I’m completely honored and humbled that Deputy Joe made the finals in the Pauline Reage Novel category.  Here’s the press release with all the finalists.

I can’t say I wouldn’t be thrilled to win…but just making the finals is wonderful.  A mystery that takes on Mormonism, being outed in a small community and the main character discovering his sadistic/dominate streak.  It was a novel that took a lot of chances.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR NLA-I WRITING AWARDS
(Columbus, OH) — National Leather Association: International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/leather/fetish community, announced today the finalists for its recently created writing awards. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.

The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:

Gloria Brame, “Transformation and Transcendence in BDSM,” which appeared in Filthy Gorgeous Things, July 2009, “Force” issue. Available at: http://filthygorgeousthings.com/
E.R. Chaline, “Contemporary Gay BDSM in the UK,” which appeared in Skin Two (2009).
Jeff Mann, “How to be a Country Leather Bear,” from Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel (eds.), Second Person Queer: Who You Are (So Far). (Arsenal Pulp Press).
Jack Rinella, “Juggling,” which appeared in LeatherViews

Sarah Sloane, “The Biochemistry of BDSM,” which appeared in Sexis. Available at: http://www.edenfantasys.com/sexis/sex/bdsm-biochemistry-110492/

The finalists for the Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award are:

Lee Harrington, Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond (lulu.com)
david stein, Ask the Man Who Owns Him: The Real Lives of Gay Masters and slaves (Perfectbound Press)
Two Knotty Boys, Two Knotty Boys Back on the Ropes (Green Candy)

The finalists for the Pauline Reage Novel Award are:

Melinda Barron, Graceful Submission (Loose Id)
James, Buchanan, Hard Fall (MLR Press)
Alex Ironrod, Obsession (Nazca Plains)
Claire Thompson, Submission Times Two (Romance Unbound)

The finalists for the John Preston Short Fiction Award are:

Kieran Wyn DeWhurst, “The Last Mistress of the Chatelaine,” in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
Jack Fritscher, “Goodbye Saigon,” in Phillip Mackenzie, Jr. (ed.), Special Forces: Gay Military Erotica (Cleis Press)
Shanna Germain, “Second Skin,” in Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
Jeff Mann, “Lost River,” in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)
Xan West, “Missing Daddy,” in Richard Labonté (ed.), Daddies: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis Press)

The finalists for the Samois Anthology Award are:

Cecilia Tan and Sarah Desautels (eds.), Like a Thorn: An Anthology of BDSM Fairy Tales (Circlet Press)
Rachel Kramer Bussel (ed.), Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Stories (Cleis Press)

The winners will be announced at the NLA-I’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Tribal Fire in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (April 30 – May 2 2010). Please contact the award committee chair, Steve Vakesh, for more information about the awards at . For more information about Tribal Fire, the National Leather Association, and the NLA-I’s meeting on Sunday morning, see: http://www.tribalfireokc.com/ and http://www.nla-i.com

Tweet This Post Facebook

Which means I’ve pulled out my special riding jacket and sew my new patch on.  Now, I have my leathers for riding: Chaps, half-chaps, winter and summer weight jackets.  Those aren’t particularly special.  My special jacket is one I wear to Harely events. 

It is, in fact, a vintage WWII Eisenhower Field Jacket that I stole out of a prop room during college.  Damn thing smells like a mildewy dog when it gets wet…but it’s cool. 

The tag in the inside pocket reads:

Jacket, Field   Wool O.D

Stock No. 55-J-184-585

38L

Dated June 9, 1944

P.O. 12018

Pattern Dated 5/10/44

Spec. P.Q.D. No. 437

Dated May 12, 1944

Phila Q.M. Depot

and the worn signature of a long lost inspector

Pulling it out to sew the new patch on means pulling out the monster spool of Olive Drab thread and commencing the year’s repairs.  This is when my past career as a detail sewer in a small sweat shop comes in handy.  There are certain parts of a lining on a high end jacket that just must be hand sewed. 

Tonight I’ve reattached the sleeve linings to the body lining, sewed the body lining back onto the front yolk facing.  I’m going to have to borrow my sister’s sewing machine to do some mending of wear along the cuffs and bottom.  But, it’s worth it.  I get tons of comments when I wear it.  I’ll probably take it to St. Louis with me for PCA.

