Today The Pleasures of Spring, Evie Hunter's final novel in the 'Pleasures' series is released. To celebrate the fact I'm happy to share a fascinating post the author wrote about the research involved in writing BDSM. And don't forget to keep an eye out for my review which should be going up over the next few days.
By Evie Hunter:
“Write
what you know.” Great advice, except when you don’t know.
A
very experienced friend of mine read one of my stories and said, “You are
clearly kinky as hell, but you have no experience and it shows. You need to learn
what this stuff feels like.”
So,
in the interests of accuracy, I put my ass on the line, delved into the depths
of depravity and whipped myself into a sweat in my quest for information about
all things kink.
First
stop, the internet. My friend had given me a list of websites so I joined them
all and started reading. There wasn’t just Dom and sub. Oh no, there was Master
and slave, top and bottom, rigger and bunny, hedonist, littles, Domme, switches
and all sorts of variations. And that was before we got to the actual fetishes.
Next
stop, workshops.
I
went to a bondage workshop with no idea of what to expect, but ventured in and
found a dozen people tying each other to chairs. The friendly woman running the
workshop, realizing I was a totally novice, showed me some basic knots and
loaned me a length of gorgeous hemp rope to practice with. She ran though the
safety stuff: “Tie rope to rope, not to skin. Make sure circulation is not
compromised. Avoid nerve clusters. Always check with your bunny.”
During
the workshop, we tied people to each other, did some breast bondage (I got a
shock when half the women there whipped off their tops so the rope could go on
bare skin) and the session finished with the instructor blindfolding me and
tying my wrists.
I
was amazed at how different reality was from my imagination. The physical sense
of her beside me, the smell of her skin and the sound of her breathing was a
revelation, not to mention how disorientated I became when she moved me.
Next
I dragged Caroline to a Pervertables workshop: using household items for kinky
fun. Flyswats, shoehorns and spatulas are all excellent spanking implements. Certain
types of candles are good for wax play, but not beeswax, it gets too hot.
Feather dusters tickle. Rice torments. There was a competition to find the best
kinky use of a bag of chopsticks, and the winner used them as nipple clamps.
The
flogging workshop was great fun, and dispelled my fear that it was all pain and
torture. A good flogging feels more like an intense massage.
The
needle-play workshop was a bust. I took notes on the hygiene stuff (more
precise than any doctor’s surgery I’ve ever seen) but my husband fainted when
the first sterile needle went in, so that was the end of that.
But
no workshop could tell me what it’s like to be a man. So I lined up all the
Doms in Dublin and interviewed them, getting them to give me a minute by minute
account of how a scene feels to them, what they experience and what kink feels
like from inside their skin.
Then
came Nimhneach, Ireland’s BDSM nightclub, complete with A-frame, spanking
benches, bondage points and a cage for misbehaving slaves. Everyone was in full
fetish gear, which ranged from a mini-codpiece to head-to-toe rubber gear. The
rules were clear: no nudity (even if sometimes an outfit consisted of a few pieces
of strategically placed duct tape), no sex, and always, always play with
consent.
After
the first ten minutes, I went from feeling half-naked to over-dressed in my
slutty schoolgirl outfit. I was surprised at how formal it was. I was
introduced to people and got recommendations as to who would be a good play
partner. Swallowing hard, I was led to the X-cross for my first spanking, but
only after a discussion about my experience, expectations and safe-words. Yeah
baby, I did it.
I
was surprised at how welcoming people were to me, especially as they knew I’m a
writer, but no one gave me a hard time. Well, not unless I asked him to!
I’ve
been to private parties and clubs where the dress code is anything or nothing
and where the play is extreme and I’ve tried all sorts of things, discovering
along the way that I’m claustrophobic when I’m tied tightly, that I love
impact, that elector-stim can leave me quivering two days later, that I look
great in corsets, that mixed changing rooms can be amazing craic and that
“Fuck!” is not a safe word.
