in

Magic And Desire (2008): Black Lace, ISBN 0 352 34183 9

" Ms. Ashbless gives her readers a walk on the dark side, and does a fabulous job doing it" - Coffee Time Romance

"Truly a magical read . Ms Ashbless has a wonderful mind" - Dark Angel Reviews

Bound in Skin cover

'Bound in Skin' in

'Bound In Skin': A Collection of Gothic Romances Both Modern and Traditional (2007): ed. Sonya M. Shannon, CatScratch Books, ISBN 13: 978-0-9790889-2-6