Earlier this week, I wrote an article about the potential health benefits of BDSM. Later, I found a nice little piece on Cracked.com that sums it up a little better than I can. So if you’re not in the mood to read a whole blog post, just check this out.
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This post is a follow-up to the one I did yesterday about Wonder Woman’s Semi-Secret BDSM Origins. I feel a follow-up is necessary because in looking into this issue, it got me thinking about a few concepts that I explore in my recently-completed book, “The Big Game.” While I have explored BDSM concepts in my books, namely in “The Final Communions,” I’ve never really explored the actual merits of these concepts. I think I’ve scratched the surface with “The Big Game” and I hope it inspires more exploration with future projects.
In discussing Wonder Woman’s BDSM origins, I pointed out how her creator, William Marston, had some pretty unusual views about the concept of submission and domination, at least from traditional Western perspective. With Wonder Woman, he frames the act of submission as an act of love and trust. It’s an act someone does willingly to show their respect and love. He sees it as a part of the feminine ideal, the complete antithesis of a patriarchal system where power oppresses for the sake of power.
It’s a powerful and admittedly radical concept, especially in an era where people are less trusting of those in power. The historically low 11-percent approval rating of Congress is proof enough of that. If Marston were alive today, I imagine he’d see this as further indication that patriarchal power structures are inherently corrupt. Too many people in this system seek power as a means to avoid submission to anyone or anything because they believe such submission is a bad thing. In a culture that shames itself over legacies of slavery and oppression of minorities, that’s understandable.
It also presents a unique opportunity to explore alternatives. I think William Marston’s ideas surrounding BDSM, including those highlighted in Wonder Woman’s origin story, offer something unique and different for a jaded population. Think about it a little deeper. Can submission be an act of love? Can domination be an act of love? Can these concepts be done in a way that subverts the kind of patriarchal corruption that Marston criticized?
I say it can and I make that case in “The Big Game.” The setup of the book alone puts it in a perfect position to highlight both systems. The story involves football, the ultimate exercise in masculinity and domination. The men who play this game are conditioned to seek domination over their opponents. Naturally, this is going to skew their idea of submission. Football players, especially those who play beyond pee-wee levels, will be more reluctant than most to entertain this idea.
So what happens when one player who carries himself with these skewed ideas more than most gets a lesson in loving submission? What does it do to him? How does it affect him? Is the effect positive or negative? Can it help him be a better football player?
These are all questions I explore in “The Big Game.” They’re ideas that I hope to flesh out even more in future projects. The act of submission doesn’t have to be cold, cruel, and callous. William Marston used Wonder Woman to frame this act in the opposite context. I use that same context in “The Big Game.” It is possible for submission and domination to convey love and trust. Without those emotional undertones, it becomes the kind of cold, callous act that leads to corruption and abuse.
I think the time is right for these concepts to enter the mainstream. I think the public is more open to alternative ways of thinking than ever before. I’m still waiting for responses from publishers, but I hope “The Big Game” can be part of that.
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As a longtime comic book fan, I like to think I know a bit more about comic book characters than fans who only know them through the movies. That said, even non-comic book fans probably know who Wonder Woman is. She’s one of the most iconic fictional characters of the last 70 years, ranking right up there with Superman and Batman. Most know her as a badass warrior princess from a secret island run by other badass warrior women. What isn’t quite as well known is that Wonder Woman’s origin is actually closely tied to the world of BDSM.
It’s true. That’s not just some twisted interpretation of early comics talking. It’s well-documented that Wonder Woman’s creator, William Marston, had some rather unconventional views about sex, gender, and feminism. In some respects, he was ahead of his time. In others, he just represented an alternative voice at a time when it was hard for those voices to be heard.
So how exactly does BDSM fit into Wonder Woman’s origin? Well first and foremost, it’s important to note that most of these origins have been ignored, undone, or nullified in some elaborate way within the modern comics. Pick up a Wonder Woman comic today and you won’t find many signs of BDSM or radical feminist undertones. You’ll see a woman being a badass warrior fighting monsters, aliens, and super-villains. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it does underscore the vision of Wonder Woman’s creator.
