Look no further than Deadline for your daily fix of erotic fiction, since they report that rights to the hit e-book Fifty Shades of Grey are circulating in Hollywood. Although you, like I, probably have zero clue as to what this thing even is, we’ve got a work that’s generated plenty of heat with studios in the past week — thanks in no minor part to its female-centered story and, of course, the graphic sexual content contained within.

E.L. James wrote the novel (are e-books novels?), which centers on a college student, Anastasia Steele, who begins an S & M relationship with late-20s entrepreneur Christian Grey (hence the title). Sexual and emotional submissiveness enters the already-dangerous equation, and something dramatic presumably ensues from there.

You don’t need to grasp any dramatic resonance — or, possibly, lack thereof — to fully, totally get why it’s a big commodity right now. Deadline explains it rather well, noting that James has “tapped into a perfect storm of female sexuality and taboo romance with an unattainable man.” (The comparisons to Twilight and True Blood make this all the more evident.)

So it’s also no wonder that Universal, Fox 2000, and Sony have been vying for the material these past few days, with some kind of deal is very likely to go through within the next week. There’s also two other installments, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Free, both of which could be up for discussion in the meantime. Studios might be waiting to see how their adaptation does (and how the public responds) before making that move, however.

I can’t see myself paying much attention to Grey in the couple of years it takes to hit the screen — barring Michael Shannon getting cast, or something — but if this gets more female-created stories into the studio mix, good for everyone.

Have you paid any attention to this book? Could the movie satiate your romantic thirst?