Tweet This Post Facebook

I couldn’t pick just one of the guys from I Am Ghost.  They’re all just freaking hot.  From their official bio: One of the most visually stunning and musically talented bands in the rock scene today, I Am Ghost take their melodic mixture of punk and hardcore and combine it with infectious catchy and twisted pop that will stick in your head for weeks on end. With a huge loyal fan base spread across the world, I Am Ghost are set to embark on their biggest journey yet: a full USA headlining tour along with trecks back to Europe, Japan and Australia in 2010. The band currently has two full-length releases on indi power house label Epitaph Records.

And I would have to agree with the visual stunning part.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet This Post Facebook

I.

AM.

BEAT. 

But it was a good weekend.  I sold all my copies of both Hard Fall and Cheating Chance.  Almost sold out of Personal Demons, The Good Thief and Edge of Desperation and did well with the others. Zoe is the perfect pitch person, she was a one author whirlwind getting books into hands of various people and convincing them to buy.

Met lots and lots of wonderful people including the owner, art director and one of the authors from Dreamspinner Press, who’s name I am completely spacing right now because I’m so bushed.  But she’s delightful and from Texas. 

Chatted with Smuttcutter and her gal about Porn and Tattoos.  Hung out with Jay Lygon and Zoe Nichols.  Both are great fun…although, apparently the Zoe is now adopted by a clique of slashers. 

Now I just need to recover and start planning the next event. 

Tweet This Post Facebook

I’m rather bushed…but it’s so much fun hanging out with folks where you can discuss the proper procedure for fitting your GI Joe with the dick eraser and then have people pass around pics of what they do with THEIR Joes and nobody thinks you’re odd. 

Stephanie Vaughn is a stitch to be around, so the day flew.  It’s a small con, but fun, nice people.  And it’s always fun to talk about what fandoms people write in.  A good many people recognized our names from the LA Weekly article and several recognized me by my hat…author branding, it’s a good thing.  Of course I forgot to TAKE a copy of the LA Weekly article (my friend Jeffery grabbed my 1/2 a dozen since he lives in the more advent guard section of LA).

Swag doesn’t move as well at this con, not sure why.  “Have a deck of Ellora’s Cave cover cards.” “I don’t have any cash.” “No, have, as in ‘it’s free.’”  What doesn’t go I’ll keep for Antelope Valley Pride in June. 

Tomorrow it’s Jay Lygon and I. 

Tweet This Post Facebook

Twice The Cowboy, Twice The Ride

Two Novellas in one Print Volume

In eBook and Print from Phaze

Twice the Cowboy and Twice the Ride, together in one print volume!

Preditor and Editors Readers Poll Winner!  Love Romances Golden Rose Winner!

Jess stamped his boots before following Manuel through the door. It was as cold inside as it was outside. Scooting round the charro already digging through the drawers, ancient springs protested when Jess flopped on top of the covers. He watched as Manuel shucked his clothes on the way to the closet. Jess would have reached over and turned on the small wall heater, but they weren’t going to be there that long.

He closed his eyes and lazed. Subtle, soft, Manuel’s scent drifted from the pillow. The slightly honeyed smell of the shampoo Manuel always used reminded Jess he needed to pick more up. That meant a trip to the only damn store in town he’d found that carried the chunky orange bottle. Probably he should grab some of those little sesame candies the boy had gotten him hooked on. Okay, it was four goddamn thirty and he was making grocery lists. It was either time to go back to sleep or head out. Sleep sounded like the better option. Jess just started to wonder what was keeping Manuel when the drizzle out of the bath sounded.

Disgusted, Jess sat up, flipped on the heater and yelled without quite yelling. “You could have taken a shower at my place.”

From behind the drone of water came Manuel’s voice. “No hay que ahogarse en un vaso de agua.”

Jess hauled himself off the thin mattress and headed into the closet. Neat rows of shirts and jeans hung from a pole along one wall. Two sets of broken-in cowboy boots, a pair of tennis shoes and Manuel’s fancy charro boots were lined up underneath. Manuel’s pride and joy, second only to Mango, took up most of the space. Tucked along the back wall, a black leather saddle studded in ten pounds of coin silver slept on its tree. The damn thing cost more than a quarter of Jess’ yearly take from construction. Turning left the cowboy leaned against the jamb and coughed. A dark shadow lurked behind green and blue stripes running across a dime store shower curtain. “What the hell are you going on about?”

Manuel stepped to the rear of the tub and pulled the plastic back. “You make it a big thing when it is not.” Water beaded on his warm brown skin. “I didn’t think before we left.” Jess sucked in his breath and shifted. Suddenly his coat was too damn warm and his pants too damn tight. Manuel’s lip curled in a sensual smile. “You want to join me, papi?”