So what exactly is that vision? Well, Vice.com did an article last year with Noah Berlatsky, who wrote a book about Wonder Woman entitled, “Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in Marston/Peter Comics.” If you’re at all interested in Wonder Woman or older concepts of BDSM, I highly recommend it. In this book, Berlatsky says:
“But Marston has a real feminist agenda, I think, not just in the sense that he wants to put women in power, but in the sense that he wants to overturn the patriarchal idea that power should rule, or that the strongest should rule. Marston sees erotic submission as important not because it puts men down but because submission is actually for him a virtue. Erotic submission is about releasing control to the one you love, for him. So, yes, I think that is opposed to the values patriarchy tells us are important, and I think it has feminist implications, or can have feminist implications when coupled to a belief in women’s power, and women’s right to power, as in Marston’s worldview.”
Let that concept sink in for a moment. Think about just how radically different this is from our Western concept of submission and domination. Some may argue it’s part of human nature. Some may argue it’s a result of Western culture in general, which places such heavy emphasis on individual autonomy and freedom. Is the logic really that twisted though?
Submission, for Marston and for the early incarnation of Wonder Woman, isn’t seen as an act of weakness or defeat. It’s seen as an act of love and respect. We in the Western world have a hard time believing that submission can be anything that someone does willingly and with love. Marston, through Wonder Woman, shows that there can be elements of love and understanding through such acts. It is a concept that routinely plays out with BDSM and one that still remains taboo within our Western culture.
As such, many of these elements are no longer part of Wonder Woman’s mythos. However, some writers are making a concerted effort to revisit these concepts. Earlier this year, famed comic book writer, Grant Morrison, penned Wonder Woman: Earth One. For those of you seeking a version of Wonder Woman different from the movies and more in line with William Marston’s original vision, I highly recommend this book. It goes out of its way to capture that original concept of loving submission, in some cases quite literately.
Morrison stated in an interview with Newsarama that he sought a different approach to telling Wonder Woman’s story. This time, he underplayed the warrior aspect of Wonder Woman and the Amazons. That element is still there, but it’s secondary to the overarching themes of Marston’s ideas about submission and love. As a result, it creates a story that feels as groundbreaking now as it did in 1940.
For the past few decades, Wonder Woman’s BDSM origins have been underplayed or marginalized. However, with BDSM becoming more mainstream, thanks to the success of “50 Shades of Grey,” there may come a time when these radical ideas that are far older than most people think are revisited.
It is still a radical idea, the concept of submission being an act of love. It’s an idea I’m just starting to explore in my own books, particularly “The Big Game.” It’s kind of sobering to know that this idea was being explored seven decades ago and then got swept under the rug. Perhaps that means books like mine are coming out at just the right time as society learns more about these unorthodox, but not-so-radical concepts.
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In the age of the internet, we shouldn’t be too surprised when we come across insights into the human condition that sound so counter-intuitive, but turn out to be true. The mere fact we can fact-check what adults and authority figures tell us is a pretty remarkable, and fairly new, concept that we’re still wrapping our heads around. As a result, it makes for some pretty remarkable insights.
Like did you know that BDSM and kinky sex practices might be good for your mental health? No really. The Journal of Sexual Medicine actually did a study on the impact of BDSM on couples and it turns out, there are elements of it that are beneficial. Go figure.
As someone who writes about BDSM and “non-traditional” sex acts, this makes some bit of sense. It takes a certain amount of mental fortitude and personal strength to practice these kinds of acts and get the most benefit out of them. For those who don’t write about this stuff, it may sound wrong on so many levels, but it’s hard to argue with science.
Here’s a video from the Think Tank channel that nicely breaks it down better than I can. In addition, it also gives me some added insight for my next book, “The Big Game.” When it finally comes out, I hope it shows.
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It says a lot about the state of romance in popular culture when Deadpool – yes, Deadpool – is considered the top romance movie of the year. That’s not a joke or some gimmicky marketing ploy. That’s an actual news story from earlier this year. About a month ago, it was widely reported that Deadpool had been the top-selling Blu-Ray in the romance section on Amazon.com. Now why is this a big deal? Well for those of you who aren’t comic book fans, Deadpool isn’t known for romance. He’s known for things like this.
His story is less about romance and more about him being a wise-cracking, overly violent, 4th-wall breaking nutcase with a heart of gold. It’s every bit as insane as it sounds. It’s the exact reason why he’s a cult favorite among comic book fans. The movie that came out earlier this year did everything it could to capture that and did so on a budget less than half of what traditional superhero movies get. Despite so many things working against it, this movie is still one of the biggest successes of 2016. According to Box Office Mojo, it made $782 million on a $53 million budget. Even among non-superhero movies, that’s pretty impressive.
