Author's Note

A quick note about No Pain, No Gain and what I'm trying to accomplish with it. Every writer has a handful of oddly specific subgenres they keep coming back to, and for me one of those has always been gym-themed erotic fiction.

There's just something inherently fun about stories centered around self-improvement, physical transformation, temptation, discipline, and the strange relationships that can develop when someone is pushing themselves to become something more than they were yesterday.

So when I started thinking about what kind of mentor could guide Bells through that journey, my brain immediately landed on Philoctetes, a horny satyr who is equal parts mentor and tormentor. At its heart, No Pain, No Gain is still a story about growth. Bells has spent most of her life relying on charm, wit, stubbornness, and a healthy amount of luck.

This story asks what happens when she decides to become genuinely dangerous through discipline and hard work. The gym becomes a crucible. Every workout, every setback, every victory is another step toward becoming a stronger version of herself.

The first half of the story will focus on Bells mastering a variety of martial disciplines and discovering who she is when stripped of her usual shortcuts. The second half is where things become considerably more mischievous. Once her training is complete, Philoctetes has an entirely new curriculum planned for her, twelve extremely naughty modern interpretations of the Twelve Labors of Hercules.

Expect comedy. Expect temptation. Expect embarrassment. Expect mythology viewed through a very distorted lens. Most of all, expect Bells to be pushed far outside her comfort zone in ways she never could have anticipated when she first walked into that gym.

Unlike some of my darker stories, this one is intended to be playful, sexy, and fun. The stakes are personal rather than apocalyptic. The focus is on character growth, chemistry, self-discovery, and a healthy dose of ridiculousness.

As always, thank you for reading and following these bizarre little experiments. Every story lets me explore a different corner of horror, fantasy, and smut, and this one just happens to involve considerably more squats than most.

— Savannah Harrow