The 1632verse isn’t spicy, but there are a few sex scenes and there is no prohibition on them. Sex just isn’t written about much or graphically.
“The Golden Age of science fiction is a 13 year old boy.” (Jim Baen among others.) This was a comment within the thread and above where Eric replied. The comment continued to say that while a 13 year old boy wouldn’t mind what we now call spicy content, his mother probably would. And that’s the crux of it. Graphic sex scenes can hurt sales. But at the same time, sometimes they are needed to move the narrative along, force character development, or for another reason central to the story being told.
These are Eric’s thoughts about writing sex scenes.
– Bethanne Kim (Publisher, Eric Flint’s 1632 & Beyond magazine)
Baen’s Bar
07 May 2015 07:11
I think the scene in any 1632 novel that comes the closest to being graphic sex is the one in GALILEO AFFAIR when Frank Stone and Giovanna Marcoli consummate their romance.
07 May 2015 07:24
Contrary to some suggestions made in this discussion, neither I nor Baen Books has any formal policy concerning sex scenes. My decisions are not based on whether or not including Sex Scene A in a novel would result in a loss of sales to libraries. (Or gain, for that matter.)
My decision is based on purely literary criteria — would including Sex Scene A in a novel improve the story?
The answer is almost always “no.” Sex, as such, is fascinating for the people (usually two, but…) who are directly engaged in the activity. For everyone else, it’s either pornography or plumbing — neither of which do anything to enhance a novel that isn’t either a porn novel or a sex manual.
The key is the emotional content of the scene, not the sex itself. In those few instances were I have included fairly explicit and sometimes lengthy depictions of sexual activity in a novel, it’s always because the sex enhances what’s really critical to the scene, which is the emotional nexus involved. That can be — usually is, in fact — quite complex.
That was true of Gretchen and Jeff’s wedding night, the consummation of the romance between Frank Stone and Giovanna Marcoli in GALILEO AFFAIR, and the near-miss (so to speak) scene between Ron Stone and Missy Jenkins in DREESON INCIDENT. (That last scene, by the way, was written by Virginia, not me. I wrote the other two.)
It was also true of the depictions of the sexual activity between Guo and her consorts in MOTHER OF DEMONS, by the way — which would hardly have any “pornographic” impact on human readers, given that we’re talking about sex between quasi-squids. But the scene still works, because of the emotions involved.
07 May 2015 07:33
I will add that sex scenes are like fight scenes. They’re hard to do well and very, very easy to do badly. And in both cases, the mistake is always to substitute a description of the activity itself for a depiction of the swirl of emotions involved.
I think the very best fight scene I’ve ever written is probably the one in GALILEO AFFAIR where Ruy Sanchez takes on six opponents in a sword fight — and yet, with the exception of the first strike, the fight itself is never actually depicted. What makes the whole scene work is the fact that it’s being witnessed (and then participated in) by two young Americans who have never in their lives been swept up into this level of sheer carnage. It’s their emotional chaos, not the physical chaos, that grips the reader’s attention. The same is true with a sex scene, done properly. You only want or need as much explicit depiction as needed — and no more than that — to make the emotion content grip the reader.
Here it is, if you’re wondering. Fair warning, it’s pretty long:
[Note: The entire scene was included in the original post but only the first paragraph is included here. You can search the novel to find the scene.]
With Benito’s sure feet guiding the way, they arrived at the building where the Marcolis lived within just a few minutes. The building was old as well as big, one of those edifices which gets added on to decade after decade, century after century, in a city as ancient as Venice. Much of the front consisted of workhouses, to Sharon’s surprise, which were humming busily at their trades. Glassmaking, judging from what little she could see.
The Bar, Specifically
02 May 2015 22:36 (Paula Goodlett)
The bar is PG 13.
Books, not so much.
However, I haven’t noticed anything particularly explicit in 1632.
Publisher Note:
07 July 2025 20:58 (Bethanne Kim)
I think the comment from a reader, below (02 May 2015 23:58), sums up the practical reality of sex scenes in the 1632verse nicely, with the additional qualifier that tagging anything sold on Amazon as having “adult content” limits sales.
The Golden Age of Science Fiction is a 13 year old male” was originally Jim Baen’s line; I’m almost certain I’ve seen and heard Eric repeat it more than once. And while a 13yo male might not find gratuitous sex objectionable, his Mom probably would.
