Last Chance at the Contest!

Tomorrow is D day, or C day if we want to be technical. (No, not C as in the naughty word. Although that's perfectly acceptable language in this place.) It's release day for Commanding Acquisitions, the second in the 1-800-DOM-help series. Christine d'Abo is treating us to this yummy story about Simon and Gavin. Check it out.

At the end of October I announced our "Win a Tote Full of Naughty" contest to celebrate the launch of our 1-800-DOM-help series and this blog. We'll wrap up the home stretch of the contest with the celebration of the Commanding Acquisitions release. The winner receives a tote bag of naughty items including a mini flogger and other bondage accessories. To enter participate in our scavenger hunt and answer questions based on information available on our author websites.

I'll post the questions and links below again for you to search. This means one more chance to enter. Email your answers to me at mapolaris@gmail.com by midnight on Wednesday, November 10th EST. Since you will all be busy reading Commanding Acquisitions that day, I suggest you finish your search early (by the end of tonight) to free up your time in anticipation.

I'll announce the winner on the blog hopefully on Thursday. I've already collected a nice number of entries, so scurry along and play catch up folks.

Here are the questions:

Ari Thatcher asks -- In what story does artist Lily get a second chance at success?

Christine d'Abo asks -- How many books are in the Eternal Bond series?

Delphine Dryden asks -- Jack and Katie from the upcoming Xmas Spark are also the main characters in which of my earlier books?

Desiree Holt asks -- Which one of my books received the CAPA Award from The Romance Studio?

Francesca Hawley asks -- What book of mine received a 4 1/2 star review from Romantic Times Magazine?

Marilu Mann asks -- What is the name of Ramey's boss in Needing Harte?

Michelle Polaris asks -- How many stars did Bound Odyssey receive from Just Erotic Romance Reviews?

Samantha Cayto asks -- With which hot guy does Caroline end up in Illegal Moves?

Click on the author names to start your searches.

Good luck. And hurry.

Safe, sane and consensual.

Michelle

Win a Tote Full of Naughty

In celebration of the recent launch of our series, the 1-800-DOM-help gals are running a contest. We're holding a scavenger hunt. I'll list a group of questions, the answers to which can be found on our various author web locations. Search through the sites (I'll provide links), collect the info, and email your answers to me at mapolaris@gmail.com.


The winner receives a tote bag of naughty including a mini flogger and other bondage accessories. Never leave home unprepared again. (grin)

You have until Wednesday November 10th to email me your responses. That's the fantabulous release day of Christine d'Abo's story, second in the 1 800 series, entitled Commanding Acquisitions. A winner will be chosen at random from the correct entries.


You'll notice some new author names below in our hunt. Our series is expanding and several talented writers have come along for the ride. Look for their 1-800 stories in the future, as well as additional names as our collaboration grows.

So pay attention to the questions as follow:

Ari Thatcher asks-- In what story does artist Lily get a second chance at success?

Christine d'Abo asks-- How many books are in the Eternal Bond series?

Delphine Dryden asks-- Jack and Katie from the upcoming Xmas Spark are also the main characters in which of my earlier books?

Desiree Holt asks-- Which one of my books received the CAPA Award from The Romance Studio?

Francesca Hawley asks-- What book of mine received a 4 1/2 star review from Romantic Times Magazine?

Marilu Mann asks-- What is the name of Ramey's boss in Needing Harte?

Michelle Polaris asks-- How many stars did Bound Odyssey receive from Just Erotic Romance Reviews?

Samantha Cayto asks-- With which hot guy does Caroline end up in Illegal Moves?




Click on each author's name to start your search.



Good luck, and may the best kinkster, um, I mean reader, win.



Safe, sane and consensual,

Michelle

Happy Birthday to Me! Contest Winner

Congratulations to Jennifer Mathis - the winner of my birthday contest. Email me at francesca@francescahawley.com with your address and I'll get your package into the mail!
Thanks to everyone for stopping by to share my birthday and I loved all the comments!

Happy Birthday to Me! Contest & Control issues

Hi everyone, I'm Francesca Hawley, one of the 1800DOMhelp line-up of authors and today (October 20) is my birthday.

To celebrate, I'm going to give some presents away to a reader who comments on my blog post. The winning reader will win the combo-pack pictured to the left: a pocket Kama Sutra, a cherry Lollicock, and a print copy of my medieval erotic romance, Seeking Truth. I chose Seeking Truth, because there are some light BDSM elements within the story, so it fit with our theme here. To be included in the contest, post your comment by by 7 a.m. CST on October 21. I'll announce the winner on October 21 around noon CST. I'm also running a contest to celebrate my birthday at Authors by Moonlight - different prize there. So get in the running twice!

Now, lets talk bondage and control. Why do I like to write BDSM? Because restraint is just plain hot. When I first found Ellora's Cave back in the early years of the company (somewhere around 2002/2003) some of the first stories I read involved bondage. The idea of giving away your power by trusting another person to bind you really floated my boat as a reader. It was exciting and naughty all at once. Once I started writing erotic romance, BDSM was always in the back of my mind as an area I wanted to explore. I just had to work out what attracted me so much so I could create believable characters and situations for them to master.

As Michelle discussed in her post, the dynamics of BDSM encompass a power exchange. The bottom submits, giving up control to a top who runs the scene. One of the most basic and straightforward ways to take control and submit to the control of another is by being bound. Once you're tied up you just have to lay there and take it...right?

So...the one tied up is submitting and the one doing the tying is dominating. But who is really in control? If the bottom says their safeword, play is done. And that's the way it should be, so that makes the power exchange a really fine line for both the dominant and submissive to negotiate. It's the tension inherent in the power exchange that intrigues me and a major reason I love to read and to write BDSM stories.

So far, my dominants are male and my submissives are female, but at some point I'll change that up. My heroes tend to be warriors and protectors, so they play by the rule of safe, sane and consensual, even if they don't know that's how they roll. My medieval hero, Eaduin Kempe won't take any woman to his bed if she refuses to consent. For a medieval Baron, that's unusual. Barons could take what they wanted from whoever they wanted (shy of the King), particularly in the 1100s. But my knight lives and breathes chivalry. Even so, he still gets off on topping my heroine, Vérité. The good part is she enjoys what he dishes out and she consents to being bound and blindfolded. Spanked. And she'd go for pretty much anything else he'd like to suggest, too. As I said, this story is primarily BDSM elements - not a full-on lifestyle story - but if anyone could carry off the lifestyle, Eaduin could. Can ya tell I kind of love the guy? grin

I'm equally excited about the hero of Controlling Interest, my story for the 1800DOMhelp series. Torin Stuart keeps his emotions under tight restraints, but there's one woman who can get under his skin...Mozelle Vincent, aka Mouse. Tor has had the hots for Mouse for several years, but she was working as his mother's personal assistant so she was off limits. When the situation changes, Tor and Mouse face off over the management of his BDSM club and control becomes an all-consuming issue for them both.

So, what elements of BDSM really intrigue you? Is it the power exchange total package? Being bound and helpless? Taking control? Or something else entirely? Let me know what you think and be in the running for a Lollicock of your very own and oh yeah, a damned hot dominant hero, too.