TITLE: Submission
SERIES TITLE AND NUMBER: Submit for Redemption Book 1
PUBLISHER: Storm Moon Press
RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2015
GENRE:
BDSM Romance
TAGS: Gay, BDSM, Contemporary, LGBT, M/M,
Military, Romance
Blurb:
When Army
Ranger Captain Everett Palmer enters gay BDSM club Cuffed Links, he is seeking
brutal punishment for what he perceives to be an unforgivable failure: allowing
an entire squad of men under his command to die while he worked to defuse a
bomb at his base. Everett
Phineas has
been contracted to coerce a false confession from Everett
In Submit
for Redemption: Book One – Submission, erotic romance and spiritual redemption
come from the most unexpected places – from the seedy extremes of a
smoke-laden, neon-drenched bondage den to the tropical, hedonistic pleasures of
Phineas’ private Greek island.
On this
unbidden psychosexual odyssey, Everett and Phineas find exactly what they don’t
expect: a chance to redeem their troubled souls and fulfil their every romantic
ideal. But the clock is ticking. The deeper Phineas falls in love with Everett
Excerpt
Ev watched
Finny assume a fencing stance, legs bent, feet at a ninety-degree angle, weapon
in hand. He did the same, telling himself he was studying his opponent, looking
for weaknesses in his defenses, but he knew he was lying—he was gazing at Finny
for the sheer pleasure of admiring the compelling lines of the imposing man’s
body.
He’s like some kind of great cat, lithe and elegant,
but with an underlying menace beneath the cool confidence—it just flips my
switch. The sword seemed
another extension of Finny’s hand, just like his whips and cigarette holders. Ev’s heart began pounding.
This could more than hurt. He could cause permanent
damage, especially to my eyes.
“Uh, shouldn’t
we have protective gear?” he asked.
Finny’s lips
rose at the corners in a feral smile, and desire washed over Ev.
“My dear
captain, are you not up to the challenge? Well, perhaps masks would be
prudent.”
Finny strolled
to the wall, pausing to admire himself briefly in his tailored white pants and matching
light-weight jacket. He took a moment to remove his blazer, revealing a black
silk shirt and white ascot tied artfully at the neck. The black reminded Ev of
a jaguar, but that seemed too small to represent Finny. A lion would be closer,
with its larger size and regal bearing, but somehow a lion seemed too average.
No, Finny would
be something exotic. Then Ev saw it—the pocket square in Finny’s tossed jacket
was black and white-striped. Yes, the man was a royal white tiger—a large,
exotic predator that moved with deadly splendor.
Finny plucked
down two fencing masks and tossed him one. Ev was so taken watching the black
silk ripple and shimmer along Finny’s large biceps that he fumbled the mask
before catching it.
When Finny
approached him, Ev imagined he was being hunted by a wild animal. Goose bumps
covered Ev, but he wouldn’t flee. He was eager to engage his tiger and
regretted that even though their grappling would be at a distance. Ev raised
his weapon in a proper salute.
Finny’s lips
curved up as he returned the gesture in an exaggerated fashion. His blade made
a whooshing sound as it whipped through the air.
He remembered a
line from something he had once read: the
beast roars its defiance with supreme confidence. Ev was coming to expect
nothing less from the mighty man.
They donned
their masks, assuming the En Garde
position. Ev looked at a pixelated Finny through the crisscross pattern of the
mask and noticed their weapons were on the same side. Finny was fighting
left-handed. Ev wanted to laugh—just another way that Finny was part of the
advantaged few. Why is this man giving me
the time of day again?
“What, Finny? Not going to start with your
right hand and then make some clever remark about being left-handed, like in The Princess Bride?”
Ev could just
make out the puzzled expression on Finny’s face through the mesh of the mask.
“Princess Bride? There are no princesses here, my dear captain. Surely, you’ve
realized that by now—fence!” Finny immediately started advancing on Everett
Ev retreated a
few steps, watching Finny’s torso to judge his movements. He found himself almost
too distracted by the broad expanse.
