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skye o'malley

Breaking News: Bertrice Small’s Skye O’Malley Is Coming to Apple TV+ as a New Series

Finally, a true bodice ripper historical series for us to enjoy! Great news! Bertrice Small’s epic erotic romance, Skye O’Malley, is coming soon to your TV!

Skye O'Malley bertrice small

Major News About Bertrice Small

Sweet Savage Flame has some exciting breaking news to report! It’s very unusual for an old-school romance blog like ours to divulge or discuss any current events. But today, we are! First Outlander, then Bridgerton, and now: The Late Queen of Erotic Romances magnum opus bodice ripper is coming to the screen! 

Bertrice Small’s story of Skye O’Malley and her six husbands—and numerous lovers—will be coming to your homes as a major TV series! 

Tom Small, son of Bertrice and her husband George, posted a video on Facebook on Sunday, March 19, stating the official news. After five years of trying to find someone he could trust to treat his mother’s intellectual property with respect, all parties involved have come to an agreement.

This news is not just a possibility; it’s a done deal. Small has already signed the papers of a contract to bring the incomparable heroine’s life story to a new audience.

Bodice Ripper Skye O’Malley Series To Air on Apple Plus+

Tom Small stated he signed the rights of the 12 books in the O’Malley family saga over to a trusted source. That source negotiated a deal with ApplePlus + to bring the tale of Skye O’Malley–and her lusty relatives and descendants–to home audiences.

Tom is thankful to all the fans who have been anxious to see this happen. He also thanks ApplePlus+ and (even, LOL) the folks at Penguin, the publishers who had held the rights to her books for years.

Bertrice would undoubtedly be proud and delighted with her son’s endeavors. His determination and diligent efforts to make one of her dearest wishes come true would make any mother proud.

Bertrice Small’s Legacy and the Skye O’Malley Series

bodice ripper bertrice small series tom small

Bertrice Small passed away on February 24, 2015. Her husband, George, predeceased her by three years. Tom Small was their only child. Since Bertrice’s death, her son has maintained a Facebook account devoted to keeping the memory of his mother and her books alive.

Bertrice Small, nee Williams, was born in New York City in 1937 and lived most of her life on Long Island, in the town of Southold. Since her first book, 1978’s The Kadin, Small consistently produced erotic romances starring impossibly beautiful heroines who experienced multiple romantic adventures.

Small was a pioneer not only in the romance genre but also in erotic romance. Her novels were far more sexual than the average book of the early days of the modern romance era. However, they were not anywhere near as explicit as modern erotic romances.

Her historical romance romps were heavy on purple prose. That was the style of the era, after all. Small knew how to master the language, and master it she did!

She wrote 61 books and sold millions worldwide.

Past Attempts to Produce Bodice Ripper Romance Movies Failed

Many years ago, Bertrice Small had been in talks with several people in the film and television industries to adapt her books to the screen. As these talks always came to nothing, Small was convinced there was no future for her books as shows or movies. 

“David Bowie was the secret producer and a young Catherine Zeta Jones was being bandied around to Skye, but that all fell through. And it kind of discouraged my mom. And when I’d bring it up in the future ‘Why don’t we try again? You should try again.’

“‘Nah Hollywood doesn’t want it that.’ I could tell she was dejected.”

Tom Small

Tom encouraged her to try again, but the process disillusioned Small. The industry didn’t want anything to do with her kind of novels, and she didn’t have the stomach to try again.

We’ve previously mentioned that in the early 1980s, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss had been in talks with several Hollywood producers to have Shanna—arguably her finest book—into a film. Shanna sold 3 million copies and spent almost a year on The NY Times bestseller list. 

Watch Tom Small’s Announcement: Bertrice Small’s Skye O’Malley Is Coming to Apple Plus+!

Ultimately, Woodiwiss was told that romantic epic films weren’t profitable enough to justify their existence. Audiences wanted to see historical sagas about wars and battles, not love stories.

