Guest Blogger: Jacqueline Brocker

I’m delighted to announce Jacqueline Brocker, who’s here to tell us more about her fab story in Smut Alfresco, which is based in the beautiful city of Cambridge.

Days of Idyll: Writing ‘Meadow’ for Smut Alfresco

‘Write what you know’ is an oft-quoted phrase given to writers. I’ve not always found this particularly helpful, especially when writing, for instance, m/m fiction, or about detectives, or something set in space. There is, though, some wisdom in the statement, and I find it especially relevant when it comes to writing about place.

So while my short story ‘Meadow’ in Smut Alfresco isn’t exactly autobiographical, I am very familiar with the place it is set on: Grantchester Meadows in Cambridge.

Grantchester Meadows are located immediately south on the river Cam, just before you reach the village of Grantchester. They have been owned by King’s College, Cambridge since 1452, but are easily accessible to all, and are as much part of Cambridge as the University itself. (In fact, I didn’t know until doing a Google search for images of the meadows, that Pink Floyd, who formed in Cambridge, wrote a song about them.)

It seemed the perfect location for a sexy interlude (ok, yes, I have taken walk along the meadows with an ex-boyfriend, so I can’t pretend the story has no bearing on my reality 😉 ). Not just for the idyllic, soothing setting – with the quiet river running past, punts and canoes making their gentle progress towards the village of Grantchester for a pint, lunch, or for afternoon tea at the Orchard (an apple orchard where writers such as Virginia Woolf and Rupert Brooke used to spend time), trees drooping into the water, and cows grazing (walkers do have to be mindful of cow pats along the paths!) – but also because, at the height of summer, it is full of people. Families, couples, friends, and visitors come with picnics, or to swim in the river itself, or just to stroll or take a bike along the bank. With that many people around, it increases the chance of being caught, or spotted, or attracting an unwanted (or indeed, wanted!) onlooker.

How could I not write that story?

The delightful thing about writing ‘Meadow’ was being able to draw on my own experience and knowledge of Cambridge. The types of people who might be on the river – students, people who are born and bred in the city – the kind of activities that happen along the river, even the likely occurrences. One brief scene is dedicated to a swan harassing someone in a canoe. Up until recently, the Cam was stalked by a misbehaving swan nick-named ‘Mr Asbo’ (that’s ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Order’ to those outside of the UK).

More than that, I wanted to convey the gentleness of the place, the warm, hazy idyll that it is to sit on the meadows, and the slow burning sexiness of being there with someone you fancy the hell out of. I hope I’ve succeeded in conveying that.

Biography

Jacqueline Brocker is an Australian writer who lives in the United Kingdom. Her erotic fiction includes the ménage novella Body & Bow, while she has had several short stories appear in various anthologies, including Smut Alfresco, The Mammoth Book of Quick and Dirty Erotica, and My First Spanking. Her latest short story, Oasis Beckoning, is an erotic tale about man, and most intriguingly, a pool of water…

Find Jacqueline at:

Website: http://jacquelinebrocker.esquinx.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ms_jacquelineb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacqueline-Brocker/350975778281809
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jacquib19/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5249251.Jacqueline_Brocker
Tumblr: http://jacquelinebwrites.tumblr.com/

Picture by William Marnoch, found on flickr, and used under the Creative Commons License.

*****

Sex in the great outdoors is the theme of this erotic anthology, edited by Victoria Blisse and Lucy Felthouse.

From the dramatic gritstone escarpments of Derbyshire’s Peak District, to a quiet caravan site in deepest Wales, Smut Alfresco has it all. Whatever your interpretation of frisky outdoor fun, there’s something nestling between the covers for you.

Sexy woodsmen, daring couples, rock stars, cougars, map enthusiasts, mattresses, ex-lovers, tour guides, hunky sheriffs and nature reserve rangers all appear in this hot collection of stories from erotica’s finest authors.

Includes stories from: Violet Fields, Demelza Hart, Victoria Blisse, Jacqueline Brocker, Wendi Zwaduk, K T Red, Tilly Hunter, Bel Anderson, Lucy Felthouse, Kay Jaybee, Tenille Brown, Cass Peterson, Jenny Lyn and Nicole Gestalt.

Grab your copy here: https://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/smut-alfresco/