Christopher Rice’s Gay Erotica “Sapphire Dawn” Heats Up Summer Reads

Summertime is for lounging by the pool, sipping a cocktail, checking out the Speedo bulges, putting in the headphones, and reading. Yes, reading! Remember those things we hold in our hands and come with little pieces of paper with words on them that we turn to engage in a story? Yaasss, girl. In the age where we are constantly on our phones scrolling our lives away, losing yourself in a book also offers a great escape. Our first Queer Literature pick, just in time for Pride Month and summer read is "Sapphire Dawn," a steamy gay love story set along the sultry West Coast beaches.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 1001DarkNights/BlueBoxPress (@1001darknights_blueboxpress)

This steamy tale comes to us from the mastermind Christopher Rice (yes, from the Rice family legacy). Christopher started his career with his fiction debut 24 years ago with his NY Times Bestseller A Density of Souls. Inspired by his own life, it centered around four high school students in New Orleans who are torn apart by envy, passion, and secrets. For those of us gay emo kids who were raised on Anne Rice's work, we remember waiting eagerly at the bookstore when the doors opened to get our hands on something her gay son had written. Gayer vampires? Gay witches? What was in store? He proved right out of the gate that he would be a successful writer resting on his own themes, style, and genre. And while he captures the sultry texture and sexuality from Anne Rice's magical world, he holds his own. What would follow would be a series of successful books.

To the joy of our little gay hearts, Christopher and his mother collaborated on two Ramses the Damned novels. Their two styles worked well together, Christopher pushing the plot along much like a screenplay and Anne elaborating and painting a lush scene.

In 2014, Christopher amped things up and announced his first erotic novel, Flame, as part of the 1,001 Dark Nights series. These works all deal with a forbidden passion and even have touches of magic and supernatural thrown in for good measure. In 2021, he gayed it up and decided to focus on romance and erotica between men under his acknowledged pen name C. Travis Rice.

Under C. Travis Rice, we travel to Sapphire Cove where "temptation, passion, and white-hot desire await at Southern California’s premier oceanfront resort, where men release the shame that blocks their hearts’ desire." Inspired by and including real locations in Southern California, the erotica series does not shy away from illicit encounters, romance, intrigue, lust, and adventure. The first three books in the Sapphire Cove series are Sapphire Sunset, Sapphire Spring, and Sapphire Storm. Characters from each book bleed into the next, each time focusing on a different group, much like the Bridgerton series. To be fully honest, we were not familiar with the series until we got a copy of his hot-of-the-press, fourth book in the series, Sapphire Dawn. We tore it apart in one sitting. The magic about the series is that you can jump in whenever, it is not necessary to start at the beginning. But now we know what the series presents, we ordered all three previous books and have our Kleenex and reading glasses ready. We have the Kleenex ready for different reasons - the erotic scenes are hot and descriptive, bulge-inducing, but also have moments of weepy romance that are so delicious.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Christopher Rice (@christopher.rice.writer)

Sapphire Dawn starts off with a bang. Donnie Bascombe is a famous porn star with a big...personality. Still tainted by a bad relationship from his deep past, he has filled the void with hookups and porn shoots. Now the owner of a major porn studio, he is called into service by his friend to serve as Best Man at his wedding and help organize the ceremony, taking place at the infamous and luxurious Sapphire Coast resort. Grabbing a drink at the hotel bar before meeting with the grooms, he sees the perfect man of his dreams. Rice does such a good job describing each hunk that plays a part in the series, you can literally envision it as a hot and artful porn scene via erotica. The man he gets hard over is Richard Merriweather, whom he follows into the bathroom. He makes a pass at Richard, using his big dick and charm to suggest they have a tryst in the stall. Richard is horrified (yet titillated) at Donnie's advances and declines, shutting him down in less than sugar-coated words. We find out Richard is in the middle of a divorce due to the fact his husband had been cheating on him with all of their friends. He brushes Donnie off because he is on his way to a meeting. Coincidentally, he is the events manager at the resort who will be spearheading the gay wedding that Donnie is also tasked to organize. The two meet again minutes later, in shock, when the two grooms tell them they will be working hand in hand to create the wedding of the century. You can imagine what follows. Will the two be able to work together, torn apart by lifestyle but drawn together by lust? Oh, and for good measure, there are also spies, the mafia, diva-worthy women, and plenty of porn stars to flesh out the story.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 1001DarkNights/BlueBoxPress (@1001darknights_blueboxpress)

Will Sapphire Dawn win the Pulitzer? No. It doesn't need to. It's a mash-up of Danielle Steele, Falcon Studios, and Hallmark movie and we couldn't eat it up faster. It is so nice to be able to jump into a book that is delicious, playful, and sexy. It's ok to create gay content that is enjoyable in its simplicity and not trying to soapbox or get political. Under Rice's touch, the story has a lot of texture and color. This is erotica at its best. It is a highly recommended read. Oh, and we have the sex scenes earmarked.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 1001DarkNights/BlueBoxPress (@1001darknights_blueboxpress)

Check out the fun site they have created for the series that reads like a real website for the hotel Sapphire Cove.

The Sapphire Cove series is available wherever you get books.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Christopher Rice (@christopher.rice.writer)

What is some of your favorite gay erotica?

Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.