If the most prominent romance writer of her day couldn’t convince Hollywood, how would others fare? It seemed as if the romance genre was to be shut out of the industry altogether.

That wasn’t necessarily the case, however, as television channels like CBS and Cinemax would adapt romances into movies or even miniseries throughout the years. Admittedly, these were typically small-scale and low-budget flicks that catered to a niche audience.

bodice ripper Skye Omalley series

The Modern Era of Television Series Loves Romance Novels

In the 21st century, the successes of the Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey movies proved that adaptations indeed could be profitable. As television supplanted cinema as the hot spot for viewing entertainment, networks and production companies came looking for romance novels to transform into series. 

Sweet Savage Flame is especially excited by the news. We are thrilled that romance novels are getting the love and recognition from the entertainment industry they have always deserved.

However, there has been a noticeable absence of bodice rippers. These books did much heavy lifting for the romance genre in its early days. Many outsiders have viewed our beloved ‘rippers with disdain. (And some insiders, too!)

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re glad to hear this news and pass it on to you. Finally, after years of being ignored, romance novels are getting their well-deserved mainstream appreciation! 

As for news on Small’s final and unpublished book, Serena, Tom Small is still in the works to have it released. When that happens, we will let you know.

Jennifer Wilde

Author Spotlight: Jennifer Wilde (aka Thomas E. Huff)

tom huff

Love’s Leading Man, Jennifer Wilde

Introducing Thomas Elmer Huff

While Romance may be a primarily female-dominated market, many men have raised their pens or pushed keys to write romance novels. Of all these men, “Jennifer Wilde” stands out, and not only as the first male to garner blockbuster success in the post-Woodiwiss era.

He was also an advocate of the genre and a fierce supporter of women’s liberty. Hence, he earned the right to bear the moniker of one of “Love’s Leading Ladies.”

Jennifer Wilde was a pseudonym, of course. During his career, Thomas Elmer Huff would write using the names Edwina Marlow, Beatrice Parker, Katherine St. Clair, and T. E. Huff. His most notable name, however, was Jennifer Wilde, under which he sold millions of books.

Huff was born in the Fort Worth, Texas area in 1938. He was the lone son of a large family, including three sisters. After high school, he attended Texas Wesleyan University and then entered the military. Huff would spend a two-year stint in the Army.

Then in 1960, he became an English teacher at a local high school.

While teaching, he found that his female students were avid readers of paperback romantic works. Curious about the subject matter, he decided to read some of those novels. Afterwards, Huff knew he could produce books that were as good or even better than those on the market.

Enter Edwina Marlow, Beatrice Parker, and Katherine St. Clair

It was then that Huff turned his hand to writing. In 1968 using the pen name Edwina Marlow, he published the Gothic Romance The Master of Phoenix Hall with Ace Books.

Using other noms de plume, such as Beatrice Parker and Katherine St. Clair, Huff wrote 14 Gothic novels over a span of nine years.

The Master of Phoenix Hall, Edwina Marlow, Ace, 1968, cover artist unknown
The Master of Phoenix Hall, Edwina Marlow, Ace, 1968, cover artist unknown

The year 1972 changed everything for romance-centered fiction. Thick, door-stopper novels about women having sexual relations outside of marriage, with scenes written in extensive detail, were now all the rage.

So in 1976 Huff adopted another pseudonym: Jennifer Wilde. From thereon, instead of Gothics, he would write for the hot new historical romance genre.

Hello, Jennifer Wilde

Warner Books signed Huff to a deal under the Wilde name. His first outing, Love’s Tender Fury, quickly sold an astounding three million copies in one year. It spent twenty-six weeks on the New York Times paperback bestseller list with forty-one printings in its first five years.

Like Rosemary Rogers’ bed-hopping epics Sweet Savage Love and Wicked Loving LiesLove’s Tender Fury featured a heroine who had multiple lovers besides the hero–often willing, but sometimes not.

It told the first-person-POV tale of Marietta Danvers. Marietta, a ravishing beauty, was an indentured servant in the American colonies who fell for the man who owned her and then cruelly scorned her.

