Welcome to Unwritten's February blog event! Of course, this is the month of love, so I wanted to celebrate that theme as I've done in year's past. But this year, I've decided to add a scientific spin to it. All month long, talented authors from several genres will write about some aspect of love from their books as it relates to science. It could be social, psychological, biological, or anything in between. Our blog event is sponsored by "HMC by Kate", a fabulous independent jewelry crafter. Kate's giving away one of her very beautiful necklaces that I think fits our theme perfectly. She's also offering everyone who stops in a 10% discount on any item from her Etsy store. Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post and check out her lovely offerings! Without further ado, please welcome our guest author:
Happily Ever After, Happy For Now…
by S.S. Hampton, Sr.
Happy
Valentine’s Day!
You
know, the romantic song Love Changes
Everything (Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer; Charles Hart and Don Black,
lyrics) says it all.
It
says it all about those couples who find Happy Ever After, and even those who
find Happy For Now. And what if those couples add a third person to the mix? By
the way, we are talking about ordinary people here—not rich corporate CEOs,
beautiful college girls, or powerful politicians and sexy secretaries. Just
ordinary people who explore the world around them.
In
my novel Sharing Rachel (MuseItUp
Publishing, 2014), an ordinary husband and wife, small business owners in
Kansas, are left with an empty nest when their daughters go east to attend a
university. Faced with an unchanging routine that threatens to stretch far into
the future, Burt Markham has a surprising idea. But, will his wife Rachel
accept the idea? And if she does, will that threaten or strengthen their marriage?
It
is no surprise that there are many couples (admittedly a small minority) who
explore the sexual world together, even if only one of them passionately and
intimately embraces that world—with the permission and support of their other
half.
Studies
have shown that love physically impacts our bodies through releasing various
chemicals. For example, dopamine—when released it provides pleasure through a
variety of activities, including love. The chemical oxytocin is a “bonding
chemical” that reinforces the feeling among a couple of belonging to a loved
one. Testosterone is present in both men and women, especially when sex is
involved.
Those
chemicals (along with many others) are also present if, for example, the wife
with her husband’s approval and support, maintains a short-term or long-term lover
outside the marriage. Or several lovers over a span of time. Of course, this
does not mean that the husband and wife love each other any less. It simply
means that the wife has the freedom to explore her sexuality with other men (or
sometimes other women).
It
also does not mean that the woman loves her lover—though the same chemicals are
present, she may be driven more by lust than love. After all, who has not had
the experience of encountering someone attractive, feeling immediate lust,
followed by sexual gratification? That experience can be as exhilarating as
love, though lust is usually much shorter in duration.
Admittedly,
this sort of marriage, this sort of love, is not for everyone. But for those
who explore and find that a 3-person relationship works for them, then it is
just as much Happy Ever After or Happy For Now, as it is for a traditional couple.
And
so remember, it really is true that Love
Changes Everything. (I believe that love also makes all things possible.)
So,
Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours! Or, in some cases, Happy Valentine’s
Day to you and yours, and hers!
****
Stan Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced
His writings have appeared as stand-alone stories and in
anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange
Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as
stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and River Walk
Journal, among others.
In May 2014 he graduated from the College of Southern
Nevada with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Photography – Commercial
Photography Emphasis. A future goal is to study for a degree in archaeology—hopefully
to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology (and also learning to
paint).
After 13 years of brown desert in the Southwest and
overseas, he misses the Rocky Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running
rivers, and a warm fireplace during snowy winters.
As of April 2014, after being in a 2-year Veterans
Administration program for Homeless Veterans, Hampton is officially no longer a
homeless Iraq War veteran, though he is still struggling to get back on his
feet.
Hampton can be found at:
Dark Opus Press
Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing
Melange Books
Musa Publishing
MuseItUp Publishing
Ravenous Romance
Amazon.com Author Page
Amazon.com. UK Author Page
Goodreads Author Page
BONUS QUESTION!
Stan's offering an extra prize:
What
famous author in the 1920s wrote a novel about wife-sharing, and what is the
title?
The prize for the first person to answer correctly, is a RED spaghetti strap top emblazoned with "Of course I'm not cheating...I let my husband watch"
ENTER TO WIN!
This beautiful handmade necklace from HMC by KATE
Hello Stan, a very entertaining article. It sounds like Rachel is a very busy girl. all the best with your books.
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