CYBERSPACE—A real-life couple who found they couldn’t relate to the characters in Fifty Shades of Grey have taken pen in hand to create their own erotica, geared more toward the “everyman.”
Using the pen names Cooper Spanoli and Jacqueline Price, the pair of Mike and Karen has authored the e-book On Top of Spumoni, now available at Amazon.
“Karen bought and read Fifty Shades, and I tried reading it also but I just couldn't relate to the characters,” Mike told AVN.
“We first and foremost wanted to connect with the person out there who doesn't feel sexy,” he continued. “The guy or girl who has that inner animal inside of them waiting to come out if they can just find themselves and the right person.”
After researching and finding that erotica is the best-selling fiction right now in the U.S., the pair decided to give it a whirl. The result is On Top of Spumoni, which stars Mike and Karen’s alter egos as the main characters.
In the story, Cooper is a larger man in the his mid-20s who initially thinks he is content to keep living with his parents and working his computer-related job, spending his free time eating his Italian mom’s cooking and gaming with his friends. Jacqueline is a beautiful woman fresh out of college who lands a job thanks to help from her rich father’s connections. She has a gorgeous boyfriend, beautiful clothes, a face and a body to die for and the world on a string.
But when Jackie and Coop literally run into one another, it creates a chain of events that turns both their worlds upside down.
“Some of the situations in the book are based on our actual lives together—before and after being married,” Mike said. “People that know us can't believe we ended up together.
“We decided that it would be something fun to do together and it also turned out to be a sexy couples thing which we enjoyed expressing on paper,” he added. “It was so much fun and the sex was silly but really hot which contributed to each chapter being fun to write and not being repetitive and unrealistic like some of the other stuff out there.”
On Top of Spumoni takes a unique approach in that alternating chapters are told form the point of view of the protagonists.
“We thought that the book needed to have both a male and a female perspective to connect with all readers,” Mike said. “The humor and the characters have very different shifts and personalities because of our unique writing styles.”
Mike noted the characters are described and written to be more representative of the average person.
“Our society places so much emphasis on physical appeal based on what our culture has defined as ‘attractive,’” he said. “There is more to sexy and charming than money and a six pack. … We want this book to relate to the folks out there who don't have a problem eating a chili dog in a crummy part of town while they consider the beautiful person they saw yesterday at the park or the store. The story is inspirational in that our label of ourselves is often written by others when we should be brave and trek out into the vast wilderness to find fame, fortune and love.
“Oh yeah,” he added. “We wanted to make people horny and to laugh out loud.”
Mike and Karen said they have future books in the planning stages for Coop and Jackie, and have received positive feedback from a number of readers.
On Top of Spumoni is available for $2.99 at Amazon.com.
