Anne Rice casts her lurid gaze upon the the traditional tale of "Sleeping Beauty" under the pen name of A.N. Roquelaure. Her re-telling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Reminiscent of the charged erotica of her novel Belinda.

SYNOPSIS

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty:
Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure. In the traditional folk tale "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire.

Beauty's Punishment:
This sequel to The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, the first of Anne Rice's elegantly written volumes of erotica, continues her explicit, teasing exploration of the psychology of human desire. Beauty, having indulged in a secret and forbidden infatuation with the rebellious slave Prince Tristan, is sent away from the Satyricon-like world of the castle. Once again Rice's fabulous tale of pleasure and pain dares to explore the most primal and well-hidden desires of the human heart.

Beauty's Release:
In the final volume of Anne Rice's deliciously tantalizing erotic trilogy, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. In Beauty's Release, Anne Rice makes the forbidden side of passion a doorway into the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.

FROM THE CRITICS

Gale Research

Rice counters the critical assessment of these works as pornographic in a People interview: "I wrote about the fantasy that interested me personally and that I couldn't find in bookstores. I wanted to create a Disneyland of S & M. Most porno is written by hacks. I meant it to be erotic and nothing else -- to turn people on. Sex is good. Nothing about sex is evil or to be ashamed of." Moreover, in a Lear's interview Rice maintains, "they're of high quality . . . and I'm very proud that I wrote them."

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