Jess swallowed. “I already had a shower.” A quick and dirty jump under the spray and hose off shower while Manuel made coffee, but a shower all the same.

Manuel leaned back against the pink tile and smirked. One hand wandered down to rub his thick, uncut cock. Nimble fingers played with Manuel’s heavy balls and stroked warm flesh. “Pasa nada.” He shrugged and pretended as though he could really care less what Jess wanted to do. “You do what you want.”

Damn, no way the cowboy could even make eight seconds with that show. “Ah, hell.” Jess hissed as he stripped. “At least it’s warm in there.” Stumbling over his own feet, he tried to get his boots and jeans off at the same time. Finally he recovered and shucked his clothes in record time.

With a smirk, Manuel licked his lips. “Very warm.”

Tweet This Post Facebook

sorry about the screw up and not posting last month…

Dear Nicky,

I’m in a kinky relationship. We’re not part of the bigger community, we just sort of switch in private. We were talking to a friend and caught some flack for using the terms "master" and "slave" when we aren’t locked into lifestyle roles or contracts. The person then said "Sir" and "boy" would be more appropriate. But that feels silly since we’re close to the same age.

Is there a set convention or rule? Sir, boy, top, bottom, dom, sub, master, slave… what’s the difference?

Puzzled Switch

Dear Puzzled Switch,

What you choose to call yourselves in your bedroom is between you and your partner.  That’s private space.  If your guy has to ask you if he can take a piss – yeah you’re playing Master/slave games.  If it’s just S&M then it’s a little different.  Still it’s between you and your guy at that point.

When you take that relationship out into the world, the public space, then terms have generally understood meanings.  And so to answer your question: yes there are conventions to what those words mean and how they’re used.

Definitions can vary depending on who’s doing the defining.  These are the general “conventions” as I understand them from my personal experience, interactions with people in the scene and shit I read.  Also remember, as a person I greatly respect once told me, “if there’s anyone who’s anti-rules…it’s leather folk.”  I’d expand that to kink folk in general.  The “conventions” serve more of a function of determining who’s a complete noob and who’s been around awhile.

Top and bottom, at the most basic, is who gets fucked and who does the fucking.  You could be a complete top and have completely vanilla sex your whole life.  It can also indicate who’s in charge of the sexual dynamic, a top can ‘top from the bottom.’  A Dom is someone who is dominant while the sub is the submissive partner in a kink relationship.  Daddies, Sirs and Masters are all dominant in the relationship.  Boys and slaves are submissive.  A slave, however, may "top" (fuck) his Master if that’s what Master wants because Master is still in control of the situation.  A submissive may or may not be a masochist.  A Dom may or may not be a sadist.  Switches, I think, have the best of both Dom and sub world since you’re comfortable in either roll.  And with switching, you don’t generally switch Dom/submissive roles within the same relationship.  I was submissive with Jake, but I’m dominant in my relationship with Brandon.

The difference between Master/slave, Sir/Boy and Daddy/boy has nothing to do with age.  “Boys” can be the same age or older than their Sirs.  It’s about time in the scene and natural proclivity not time on the planet.  Sirs are stricter and expect a higher level of obedience than a Daddy might.

The basic difference is often defined by: slaves ask for permission while boys ask for forgiveness.  

It’s a question of relative freedom.  A full-time slave is expected to give their wages to their Master to use at his discretion. (I will interject my own opinion – echoed by other commentators in the scene – that it might be wise for a slave to have access to their own bank account and be allowed to put some money into it.  This allows for an escape hatch in case the relationship goes downhill or if something happens to the Master – like death – then the slave is not destitute.)

And going back to your private life, a submissive can agree to be a Master’s slave for a night, weekend or years.  It’s not about lifestyle roles or long term contracts.  It’s about proclivity and how the submissive interacts with the Dominant. 

Part-time slaves (as I define it for explanation: those who don’t live with their long term Master.  Nobody would ever say they were a “part-time slave.”) are expected to be in regular contact with Master and consult them before major decisions. If I know someone is a slave, I would never speak directly to them. A slave in a contract might approach me…if they asked their own master permission first…maybe. But, this is a person who has willingly given up control to someone else. And they revel in it. There’s a great example of the Master/slave dynamic in the Secretary, the chick calls her boss/Dom before dinner with her family and he instructs her that she can eat no potatoes, only so many peas and all the desert she wants.  And the chick digs it. 