What makes this even more remarkable is how much of the story surrounding Deadpool is crafted around romance. Make no mistake though. Romance with Deadpool is very different from romance with Superman. There is no Lois Lane. There is no sweet and innocent young woman who Deadpool has to change in order to be with. Instead, we get Vanessa.
Who is Vanessa? Well, she’s a stripper/prostitute/girl-with-serious-issues. So naturally, she and Deadpool hit it off beautifully. A good chunk of the movie is dedicated to showing them in all sorts of lurid or seemingly lurid moments that forces one’s dirty imagination to run wild.
Now why is this a big deal? Why is Vanessa different from any other generic comic book interest? Well aside from the fact that she isn’t afraid to get naked in this movie, there’s something remarkable here that may or may not have been intentional.
Go back about 10 years and watch any slasher movie. Who usually dies first? With few exceptions, it’s almost always the overly slutty, overly pretty, overly sassy woman who is too comfortable getting naked and too comfortable being sexual. It’s a twisted form of puritanism, killing off those who are overly promiscuous while often letting the sweet and untainted virgin survive. With Deadpool, they do the opposite.
Vanessa is a sex-positive woman whose sexuality is never the reason for her predicaments in this movie. What happens to her in Deadpool would’ve happened if she had been a virgin nun. Her overt sexuality is never conveyed as a negative quality about her. That’s not to say she didn’t have some twisted character flaws. There are a number of scenes where she makes clear that she wouldn’t last long in any slasher movie. Despite this, she still comes off as lovable and endearing.
For me as a romance/erotica writer, this is pretty remarkable because I rarely see sex-positive female characters portrayed in such a way. Contrast this with Bella Swan in “Twilight” or Anastatisa Steel in “50 Shaes of Grey” and it’s no contest. Vanessa is a better sex-positive female character at her core.
Given the success of movies like Deadpool, I hope this means we’ll see more characters like Vanessa and not just in superhero movies. Pop culture, for a variety of conflicting reasons, remains somewhat weary about female characters who are overtly sexual in a positive way. There’s still this inclination to punish or undermine those who are more sexual than the arbitrary level that society deems appropriate. I like to think that the strides made by society will temper this inclination, but that remains to be seen.
For aspiring writers like me, this is kind of a relief because it means that there is a place for sex-positive female characters in pop culture. One day, I hope to contribute to that culture with my work.
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Hope everyone enjoyed my free give-away for “Child of Orcus.” I don’t know if I’ll do another promotion down the line. It depends on how things with my latest project pans out. That project, I’m happy to say, is finally complete! Yes, I have completed yet another book and I’m ready to make it official.
Earlier this spring, I teased (and hopefully tantalized) the theme of my latest book. When I came up with it, I did so with one major theme in mind. I wanted to combine my love of sports with my love of erotica. I feel it’s a potent combination and one that isn’t often explored in this era of vampire lovers and wealthy BDSM enthusiasts. With the baseball season in full swing, the football season just around the corner, and the Olympics almost upon us, I think the time is right for this potent combination to shine. For that reason, I’m proud to announce, “The Big Game.”
Imagine, for a moment, all the pressure and stress that a star athlete must endure. In our culture, we see it all the time. Athletes, some of them teenagers, are burdened with all the hopes and dreams of an entire team, if not an entire community. They get a taste of fame and stardom before they’ve even had a chance to learn how to handle such pressure. It’s a lot to ask of anyone, even an athlete.
Add into the mix the innate attraction to star athletes and the pressure is even greater. It’s no great secret. Athletes attract women. Sometimes, those women go to elaborate lengths to hook up with these athletes and not always for the right reasons. Some aren’t even subtle about it. There are stories everywhere like this one that depict just how much sordid attention an athlete can get.
This is the world that David Daniels finds himself in with, “The Big Game.” He’s the star quarterback of the River Valley Riders in a small Texas town where football is king. It’s not unlike many Texas towns. What we see in “Friday Night Lights” is just a small part of a much larger story. David knows this better than most because he’s got the biggest game of his life coming up, but he’s a total wreck.
