How do you date men when you hate men? How does a character's self esteem impact their likability? If a dick is stretching your mouth to the LIMIT, wouldn't your teeth get in the way first?!?!

Welcome to ORCTOBER! For week one, we had to take it back to our favorite, the one that started it all, Games with the Orc!

"So it's like a shake weight?!?"

Why are orcs hot? How does romance/smut give us room to explore new kinks in a safe manner? And finally, a statement: sex work is WORK!

Content warnings: Dominant/submissive role-play, sex work, primal play, light consensual/non consensual, chasing, wrestling, oral sex, anal sex, spanking, sleep deprivation, forced orgasm, use of toys for DP, restraints, paddling, biting.

Tropes: mating, self discovery post breakup

Who might feel represented? Fatties, people who want to explore kinks, people who think orcs are hot.

All month long we're celebrating one of our favorite smutty sub-genres: ORCS! In this mini episode, we explain WHY we are doing this, what to expect, and a sneak peek of the books we'll be covering this month...

Sarah had Covid last week, so we're giving you one of the episodes we recorded during our testing phase! Zoey Chant (the Zoeys) also wrote Kim's favorite book ever, Firefighter Seadragon, so we hope you enjoy this erotic tale of a sexy man who shifts into a giant prehistoric kangaroo. G'Day Mate, indeed.

TW: violence, blood, drugs, "beastiality"

Capitalism?

Master Kim’s Corner:

Zaidi, L. (2019). “Worldbuilding in Science Fiction, Foresight and Design”. Journal of Futures Studies. 23(4), 15-26.

What's the difference between anxiety and angst? Why do we know so little about the modern experiences of American Indians? Is it more or less satisfying when the hero can't use money to save the damsel in distress?

Master Kim’s Corner:

@notoriouscree - hoop dancer + creator on TikTok

Why aren't there more drugs in romance novels? What is it about vampires that we just can't get enough of? Can you "belong" to someone in a polyamorous relationship?

TW/CW: war (off-page), violence, murder, suicide, death, gambling, alcoholism, addiction, confinement, emotional abuse, death of a family member recounted (off-page), grief, drugs, knotting, biting, blood drinking, light degradation, sexually explicit content

Tropes: monster romance, the rare haters to lovers, slow burn, arranged marriage, fated mates, angst, vampire, alien, secret fated mates

Master Kim’s Corner:

The Biggest 2024 Romance Novel Trends - Alison Doherty

We went out on a limb this week to see if being a female dominant would turn us on. Spoiler alert, it did not.

Why is "good girl" so hot while "good boy" makes us want to throw up in our mouths? Are dominant women in the streets more likely to be submissive girls in the sheets? Do people "superlike" on purpose?

Master Kim’s Corner:

We Are Not Born Submissive: How Patriarchy Shapes Women’s Lives - Manon Garcia

We're joined this week by Molly from "In My Omegaverse Era!"

Instagram: inmyomegaverseera

TikTok: inmyomegaverseera

Facebook group: In My Omegaverse Era

Red hair in romance... why so much of it, and why does it matter? What kind of cultural indicators do we expect for BIPOC characters? Why so much of the hurt/comfort trope in the "why choose" genre?

TW/CW: slut shaming, stalking, non-fatal harm to an animal, break-and-enter of multiple homes, threat with a deadly weapon, physical violence, brief scene at a hospital, knotting, masturbation, voyeurism, light bondage, overstimulation, fellatio, cunnilingus, P in V intercourse, P in A intercourse, pegging, fingering, group sex/orgy, wax play, ice play, sensation play, primal play, breeding

Master Kim’s Corner:

⁠Should Good Girls Like Bad Sex: Depictions of Kink in Cosmo⁠ - Kiersten Kummerow Brown

Does it even count as a billionaire romance if they never buy anything? What makes an alpha an alpha? Why is everyone so afraid to say ABORTION?!?

Content/trigger warnings:

Stalking, violence on page, swearing, sexual assault off page, PTSD, Coercion, sexually explicit content

Tropes: omegaverse, why choose, hurt/comfort, forbidden romance, blast from the past, billionaire romance, surprise pregnancy, step-bro, angst

Master Kim’s Corner:

What is an omega? Rewriting sex and gender in the omegaverse. - Marianne Gunderson

Hi, welcome to the leading podcast among Kathryn Moon fanatics probably.

Is there a pick-me girl beta in all of us? When a character is described as "tan," what race does that indicate to you? What constitutes a good "scent" in the omegaverse?

Trigger/content warnings:

Rape (in the past, alluded to)

Sexual assault

Abusive relationship recounted

Alcohol consumption

Drugging recounted

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Anxiety & panic attacks

Nightmares

Death of a mother recounted

Home invasion

Sexually explicit content

Tropes: billionaire boyfriends, omegaverse, workplace romance, polyamory, hurt/comfort, age gap