But
above all, I learned that consent is key and the person who can give or
withhold the consent controls the scene.
About the book:
An invitation to the hot and steamy world of bestselling Irish erotica author Evie Hunter...
He picked up her hand where it grasped the
water glass, felt her pulse and looked into her eyes. 'You don't want a
man with manners. You want someone who will let you walk on the wild
side, who knows what you're really like
...'
Roz Spring is an actress and a chameleon, the
kind of woman who always lands on her feet. But even Roz can't talk her
way out of witnessing a murder, and she must go into hiding before the
murderer comes for her.
Andy McTavish has turned his back on a life
of privilege to prove himself in the world of international security.
Tall, dark and dangerous, Andy is the ultimate seducer who has never met
a woman who can tame him.
Roz needs his protection and, to get his
family off his back, Andy needs a fake fiancée. The solution is obvious:
pretend to be a couple. Getting up close and personal won't be hard, as
the chemistry between them is electrifying.
As two practiced charmers drive each other
beyond the limits of sensual endurance, they find their usual defences
are no good. When the barriers come crashing down, a raw passion emerges
that neither wants to admit.
They know that when the murderer shows his
hand, they will face a fight for life and freedom. And if they survive,
what will happen when the need to pretend is over?
The Pleasures of Spring is
the latest sizzling standalone novel from Evie Hunter whose trademark
combination is an addictive erotic story and a page-turning plot. If
you're an Evie fan, you won't be
disappointed. And if you're new to Evie, well, you're in for quite the
delicious treat...
PRAISE FOR EVIE HUNTER:
- 'More colour and better written than EL James and a more exciting read than any of Sylvia Day's books'
Irish Independent
- 'As near perfection as a Suspense/Romance/Erotic/BDSM novel could EVER get!' Ripe for Reader
- 'Every
delicious moment comes with amazing tension and believability ...
masterfully written, artfully told, and yummy to read.' My Book Boyfriend
- 'All
I can say is, holy yowza, Batman! Yes, this book falls firmly into the
'What to read after Fifty Shades of Grey' category, but in my opinion
... this book blows Fifty Shades out of the water. I unabashedly adored
this book.' This Bookish Endeavor
- 'Danger, heat, obsession and unexplored desires come together to form a combustive and sizzling tale, not soon forgotten.' Romancing The Book
- 'One
of those rare books that has stolen my heart, my mind and my soul ... a
flawless, exciting and down-right steamy read that will stay with you
long after your finish.' Totally Bookalicious
About the author:
Evie Hunter is actually two authors, Caroline McCall and Eileen
Gormley, who met at a creative writing workshop in Dublin in 2010.
Eileen
Gormley grew up in the midlands of Ireland. Within a couple of years
of leaving college, she started writing articles for local papers and
graduated to becoming a full-time freelance journalist for the Irish
National newspapers, specializing in court and crime reporting. Her
first novel, DON’T FEED THE FAIRIES, made it to the quarter-final of the
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and was published by Ragz Books.
Caroline
McCall lives with her partner, and several spoilt, ungrateful felines,
on the windswept east coast of Ireland. Raised on a diet of romance and
science fiction, Caroline turned to writing time travel and paranormal
romance. A mild mannered paralegal by day, Caroline spends most of her
evenings and weekends dreaming up alpha males and feisty heroines.
On discovering that they shared a passion for erotic fiction, they
became the best of friends. In early 2012 they got a chance to co-write a
series of erotic novellas for an American publisher. When they
completed the second one without killing each other, they decided to
take on something bigger.
Eventually, they emerged into daylight, clutching THE PLEASURES OF WINTER, saying ‘Never again’ … until the next time.
Find out more about Evie Hunter on their Facebook fan page or follow the authors tweets on Twitter.
Buy links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Author Website:
Evie Hunter
The books:
The Pleasures Series
Link to my reviews by clicking on the covers.
Other:
