The Silver Collar
by Mathilde Madden

Book Review by Ashley Lister

I think I first realised my wife had grown tired of me pretending to be a vampire when I saw she was getting a little cross. No? Well, it made me smile.

Sex and horror have always been closely interlinked as literary genres.

In many horror stories, it used to be mandatory to show a couple (often adulterous – invariably promiscuous) engaging in a lewd act that distracted them while the bad evil monster crept up behind them before moralistically and violently ending their licentious romp. The same scene has been recreated again and again in hundreds of Hollywood slasher movies featuring vampires and monsters and all those other things that go GRRR in the night.

Similarly, in erotic fiction, there have always been elements that would appear more obviously to belong to the horror genre. There are countless tales of nefarious men's clubs, run by misogynists and existing for the sole purpose of spanking innocent female backsides. There are chilling stories of BDSM practices, including some that go to the physical extremes where many horror yarns would never dare venture.

So it's always been inevitable that stories of horror and erotica should stray into each other's territory. This was most obviously achieved 100 years ago when Bram Stoker introduced us to Dracula: the sexy old count. Erotic vampires have been with us ever since, biting necks, drinking bodily fluids, and blurring the line that divides these two literary genres.

And it's easy to understand the appeal of vampires from both sides. Women see them as an opportunity to be immortalised by a beautiful and soulless lover. Men see the fantasy of the vampire as the perfect excuse to remain unconcerned about an anaemic complexion or an unsightly overbite.

But the problem with erotic vampire stories is that the subject has been covered so many times it's hard for an author to say anything new in this sub-genre. For a long time I've been thinking, "Shouldn't someone write about something supernatural that isn't a vampire?"

And it seems that Mathilde Madden has been thinking something similar because she's responded to my unspoken thought with a resounding, werewolf-howling, "YES!"

The Silver Collar is an erotic romance. Granted, the presence of werewolves within the narrative means it's a supernatural erotic romance but this story puts the super in supernatural and the focus is very keenly set on the erotic romance of the story.

The prologue opens eleven years ago, with a young Iris attendant on a risqué outdoor photo shoot with her brother and boyfriend. Disquietingly, there's a full moon. But Iris, her brother Matt and boyfriend Alfie, are all untroubled by this element. Matt's main worries revolve around the "classy" photographs he wants of a near-naked Alfie. Alfie is struggling to win Iris's affections. And Iris is lustily looking forward to seeing Alfie in some of the raunchier poses her brother has planned for the evening.

The evening ends badly. Matt loses his life. Alfie loses his humanity. And Iris loses a brother and a boyfriend. There are only two good things to come out of the evening: Iris gains a vocation as a werewolf hunter, and we get the opening prologue for a sensational trilogy of supernatural erotic romances.

I'm not going to say anything more about the story. Mathilde Madden is a respected author of erotic fiction – and deservedly so. The horror element, necessary for any supernatural tale, is eloquent and doesn't intrude on the erotic or romantic developments. The romance is impossible, and therefore compelling as the couple get closer and are then pulled apart by cruel circumstances. The erotic twists and turns are powerful, passionate and truly exciting.

The Silver Collar is the first of a trilogy – to be followed by The Silver Crown and The Silver Cage. Iris and Alfie's turbulent relationship has opened to a resounding start that ticks every box a reader could want from a supernatural erotic romance.

Stories of this calibre don't come around with every full moon.

Ashley Lister
November 2007

The Silver Collar by Mathilde Madden
(Virgin Black Lace; November 27, 2007; ISBN-10: 0352341416)
Available at:  Amazon.com  / Amazon UK

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© 2007 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.


About the Author: Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms.His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books; ISBN: 0753511355), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica. Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto. He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Websites: www.ashleylister.co.uk / ashleylister.blogspot.com

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