Boys, on the other hand, contribute to the general upkeep of the house if they live with Sir/Daddy, but generally have their own bank accounts and pay their own way through life.  A slave would never go out socially without Master unless granted explicit permission.  Boys may well move in their own social circles within the scene, have friends outside Sir’s or Daddy’s friends and basically, within limitations, lead their own lives.  The Master’s life is assumed to be the slave’s life. 

Boy’s, slaves and general sumbissives, want to please their Dominant.  A slave does this by doing exactly what the Master tells him.  If Master orders, “I want you to cook catfish for dinner, while naked and with five clothespins clipped to your balls,” the slave does exactly that.  A boy might take that request from Sir and add a few more clothespins for effect.  If boy is with a Daddy then he might decide to forgo the clothespins and go for alligator clips or since steak was on sale and Daddy loves steak, make that instead (and may get punished for it if he chose wrong).  The slave pleases by being obedient while a boy pleases by being creative and loving.  Both may have service elements in the relationship and in that case the submissive may be referred to as a boy-slave.

Puppies, by the way, have Masters – not Sirs or Daddies. Still their Masters are not the same type of Masters in a slave relationship. And that is because their relationship is based on a Human/non-human relationship. Puppies are playful, accepting, loving creatures. They embody unconditional love and absolute joy. Their masters are stern, but somewhat accepting. I mean: you don’t beat the shit outta the puppy for peeing on the rug. A Master doesn’t punish his puppy in the same way that a Master punishes his slave. It’s assumed that one is sentient and the other not…even though they are both humans playing a role.

Now comes the fun part: it all is far more fluid than all that. 

Someone who is really respected in a particular scene may want people to call him Master X.  And, even though he pretty much acts like a Daddy to his boys, the people who respect him call him Master X although it’d more “correct” to address him as Sir.  With Brandon and I, he’s submissive and I’m dominant in our sexual relationship, but not in our day to day life.  So if we were out in a play space I’d probably introduce him as a sub and not use either slave or boy.  That lets people know our dynamic without me putting strings of ownership on him.  He’s free to play with anyone he wants to.  But since Brandon isn’t collared (literally I haven’t given him one to wear), I could tell people he’s my boy (even though he’s two years older than me) and a lot of people would get that no collar means he’s free to hook up without my input.  With my ex…he wanted to train me to be a slave and I was looking for a Dom not a Master.  A slave wouldn’t have walked out on him for fucking someone else…that’s Master’s right.  Normally, it wouldn’t piss me off that much either, but it was kinda the last straw in his long litany of his being a bastard.  If I put ad on a BDSM site saying, "I’m looking for my Daddy," I will get different people responding than an ad which says, "i want to serve SIR."  

Basically that’s why we use generally recognized terms in public spaces, to be understood.  We all do it in our work worlds too – so you know who’s “in” and who’s “out.” I can tell a fellow tech geek in three minutes of conversation.  A lawyer friend claims he knows whether another lawyer practices in his specialty by the acronyms they use.  And, right or wrong, that’s the way it is in life, people who don’t know you will judge your involvement or you knowledge by the words you use.

Hope that helps.

Stay safe and sane.

~Nicky

If you have any questions you’d like answered, email me at Nicky@James-Buchanan.com

Remember folks this is my opinion. Others may have differing views on the subject. I recommend doing a lot of research and talking to a lot of people before you start to play. I also recommend you read Safer Kinky Sex. http://actoronto.org/home.nsf/pages/bdsm/$file/BDSM%20Safer%20Kinky%20Sex.pdf

Tweet This Post Facebook

Baby Daddy

By Victor J. Banis

The story is told in my family that on the day when, as a toddler, I took my first faltering steps, one of the uncles gave me a dubious look and said, "But he walks kind of funny, don’t he?" And the reality is, people have been looking askance at me ever since.

I can look around at this site and see that in truth I don’t quite belong here. Which troubles me not at all, in large part because I don’t think I’ve ever quite belonged anywhere. I’m just not a belonger. I am the classic loner, fully at ease only when I am by myself, never altogether fitting in, uncomfortable in crowds (for me, three people constitute a crowd). I think this is in large part how I became a writer. Even as a child I was engrossed in studying those foreign-to-me creatures who shared my planetary existence and were so much better than I at living in it. It is easy to see from this how it happened that my writing became very much character driven. I got to be very good at reading those creatures. If there is a blessing in all this, it is that I can say in all modesty I am almost never wrong in my assessments of others, though there have been times when for one reason or another I was willing to pretend to myself. Love can be like a ski-mask to a bank robber.