Being a star athlete, he knows the kind of attention he gets. He experiences the pressure, the temptation, and the potential pitfalls every day. As such, he struggles to control his world. Being a teenager, that control only goes so far. That struggle only escalates at the big game approaches. His coach senses this and sets him up with someone who can help him, namely his beautiful college-aged daughter, Gloria Gibson. What she teaches him and what he learns about control will have a lasting impact during the big game and beyond.
This is a story I hope appeals to both erotica fans and sports fans. It’s a story that shows a young man learning from a strong older woman what it really means to be in control. What kind of control does this mean? Well some BDSM fans have probably already figured that out. Others will just have to wait and see.
As of now, the book is complete and edited. Before I self-publish it though, I’m going to make a concerted effort to get a publisher on my side. I’ve done this with almost every one of my books, but I’ve yet to receive an offer that followed through. I’m STILL waiting for a response from Crimson Frost. I’m not sure how extensive I’ll be with “The Big Game.” I’m going to focus primarily on smaller erotica publishers and BDSM imprints. Some might be longer shots than others, but I’m going to try. If I don’t get any offers, I’ll self-publish again and try my luck with another book. For now, here’s to hoping that “The Big Game” is a winner.
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I spent most of my weekend wrapping up the last round of edits for my latest book. As I prepare to send it out to publishers, I want to remind everyone that the 5-day, free-giveaway for my first self-published book, “Child of Orcus,” is almost complete. Today will be the final day of the promotion. After that, it returns to its previous price of $0.99. I know that’s not much, but you just can’t beat giving something away for free.
I don’t know if or when I’ll make another offer like this. As I’ve said before, I’m trying to get a publisher or an agent for my next round of books. I have only a small sliver of hope that Crimson Frost will follow through in publishing “Embers of Eros.” I’m looking into other publishers, large and small, for opportunities to spread my work. I have a lot of material to share. I just don’t have the opportunity to share it yet. I hope that changes soon.
In the meantime, enjoy “Child of Orcus.” I don’t know if or when I’ll do another free giveaway like this. So take advantage of it while you can!
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As I continue to edit my latest book, I have a special summer offer. For the next five days, my first ever self-published book, “Child of Orcus” will be free. Not discounted. Not in part. Completely and totally free. If you have an Amazon account, you can read it. No cost. No fuss. Completely and utterly free.
Not to sound too much like a bad infomercial, but this is limited. I’ll only be doing this for the next five days. Then, the price goes back to normal again. The price wasn’t much to begin with, but you still can’t beat free, no matter how you slice it.
I feel like I need to grow my audience and I can’t do that even with a discount. I need to be willing to show what I can offer. That means eating up the cost and sharing my work for free. I hope many take advantage of this. I also hope it inspires readers to check out other parts of my work and gets people excited for my next book, which I hope to announce later this month. Until then, let Child of Orcus help enhance your summer.
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I know I’ve been blogging about it for a while now. For quite some time, I’ve been working with Crimson Frost Books to publish my first non-self-published work, “Embers of Eros.” I’ve had few updates on this issue and for good reason. They have not gotten back to me in any capacity since May 2016. Before then, they sent me some paperwork. However, it was paperwork I had already filled out months before. It’s not a good sign to say the least.
Now I don’t know if there are other factors involved. There may be shakeups with the editors or something of that nature. I understand that to some degree, but I’ve had this book pending with them for such a long time now that I’m starting to consider withdrawing it. I may be new to the industry, but it shouldn’t take THIS long to refine a manuscript that they’ve had for over a year now. It’s not like I sent them something on the scale of the last Harry Potter book.
It would be a major step back if I withdrew my manuscript from them. I may end up having to self-publish “Embers of Eros” once more. I’m hoping to avoid that because I don’t think I’ll build an audience that way. I’ll start feeling around for other small publishers, but I’m really starting to lose faith in Crimson Frost.
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There’s a time and a place to celebrate love. Many of my books have strong romantic themes. Skin Deep, Child of Orcus, and The Escort and the Gigolo are each built around romance . That said, there is a time where romance takes a back seat to the down and dirty world of erotica. I’ve explored that too in my writing. Jackpot and The Final Communion are basically built around casual, but meaningful erotic encounters. Both themes can make for strong stories. That’s exactly what I hope to explore in future books.
That said, there are places other than fiction where these elements play out. As if often the case, real life tends to inspire the best stories. So thanks to the Richest, here’s a list of crazy one-night stands. Enjoy!
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