It would be the first in an enormously popular trilogy of novels about Marietta’s various romantic dalliances.

Marietta, Elena, Miranda, and Angel

Love’s Tender Fury, Jennifer Wilde, Warner Books, 1976, H. Tom Hall cover art
Love’s Tender Fury, Jennifer Wilde, Warner Books, 1976, H. Tom Hall cover art

Book blurb for Love’s Tender Fury:

The turbulent story of an English beauty — sold at auction like a slave — who scandalized the New World by enslaving her masters.

Marietta was a woman wronged–raped by her employer, charged with theft by her jealous mistress, and shipped to the Colonies to serve fourteen years as bound servant to the man who bid highest.

But Marietta was beautiful, educated and resilient, with a provocative body meant for love, and she was determined to prevail.

Over the handsome, silent planter who bought her to be his housekeeper….over the dashing entrepreneur who supplied girls to the New Orleans red light district…over the wealthy sadist who used her in his madness.

She would conquer them all–if she could subdue the hot, unruly passions of her heart.

LOVE’S TENDER FURY

Huff’s next Romance, Dare To Love, was also a major bestseller. The heroine was a dancer named Elena Lopez, who had dalliances with composers Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Loosely based on the life of Lola Montez, the narrative was told in Wilde’s trademark first-person perspective.

Huff would leave Warner Books to briefly join Ballantine. Then after, he signed with Avon, officially becoming part of their stable of “Love’s Leading Ladies.” He would be the only male romance writer to openly enjoy such status.

Among the books he wrote include the single-edition novels, Once More, Miranda, and Angel in Scarlet, which were marked by stunning covers by artists H. Tom Hall, and Elaine Duillo, respectively.

Once More Miranda, Jennifer Wilde, Ballantine, 1983, H. Tom Hall cover art
Once More Miranda, Jennifer Wilde, Ballantine, 1983, H. Tom Hall cover art

Let’s Talk About Tom

Like many of his contemporaries, Wilde wrote in florid, purple prose, often describing the characters’ clothing, the settings, and the food eaten in minute detail. Sometimes it would be so over the top, veering into ridiculousness (see our review for Angel in Scarlet).

I don’t take the genre seriously… But I take my work seriously… I’ve become more painstaking, more professional… There are ‘mandatory heavy-breathing scenes,’ but I don’t write down to readers. I’d rather take the time and do it good.”

TOM HUFF

Wilde would play fast and loose with the rules of the nascent romance genre, such as concluding a book with a cliffhanger. He also employed hero bait-and-switches in some of his novels, so the reader never knew who the heroine would end up with until the very end.

Except for the fictional biography of Tallulah Bankhead, Marabelle, which he wrote under his real name, the rest of Huff’s books would be published as Jennifer Wilde. After the Marietta series, he moved from bodice ripper-style romances to more character-driven stories that told the lives and loves of his heroines.

Marabelle,
Marabelle, Tom E. Huff, St. Martin’s Press, 1980, cover artist unknown

Farewell, Mr. Huff

Huff earned a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times magazine in 1987-1988. His final book, They Call Her Dana, was released in late 1989.

On January 18, 1990, Tom Huff died suddenly at the age of 52 of a heart attack. He left no children behind, was single, and lived with his elderly mother.

In the 2010s, much of Huff’s backlist was released in e-format. Now a new generation of readers can enjoy this creative male romance author’s books.

Your Opinion

Have you read Jennifer Wilde’s romances? Or any of the Gothics penned under Huff’s other pseudonyms? Did you even know Jennifer Wilde was a pen-name for a man? Drop us a comment and let’s talk romance.

Jennifer Wilde Historical Romance Backlist

BOOKRELEASE DATE
Love’s Tender Fury
Jan-1976
Love Me, MariettaAug-1977
Dare to LoveJan-1978
Once More, MirandaMay-1983
When Love CommandsOct-1984
Angel in ScarletAug-1986
The SlipperOct-1987
They Call Her DanaSep-1989