The Beauty of Thought

By S. Dora (Guest Blogger)

Anyone picking up A Weekend Unbound will probably notice two things: the amount of kinky scenes and the many moments of self-reflection by both Dominant Derek and his submissive lover Tyler. The lovers can’t seem to stop thinking about why they do what they do, how they prepare mentally and so on… 

Some might interpret this as a way of A. Moore and yours truly to make absolutely clear this isn’t about abuse, but about a loving relationship with a bit of extra. Why not simply let them do all those hot and kinky stuff? Do readers always have to be reminded of Safe, Sane and Consensual between a spanking and a good hard fuck?

The interpretation is very understandable, and we certainly don’t mind this reading. After all, a story with a clear message about certain rules and safety never hurt the adventurous couple. But more than that the motivation for all those thoughts meandering through the playroom scenes, is the pure pleasure of creating characters who sometimes doubt and are nervous and wonder if this is too much or not enough. Rituals have meaning for the characters and are not just to show the writers’ awareness of the Safe Sane Consensual concept.

Because, let’s not fool ourselves, Dom and sub can do everything right according to the big book of proper BDSM and still be in an abusive relationship if they are blind to their true power (im)balance. Safe words are fine, but a keen eye for the silent language of the body really makes a difference.

Derek and Tyler know that BDSM, and especially D/s, is a very important part of their relationship, and both feel they want to leave all boundaries behind and damn the consequences, but to be honest, my fellow writer and I never even contemplated to write such a story. We wanted a bit more realism. To us realism includes Dom Derek suddenly recognizing what he’s actually doing during a very intense scene. Or for sub Tyler to be aware he’s accepting something he doesn’t care for at all, and why that still can be a good thing.

A small taste?

Perhaps it was best if he was practical about it. He scraped together whatever energy he had left and climbed the stairs once more. He needed to clean and put away the used toys in the playroom, while making sure the things he would be using on Tyler were within easy reach. Nothing would kill the mood faster than a Dom clumsily rummaging through a heap of junk in the hope to find the last vibrator with working batteries while his sub desperately tried not to giggle.

His fingers caressed leather, silicone and metal. He shivered when he realized how beautifully Tyler would suffer, how full of joy his eyes were going to be when Sir awarded him with another special treat. But there would be no release, no matter how well he behaved.

He smiled at the sight of the spanking horse. A fine investment, and he was already imagining his subby bound and gagged and waiting until Sir was good enough to pay attention to him.

His cock twitched. Fuck.

Blurb for A Weekend Unbound

How much can a Dom ask of his submissive? And how much of himself?

For Derek and Tyler, Dominance and submission have been part of their love right from the first hello. But now Derek wants his submissive to go as deep as he is physically and emotionally able to. During two days and two nights, there are no safety words and very few limits. This is their chance to demonstrate their love for one another through the most extreme scenes they’ve ever played.

There is, however, one rule to trump all others for Tyler—to protect Sir’s most loved possession, even if it means disobedience or going against his own need to submit to his Master without question or complaint.

This weekend will open up levels of their relationship they’ve never dreamed of before.

Reader Advisory: This book contains intense BDSM scenes, strong pain-play, mild humiliation, fisting, pet-play and mild sensual torment. Please be aware of the twenty-four-seven Total Power Exchange dynamic between those two men.

Like the sound of A Weekend Unbound? Buy it here

About S. Dora:

S. Dora is the me writing m/m erotica, though I can imagine a m/f or f/f story might suddenly decide they want to get written too, somewhere in the future. The real me is also writing: novels and stories that don't revolve around the down and dirty. And the non-writing me? Is it interesting to know I'm a woman, born in 1961? That my wife and I celebrate our 30th anniversary in October 2011? That we have two sons and five cats and live near Rotterdam? That I had a novel published in Dutch? And one in English? That Dora is because of the little mechanical typewriter I bought with money earned with my very first summer job? That I studied social history and done all kinds of jobs? I guess it actually is, if only because every story ever told is important to at least one reader.