Well, what, you may ask, does any of this have to do with the subjects of interest on this blog? Hmm. It doesn’t—and it does. Because, as I confessed earlier, I don’t quite fit in here either. I have no personal interest in bondage or discipline. There have been any number of persons in my life who would like to have tied me to the bedposts, but none that I felt confident would ever get around to untying me. S & M. Oh, goodness, from my point of view, pain hurts. I am a devout coward. Leather and uniforms? In leather anything I look like an extra from Barbarella, and no matter how macho the uniform, I resemble nothing so much as a lesbian WAC. Albeit a quasi-butch one.

This is not to say that I stand in any kind of judgment of those who are into these scenes I grew up in a conservative Bible belt community in the very conservative 40s and 50s, so when I began, early in my writing career, studying and writing about human sexual behavior, it was very eye-opening. I quickly came to see, however, that it was all but impossible to define normal or abnormal sexuality. People are all different. I realized there was nothing anyone could imagine in the way of sexual behavior that someone at that very moment wasn’t practicing and enjoying it – and, as it happened, it was probably one of my friends. None of whom want—or need—my approval or disapproval.

Which is sort of the point I’ve been dancing around. I have been exposed to almost every kind of sexual aberration one could think of. It doesn’t bother me in the least what other people do, so long as, for the most part, they aren’t doing it to me. A long-time and very dear friend liked to eat feces. When he told me about it and asked if I was shocked, I said no, but I would very much rather we didn’t kiss in the future. And we did not.

I have a great many friends in the leather community. I used to sing with my friend Heidi her anthem, "Whips and Chains" (and our other favorite, "It’s hard to say I love you, when you’re sitting on my face.") When I lived in Los Angeles, a friend owned a very popular leather bar on Santa Monica Boulevard, and though I did not wear the leather regalia (I was more into jeans; I can send a pic, if you like) I was always welcome and even invited to the "closed door parties." Read, orgy nights. Some saw me as a potential Daddy, some as a Daddy’s Boy. Whatever. I also learned early on that if I managed to be what the other one wasn’t, I’d have twice as much fun.

I used to hang out, too, at the old Falcon’s Lair, then "the" place for the L.A. leather crowd, where I knew most of the bartenders and lots of the regulars. And I can tell you frankly, my failure to adhere to the dress code did not hinder my chances of success. By the way, I was at the Lair one night when a young man came in who sported the most impressive bulge down the inside of one thigh that I think I had ever seen. Heads snapped about, eyes widened. He was the center of attention.

I can’t say exactly what it was that produced that bulge but I can tell you for certain that it was not a permanent part of his anatomy because after a time whatever was holding it in place (a safety pin, one supposes, though in this instance that nomenclature proved erroneous) gave way. The tubular shaped bulge began to slip down his leg, leaving a conspicuous and growing gap between its end and where it had begun at the crotch.

All eyes remained on him, but the smiles were turning into something more humorous. The young man grew increasingly puzzled, until finally some kind soul approached and whispered in his ear. Red-faced, he fled, never to be seen again.

Standing next to me was a handsome hunk in full leather regalia. The two of us laughed so hard together that we found we must go outside to get our breath back. And then we…oh, but that’s another story, isn’t it? I will just say, he didn’t find my jeans and tee shirt objectionable at all. Of course, once we were back at my apartment, they vanished in a trice. And so did all that leather. And just as I had long since discovered, underneath it all we weren’t so very different after all.

People aren’t, you know.

Victor J. Banis is the critically acclaimed author ("the master’s touch in storytelling.,.." Publishers Weekly") of more than 160 published books and numerous shorter works published in the U.S and abroad, in a career spanning nearly half a century. Read more at http://www.vjbanis.com

Tweet This Post Facebook

Tweet This Post Facebook

Voting for the LRC’s "Best of 2009" Awards begins on FEBRUARY 15th and ends on FEBRUARY 22nd.

Best Sci Fi/Futuristic Book:

The Edge of Desperation (Jason Edding and James Buchanan-MLR)

Best GBLT author 2009

James Buchanan

Best Mystery/Suspense 2009

Personal Demons (James Buchanan-MLR)

To vote:
Email  dawn_roberto AT yahoo DOT com with "LRC’s "BEST OF 2009" Awards" in subject. If this is not in the subject it will not be counted. You are to vote from the nominee list on your pick. The list will be up in our loop files under "LRC Best of award nominees 2009".

All entries are to be in by 2/23/2010. Any entries received after that will NOT be counted and automatically deleted.

Tweet This Post Facebook