Beauty's Punishment: A Novel (A Sleeping Beauty Novel, Band 2) - Softcover

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Anne Rice was born in New Orleans in 1941. She is the author of many bestselling novels, including the widely successful Vampire Chronicles. Her first novel, Interview with the Vampire, was made into a film in 1994 starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Her other books include the Mayfair Witches series, the novels The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Violin, Angel Time, the Sleeping Beauty trilogy, and most recently, The Wolf Gift. She passed away in 2021.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

PREFACE

THE PUNISHED

BEAUTY AND TRISTAN

THE AUCTION IN THE MARKETPLACE

BEAUTY ON THE BLOCK

LESSONS FROM MISTRESS LOCKLEY

PRINCE ROGER’S STRANGE LITTLE STORY

THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD

THE PLACE OF PUBLIC PUNISHMENT

TRISTAN IN THE HOUSE OF NICOLAS, THE QUEEN’S CHRONICLER

A SPLENDID EQUIPAGE

THE FARM AND THE STABLE

SOLDIERS’ NIGHT AT THE INN

GRAND ENTERTAINMENT

NICOLAS’S BEDCHAMBER

TRISTAN’S SOUL FURTHER REVEALED

MISTRESS LOCKLEY’S DISCIPLINE

CONVERSATION WITH PRINCE RICHARD

PUBLIC TENTS

MISTRESS LOCKLEY’S AFFECTIONS

SECRETS IN THE INNER CHAMBER

UNDER THE STARS

REVELATIONS AND MYSTERIES

PENITENTIAL PROCESSION

TRISTAN AND BEAUTY

DISASTER

EXOTIC MERCHANDISE

ANOTHER TURN OF THE WHEEL

VOLUPTUOUS CAPTIVITY

AN EXCITING PREVIEW OF Beauty's Kingdom

THE EROTIC NOVELS OF ANNE RICE WRITING AS A. N. ROQUELAURE

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

Beauty’s Punishment

Beauty’s Release

Since 1983, A. N. Roquelaure has envisioned (for the uninhibited reader) a hypnotic and seductive adult fairy tale in the Sleeping Beauty novels. Now, the author of this exquisite erotic trilogy reveals her true identity—beckoning the reader into a sensuous world of forbidden dreams and dark-edged desires ... a world in which traditional ideas of submission and dominance and gender preference are thrown to the winds ... a world made irresistibly inviting by the adventurous spirit and imagination of the unrivaled Anne Rice.

an
erotic novel of
discipline,
love and surrender,
for the enjoyment
of men
and women

PLUME
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road,
Auckland 10, New Zealand

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

Published by Plume, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.
Previously published in a Dutton edition.

First Plume Printing, November, 1990
First Plume Printing, This Edition, May, 1999

All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

Roquelaure, A. N.
Beauty’s punishment.
Sequel to: The claiming of Sleeping Beauty
I. Title.
PS3568.0696B’.54 83-20587

ISBN: 9781440672750

Cover design: Zoe Norvell

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both
the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters; places, and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

I’ve always loved the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, and found something erotic at its core. The Prince awakens Beauty with a kiss. And I thought, all right, what if he brought a kind of liberation, an induction into a world of bizarre yet irresistible delights? It has to be remembered that within the frame of a sadomasochistic fantasy like the Beauty trilogy, the readers are invited to identify with and enjoy the predicament of the slaves. The books aren’t about literal cruelty; they’re about surrender, the fun of imagining you have no choice but to enjoy sex. Beauty’s slavery is delicious, sensuous, abandoned, and ultimately liberating. This is all part of the framework. And it seemed to work exquisitely with the old fairy tale. And of course the fairy tale removes us from everyday life; it removes us from the intrusion of garish headlines, literal violence, and all the ugliness of crime. We go into a gilded dream here, luscious and engulfing, in which we’re free to imagine all sorts of things—a fairy-tale world indeed.

As Anne Rice, I’m known for certain kinds of novels; the Roquelaure books retain the name Roquelaure (even with my name added) to indicate that this is something “different.” If Anne Rice is one kind of savory dish, well this is another entirely. And some might find it far too spicy for their taste. I don’t like the idea of confusing or disappointing readers, so the pen name helps with that. Of course, there are many people who have read all my work, including the Roquelaure novels, and they see me as a multifaceted writer. But the Roquelaure material is erotica, without reservation, and it needs that pen name on the label, so to speak. The pen name says: Anne Rice is doing something very different here.

I felt I needed the anonymity of the pen name to write freely, to pursue an authentic erotica without being inhibited or self-conscious. And it worked wonders to imagine myself “cloaked” by the name Roquelaure, which is a kind of French cloak—named after the Frenchman who popularized it. My father was still living then and I didn’t want him to know about the books either. In fact, there were lots of friends and relatives whom I didn’t want to worry about as I developed the writing. There was quite a bit of exposure involved in writing such graphic sexual fantasies. It was frightening now and then, and it was thrilling. Eventually, I told my father about the books, asking him not to read them, and I did put my name on them. I adjusted completely to people knowing I’d written them. But only after I’d finished with the trilogy—as I recall.

A pen name enables you not only to cloak what you are doing from friends and family; it gives you a new freedom to do something you would not do as yourself. I have thought of writing some new erotica, and I must confess I imagined using a new pen name for it. I don’t know whether I’ll pursue it, but I do find the freedom of the pen name attractive.

When the Sleeping Beauty Trilogy books were first published, they were underground books. They had the backing of a major mainstream publisher, yes, but the publication, though dignified and beautiful, was relatively quiet. But different readers embraced the books almost at once. They clearly appealed to young people, and older married people, to gays and straights. And they’ve sold steadily ever since they first appeared. Women come up to me at signings with babies in strollers and giggle and laugh and say, “We love your dirty books.” People of all ages, actually, present the books to be signed.

Why do I think these particular books have been popular? Two reasons. First, I think it is because they involve no harsh, garish violence at all. They involve game playing, really. No one is burned or cut or hurt. Certainly no one is killed. Indeed the whole sadomasochistic predicament is presented as a glorified game played out in...