Spellbound Published at Amazon

Spellbound went through its first publishing rounds a week ago, and I must say, its wonderful to get this book out there.

I am so proud of Spellbound. It has been on quite a journey, first being optioned by an agent in New York (not saying any names - lets just say I was VERY excited for a couple of weeks) only to lose its place due to Hurricane Sandy imposing itself too personally.

This was followed up with Spellbound becoming a finalist in the Steam E Reads erotic romance competition, only to lose in the final round (I later found out I had sent them a pre-edited version for the competition - What a silly mistake!).
Then I was offered a publishing contract with Steam E Reads, only to end up opting out of that to go with WahWahFunk, seeing as I had so much work published with them in the past.

Spellbound was initially written at the end of 2012, in response to Fifty Shades of Grey and the negative connotations around BDSM in that book. Like so many other erotic romance readers, I loved Fifty Shades of Grey, but I felt it was a shame Christian Grey had to be portrayed as disturbed.  My own experience of BDSM and the Dominants I had relationships with over the years were so positive, I felt that someone needed to speak up with a book that, while remaining with the contemporary romance theme, explored the ideas of BDSM with more understanding. Everyone who reads this blog knows that I am a feminist and a very passionate heterosexual (I LOVE men) and both of these things are very compatible within a BDSM relationship.

You'll just have to grab your copy of Spellbound to find out how that can be.

In the meantime, we are working to get Spellbound up on other platforms, such as Kobo, Nook, Apple, Smashwords, Draft2Digital and Lulu.

I will post little excerpts of Spellbound here each week, to see if I can tease you into purchasing your own copy. Be sure to drop by and send me a note about how Spellbound was for you.

Blogging from A - Z Challenge - April 19 Q

Q is for Quills

This is a small post dedicated to one of my favorite films, Quills.

Despite all my feminist leanings, left wing ideologies and passion for sexual freedoms, I happen to be a mad keen reader of the works of The Marquis de Sade.

Why do I love him? I don't know - well I do, but it's tricky to defend, because he does represent something terrible in many ways. But I think his writing is courageous, even if mad, and I think his madness is an artists madness borne of intense frustration more than anything else.

Of course, I never knew him personally, nor did i get locked in one of his cages. (worst luck)

When I first saw Quills, it revealed that other people saw in him what I saw, and it speaks to that mysterious passion (some) women have for (some) men who insist on dominating them.

I do love this film. 

The desire for kink

I went to a book launch last week, that I will do a review on soon. It is a book called 'Kink' and it is an exploration of kinky sex that goes on around the Sydney area.

I'll talk more about this another time, but one thing the writer said intrigued me. She said BDSM ranges in severity. There are those who want to be treated as the object and to have seduction forced upon them, and then there are those who want to be nailed to a crucifix.

I thought this was a very interesting point, because what I find fascinating about writing erotic romance is the way it is revealing more and more about female sexuality. There are some modern day surprises - like the fondness for male on male erotica. I have to confess, I have always had a 'thing' for male on male porn, and it is a strong fantasy of mine, but to see that so many other women shared this fondness was liberating.

Another of the most popular styles of erotica is the BDSM fantasy. That women love BDSM has been a source of fascination for everyone, from the Marquis de Sade himself all the way through to Freud.

However, I suggest that it is not necessarily the masochistic or sadistic side of BDSM that women love. Rather its the role place and to be the object of obsession or intense focus. Women are very drawn to the idea of a man being so obsessed with them, he needs to tie them up and dominate them completely to his will. It is the idea of inspiring this response in a thinking, free male, that is so enticing to women.

For women, power is a difficult issue. We are not necessarily comfortable with exerting power over others. this is changing, however it is still very exciting to imagine that without trying you can render someone to the state of obsession, simply by existing.

When I used to engage in BDSM myself (more on this in later posts) I always found the role of the submissive to be an intensely powerful role. it is not as simple as having someone 'own' you. It is also about 'accidentally' owning them in a different way.