It's not a stretch to say that some mythology is more disturbing than any news you'll ever see on TV or read in the newspaper. Incest, rape, mutilation, murder, orgies and some very strange religious rites, mythology is at times horrifying and disgusting. This is especially true if you find the old, unsanitized myths. The story of Osiris and Isis includes incest, necrophilia and sexually oriented sadism in copious amounts, while most creation stories are based on sex.

The question is, how much of this can actually be read without turning you off? I grew up with a fascination with these stories, and absolutely devoured them, and it shows in my writing. I would love to bring the flavor of the myth back, but how much of that is going to actually make it to the public?

Artistic license and all is fine, and I'd love to have a book or two banned, but I'd like to have a chance of being published first!

What would you say is the acceptable limit for a publicly-available book?

"sexually oriented sadism" ?

It depends on your audience. I'm a teenager, who leans conservative in terms of dress and manners. I'm going to read maybe one scene or reference and be okay with it. If i read something that is simply full of incest and "sexually orientated sadism," i don't think i'm going to consider picking up another one of your books. Other teenage males, are going to devour your books, simply because of the sex. and of course, the adult population is going to read it as another aspect of another culture (over generalization i realize). so consider who you are writing for when you decide.

Shadows cavorted over the rock-face, an orgy of sex and pleasure and violence. Whisper-thin shadow whips cracked silently against bound doppelgangers, bowing their backs and sending their screams to the stone sky, a shadow held another down and merged into the one beneath, turning into one solid, writhing mass. A great fountain spurted dark liquid into the air, a rain gathered in cups and falling between lips and on bodies. Shadows tortured, fucked and drank, blood and wine and fluid mixing together and running in streams down the stone walls into the mouth of another shadow. This one lay on its back, hands roaming over its body, a curious mix of male and female, pleasuring itself as the wine of hedonism ran between its lips.

Michael jerked away from the tableau, his stomach heaving, horrified. He turned away, hoping to find that even this was a dream, that his companions were asleep. The bonfire roaring in the center of the camp dashed his hopes, the scene backlit by its wild flames. Alejandro knelt next to Michael, his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Come friend, let us go somewhere quiet,” the old Moor whispered.

*cringes* I think the mythology I reacted the strongest to was the original version of Little Red Riding Hood. It was really disturbing. I can't remember if was the Grimm version or not...
Yea, not much to say, I think Astri's answer is perfect. I forgot what else I was going to say....crackers!.......*wanders off muttering to self*

Eh, there's always an audience. That scene of yours, didn't bother me a tick. I think it'll always be some people won't like it, some people will, but there's not much out there that will make a book unpublishable. I mean look at some of the juvenile horror styles out there now, where the books follow the movies examples that gory and disgusting is scary or edgy. Now I do have a problem with scenes like that when I know they were placed in there solely for a shock factor and have no bearing on the story. Brian Keene, an abysmal writer in my opinion, had a "zombie" novel called City of the Dead, short synopsis, no zombies, but demon possessed corpses, there is one scene where a scientist has relations with a bound test subject, it's a corpse. The scene was just disgusting and worthless, which really annoyed me. It was pointless, the guy doing it was hardly even a side character, showed up twice in the whole book and was killed. That's the only way that stuff really bothers me.

I see no problem with that scene at all. Of course, I have no problems with any scenes as long as they fit the book that you're writing. Just know who you're writing it for and know what you're book is about. If it all fits together it'll be okay. If you know that the scene either A: isn't necessary or B: isn't appropriate for your projected audience, there's something wrong.

From anyone else's perspective, I'd say it is over the top with amplifying so much upon the scene itself. Personally, I liked it.