About A. Moore:

I have been reading gay erotica for over 15 years now and I’ve been writing it for a little under ten years. I’ve always had an interest in Dominance and submission, and my writing reflects how my thinking about the scene has evolved. I live in the southern United States, an area not incredibly open to alternative lifestyles, and the internet has been my salvation. I spent about six months working on a website, designing tease and denial games, and it is still one of my biggest kinks.

COMPETITION TIME: S. Dora and A. Moore are also running a competition for the chance to win a $50 gift card of choice. If you are interested please comment below with your reaction to this blog along with your email! If you feel more comfortable not commenting here, please email S. directly at authordora@hotmail.com. The winner will be generated by random.org at the end of the tour.

The Reluctant Alpha

By S. Dora (Guest Blogger)

Thank you, Lisabet, for being once again such a wonderful and generous host.

I have a confession to make. Don’t worry, it’s only a small and rather insignificant one, but for a writer of the erotic-romantic genre interesting enough to tell about. I don’t care for the alpha male as fictional character. You know, the one who combines a huge amount of self-confidence with a far above average talent to take the lead and make the decisions. Those traits often go together with an impressively muscled physique and unmistakable masculine facial features. Of course, if he isn’t actually in a leader’s position within his trade, then he will have a high-testosterone job, like soldier, policeman, fire-fighter or adventurer.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I can understand, up to a certain point, why this character is so hugely popular in the erotic-romance stories and why they are a fixed element in so many fantasies of straight women and gay men (and of course of bisexuals of both sexes). He’ll make sure you’ll never have a dull moment and looks good while doing that.

Also, the alpha male is perhaps relatively easy to write. He’s often the one creating the action, the one who has all the adventures, who takes risks and probably doesn’t run away from a fight. Whatever his weaknesses as a character may be, boring isn’t one of them.

And yet, the alpha male has never been a huge inspiration for me as (main) character for my stories. Not that I’ve always been aware of this fact, or that it was ever a conscious decision, it simply didn’t happen. It’s only recently that I started to notice the pattern. It doesn’t matter if it’s the “serious stuff” I write as R.A. Padmos or the erotica by S. Dora, none of my main characters could be described as alpha males by any stretch of the imagination.

My main characters are observers and outsiders. They doubt far beyond simply having initial doubts about something before they make up their minds. They are never quite certain about their own worth, honestly surprised as they are that a beautiful and interesting human being can truly be in love with them.

Take Isaac Newhouse, for instance. He’s the main character of my M/M BDSM series Calling the Shots. He’s close to forty, has a middle-management job at the office of an insurance company and he knows all too well he doesn’t have the makings of a romance hero. No way he could be the dominant in a D/s relationship with his younger lover, Tom. He, the gentle soul, could never order his lover to get on his knees and call him Sir.

But there you have it. What starts as an afternoon of sex with a bit of kink becomes so much more when Isaac finds the courage to admit that his lover’s need to be submissive during sex resonates something inside him that he hadn’t been aware of before. It’s not that he thinks there’s anything intrinsically wrong with BDSM, he just doesn’t believe he has the makings of a good (enough) dominant.

Isaac is an eager student, with lots of questions. He never assumes to be right about anything concerning his role as dominant. This makes him perhaps a bit different from the dominants we often see in romantic-erotica, but if a character like Isaac makes you curious, then I’m happy to tell you that Part One of the series,  Facing the Truth, is available at Total E-Bound and the next one, The Right Direction, will be published on August 24^th. Pre-orders, starting at the 13^th of August, will be rewarded with a 15% discount. (http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=203#booklist) I hope to be able to present my publisher with Part Three soon.

A small excerpt from The Right Direction

Isaac had been slightly worried that the package of toys he had ordered from the online adult store would not get there in time, but on Thursday afternoon, right after he returned from work, the doorbell rang and the postman handed it to him.

