Leather + Lace

So pleased to announce that "Leather+Lace" came a very creditable fifth in the 2013 Rainbow Awards in the category of Best Erotic Romance (the Bobby Michael's Award). This is a worldwide competition based on judges' scores for books published between October 2012 and September 2013.

Leather + Lace

Out Now!

Thanks to Anne Cain I now have a fabulous cover!

Swathed in chiffon and lace, Steven Lindsey Stanhope owns the stage as Stevie Tricks, lip-synching the songs of the famous gypsy queen. But after he escapes an abusive Master/slave relationship, the only collar he'll allow around his neck is black velvet.

After a four-year absence, Steve is ready to reclaim his life and the property he left behind. But is it safe? Definitely not if his ex is still into leather. To find out, Steve appears at a charity night for the local BDSM community, using the anonymity of his stage persona to mask his identity.

Instead of his ex-Master, Julius, Steve finds a tangled mess centered around another Master of Leather, Donato Rossi. In order to unravel their ties to the past, Steve and Don must find common ground and work together. In the process, they learn that when it comes to love, sometimes you have to make your own rules.

While on the surface Stevie is very pretty, her voice can be surprisingly husky and deep at times.

Stevie's costumes are the antithesis of a lot of drag queens who tend to wear as little as possible.

Aussie entertainer Amelia Airhead proves that some guys make very pretty girls.

Daniel Cater in a pose for the Sleaze Ball poster. He also frocks up as Dallas Dellaforce. A force to be reckoned with. He's a true performance artist - and I'd never refer to him as a drag queen.

Some Background

"Leather + Lace" is the second of what I hope will be a number of stand alone books whose characters will make cameo appearances in each other's stories. The theme of the series is "Opposites Attract" and the plus symbol shows that when they do finally get together, the resultant sum is a different product.

I emphasised this in "Red+Blue" by switching the POV from dual first person to third.

"Leather+Lace" is a lot simpler, as it is only in first person.

I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of BDSM. Not so much the mechanics, but the mindset and why people would become involved. Lately, kink is drifting into more mainstream literature, coming out of the closet as it were, with scenes depicted as glamorous and exciting. But, one day, I had a conversation with a writer who had lived the scene and been badly scarred both mentally and physically. That made me think about the flip side when the rules of safe, sane and consensual are ignored

I also find the concept of Drag fascinating. We have some great drag artists in Sydney. For the most part, they tend to be the over-the-top caricatures, real ball-busting females, but others are glamorous even though, in real life, there is nothing femme about them.

So, being me, I was intrigued as to what would happen if the two met and mixed. One who, by convention, flouts rules, and the other who continually expounds them.

Books like John Preston’s “Mr Benson” and david stein’s “Carried Away” with their concept of putting yourself totally into another man’s hands gave me the extreme fantasy sparked by their real life experiences. To ensure I understood the reality, I read every book I could find on the Old Guard and the traditions of BDSM by writers like Guy Baldwin, Joseph Bean, Don Bastian and Thom Magister. There are also great online sites such as Fetlife where people speak of their experiences with sometimes unflinching honesty. Thanks to david stein especially for being willing to clear up a few misconceptions I had.

Rush Derr IV needs a special thanks for sharing his experience of years spent performing drag in the States and Canada.

Others helped enormously, starting with readers and fellow writers Stevie Carroll, Rapidess and Melanie Tushmore who followed its progress in NanoWriMo. A special shout out to Melanie for her feedback on bikes.

Once the first draft was complete, it was the turn of my faithful duo, Don Schecter and Kate who helped convert the raw version into something worth publishing. They were assisted this time by a new critique partner, Jess, who not only helped with the text but gave a further polish to the bikes.

Writing about a scene you’re not a participant in is not easy. I’m indebted to Dusk Peterson who provided lots of advice and leads on real life Master/slave relationships. What I learned is that there is no one way to do things. In the end, I hope that I captured both the best aspects of what BDSM and slavery can mean while also showing what can happen if care is not taken to do it correctly. According to two real life slaves, Jason and Christopher, who read the finished text, I did.

I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of fellow writers, Barry Lowe, Eden Winters, Charles Edward, Kaya Jameth and my Goodreads buddies, Fangtasia and Jo. After finding a couple of things others had missed, they assured me that the story had been beta’ed into submission and was ready to send off to Dreamspinner Press.

Here I’d like to thank Elizabeth North, Lynn West and her great team of editors and Paul Richmond and his great art department.

Finally, but definitely not least, I need to thank Stevie Nicks and her fellow Fleetwood Mack members for not only giving me the inspiration for the title, but providing me with a worthy artist any drag performer would be privileged to emulate. Her songs captivated me just as much as they did my hero.

While it's very much based in the world of BDSM and leather, it is not just a sequence of actual scenes in fact there are only two. The story deals more with the aftermath, the effects and the culture rather than the physical aspects, so those turned off by the concept may actually find it interesting.

Fans of "Caught" will be interested to hear that Danny and Nat Taylor play a crucial role in "Leather+Lace"

See more influences in what went into writing "Leather+Lace"
here

You can also read more about it in the blog I did for "The Next Big Thing"

The content is definitely +18, so I'm shifting the first chapter behind the scenes,
click the graphic at the bottom of the page to read!