He walked straight to the bedroom, with Tom in his wake. “Can I take a peek?”

“No.”

Tom pouted. “Not even if I wear my collar? You know, do a trial run?”

“Again, no.” Isaac managed to sound stern, but only just.

“Okay, I get the message. I’ll make supper.” Tom gave in. “It’s not like you can hide it from me, anyway. If I really want to know what’s in that package, I will find it.” He must have seen the look of disappointment on Isaac’s face, because he hastened to say, “That’s not what I meant. You can put everything in the toy drawer and I give you my promise not to peek unless you tell me to. Though if you’ve bought as many toys as I think you have, there won’t be enough space in one drawer, so you might want to use the other one as well.”

Isaac kissed him. “Thanks for being a good sport. What are we having for supper?”

Tom winked. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

Before Isaac could react, his lover was gone. He laughed for a moment, then stared at the box wrapped in brown paper and went very quiet. This was what he had ordered and paid for. He had masturbated thinking about how he was going to use his purchases on his sub. While it was for fun and spicing up sex, he couldn’t help but think it had become so much more. They hadn’t needed any formal rituals to use a cock ring or a string of anal beads, yet Tom had knelt at his feet, called him Sir and had looked so full of joy when Isaac had given him his collar.

With slightly trembling hands, he tore away the paper and opened the box. He quickly unpacked everything and placed the items neatly on the bed. He gazed at the collection for what must have been minutes before he finally picked up the flogger. Starting by admiring the handiwork of the craftsman who had made the object was the safest option. Though he had never before held a flogger in his hands, Isaac recognised the exquisite detailing and perfect balance. According to the description on the website, this particular flogger was perfect for teasing a sub, but also made for a nice thud. Isaac hadn’t been sure what thud meant in relation to sting, but now that he was holding the object, the words came alive. He caressed the inside of his forearm with the suede stripes and smiled. In his mind, he could already see Tom’s shivers of anticipation when he introduced his lover to this fine instrument.

The cane, however, told a very different story. In all its stern simplicity, it spoke of danger. A disconcerting quiver of pleasure shot down his spine. His cock filled. Quickly, he put the cane back.

The whip wasn’t much safer either, though for some reason slightly more emotionally neutral than the cane, so he left it where it was. He assessed that, in order to be able to use it comfortably on his sub, he would have to practise. Preferably in private so Tom wouldn’t see or hear him. His sub deserved the best his Dom had to offer, even if the perfect stroke of the whip was not something his much-admired Sir had been born with. Illusion was as much a part of BDSM play as with any theatrical act.

S. Dora

R.A. Padmos

My S. Dora blog:http://sdora.wordpress.com/

My R.A. Padmos blog: http://rapadmos.wordpress.com/

Outside the Comfort Zone

By S. Dora (Guest Blogger)

Let me start by thanking Lisabet for giving me so graciously a chance to be her guest. It’s truly an honour to be here.

Write about what you know. All writers must have heard those words about a thousand times before we even published our first story.

But be honest, what could be more fun than ignoring that rule? And I don’t mean get into a spaceship and visit far away worlds, change into a vampire or werewolf, built a castle and become a medieval knight. These and many more scenarios fall into the safe realm of make-believe. We know we don’t live in the far future or ancient past, and our readers know that too. As long as we do our homework and build our worlds believably, readers will follow us to wherever and whenever we will take them, if only because the human imagination knows very few boundaries.

Make-believe can be much closer to home, and perhaps much more of a challenge than pretending to be a shape shifter or an impoverished Victorian lady. What about we write from the point of view of a different gender than our own? Or a different sexuality? A sexual practice we know we could never enjoy ourselves?

I’m a lesbian, of the Kinsey six, and then some, variation. I’m not (sexually) attracted to men at all. I’m also very much married and if monogamy didn’t exist, I would have invented it. I met my wife when I was eighteen, we’ve been together since I was twenty and it’s now thirty years later, so I at least I know that much about myself and my preferences.

Yet, my first novella written as S. Dora is about Owen, a single man falling in lust with a cute young m/m couple, and Sebastian and Davin are both totally devoted to their relationship and totally in for a threesome. More than that, Owen Bartlett isn’t single because he just happens to be between relationships, or because of some nasty experience that makes him cautious of ever trusting another man again. There is nothing to heal or make better. No, he’s single because that is what he is in his heart of hearts.

And that to me is far more about stepping outside my comfort zone than writing in intimate detail about the male anatomy or to describe what happens between those three men once they’re in a room with a bed. Because being male or female is a gradual process, and even if most of us have bodies that indicate without any doubt whether we’re one or the other, what happens in our brain is far more complicated. Every human need, character trait, talent and peculiarity can be found in both genders, though perhaps not in equal measure. Except for our very specific roles in making babies, nothing is truly and exclusively male or female. It’s even impossible to know with absolute certainty what another member of your own gender feels, even if they share your sexual orientation. It makes an ideal playground for a romance and erotica writer.

But to imagine what it’s like to be single, go to a party, meet a couple and have sex with them, now that is foreign ground to me. It’s not my fantasy, not the chance for adventure I missed. And perhaps that’s exactly the reason why I loved writing Three so much.

Curious about the story of Owen and what happens when he meets Sebastian and Davin? Three will be available at Total E-Bound on November 21, but here’s already a little teaser:

***

Davin’s back was plastered against Sebastian’s front, or perhaps Sebastian’s front was plastered against Davin’s back. Both moved in perfect counterpoint to the music. The slightly taller boy was grinding his crotch against the thinly covered arse of the shorter one, meanwhile covering the shorter boy’s head with butterfly kisses. He raked his teeth over his boyfriend’s earlobe, resulting in a soft, sweet moan from Davin, who had his eyes half-closed and his lips slightly parted. Owen doubted he was even aware of his surroundings.

Sebastian, on the other hand, looked straight at Owen, challenging him in a way that was quite open to more than one interpretation. That look, as much as Davin’s blatantly exposed sexual need, went straight to Owen’s cock, bypassing any and all rational thought.

Sebastian travelled one hand slowly downwards until his long fingers rested against the clearly outlined erection, but kept the other possessively around Davin’s middle. He traced the bulge with his thumb, whispering into the other boy’s ear. Davin blushed and nodded in agreement to the words only he could hear.

Owen felt he was being drawn into an unpredictable situation but couldn’t deny he was totally mesmerised by the perverse beauty of what was happening between the three of them. Sebastian dancing, for lack of a better word, with Davin, and he, Owen Bartlett, the one who couldn’t help but feel left out, because no matter how much Davin and Sebastian seemed to direct their teasing in his direction, they were still one very-much-in-love couple and one single man. Later he would almost certainly take the stimulation for his one-handed activities from imagining all the possible combinations with him in the roles of both spectator and participant, but for now he was sitting and watching, wishing he was somewhere else as well as hoping this would never end.

Suddenly the music stopped and the lights went on. The party was undeniably over, so Owen prepared himself mentally to go to his room and get some sleep. Halfway up the stairs a hand touched his arm. He looked and saw Sebastian Lane. He knew what the boy wanted from him, and what his own answer would be. Two gorgeous young men invited him to be part of whatever was going to happen in that hotel room… Why would he say anything but yes? He didn’t quite believe they actually wanted him to be actively involved. Maybe they got off on being watched, but even that was too good to turn down. He couldn’t deny his utter humanity.

***

You can pre-order Three now from Total-E-Bound

Curious about my other writing? I also publish under the name R.A. Padmos, and in August my novel Ravages came out with Manifold Press. (http://www.manifoldpress.co.uk/2011/08/ravages/)