Pull it together Palmer. Where is that famous
single-minded focus? He
retreated a step and breathed deeply, centering himself, then extended his arm
and tapped Finny’s blade in a beat, testing.
Finny didn’t
react to such a heavy-handed jab—he only continued to advance.
Aggressive S.O.B. Ev grinned.
With stunning
speed, Finny stepped in, beat Ev's blade, feinted, and then lunged, deftly
scoring a hit on his torso.
“Halt,” Finny
called.
The sting of
the point striking through his unprotected workout clothes sent a buzz of
desire through Ev as he straightened from his fencing crouch. “You got me,
Finny. I guess that’s another bruise for my collection.” Ev wanted to rub the
spot where the man had marked him, and he wasn’t sure whether it was from
discomfort or pleasure.
Finny chuckled.
“I do so like adding to your collection. En
Garde.”
They took up
starting positions and then Finny gave him “Pret,
allez.”
This time Everett
“Off target,”
Finny snapped.
“What? Now
we’re following the rules?”
“Yes—my rules.”
Finny assumed
his stance and started toward Ev without waiting, smashing his blade in a
strong beat to the outside, thrusting, and lunging to score on the center of
Ev’s torso. Before Ev had time to register the delicious, stinging pain, Finny
recovered from the lunge almost immediately and prepared to attack again.
We really are playing by Finny’s rules. Or he’s
playing me, more like.
This time when
Finny came at him, Ev defended himself by circling his blade around his
opponent’s in a winding motion, tangling them together. Ev snapped his wrist, pulling
the weapon from Finny’s hand and tossing it across the room.
Yes!
Ev extended his
blade toward Finny’s neck. “You were saying?” Ev couldn’t help the satisfaction
that laced his tone.
Finny’s
eyebrows rose.
“Yes, as I was
saying, my rules.”
Finny reached
up, grabbed Ev’s blade and tugged, pulling him in close. The heat radiating off
of Finny’s body made Ev dizzy with want. Then, when he was off balance, Finny
swiped a leg around his, knocking him to the ground and landing on top of him.
Finny still had Ev’s blade in both his hands, now neatly across Ev’s neck like
a garrote.
Ev struggled to
catch his racing breath, his face inches from Finny’s, but blocked by the mask.
The weight of Finny on him, dominating him, made his cock hard. Finny lifted
his own mask slowly, and then removed Everett
Hi
everybody! I’m Robert Cage, one of the co-authors (along with Kathryn Sparrow)
of Submission: Submit for Redemption,
Book One. Thanks for hosting us today.
For me,
music is an essential part of my daily life, especially as a writer. Music can
lift my mood, calm me when I’m feeling stressed, and yes, even provide creative
inspiration. It’s actually become an essential tool in my creative arsenal.
I’m a sensory
writer. I have to have a clear picture in my head of a scene, not just for
logistical and continuity reasons, but to bring it to three-dimensional life.
Precisely defining how your characters look dictates many times how they should
behave and what they should say in certain situations. I watch scads of movies
and TV, in addition to reading, and I often “cast” actors in my head when
writing (that’s another whole blog in itself).
At the same
time, I ask myself what music (either score or source music) would be used if
my book was a film or TV show. What music would add meaning to the scene
without overwhelming it? Which musical cues would heighten suspense and drive
the action? Which musical artists have sensibilities similar to my characters?
When
writing our novel Submit for Redemption,
I was faithful to this process, and by the time I was finished, I had over 40
songs in my head for various scenes in both Book One and Book Two.
In this
blog, I’ll list just some of the tracks that inspired me during the writing of
Book One (with links to them, so you can listen to or buy them) and offer some
explanations as to why they fit specific scenes.
·
Out of My League from More than just a Dream (by Fitz and the Tantrums) — If
SfR were a film, I’d probably start it off with something ominous. I picture a
jeep driven by two men, dropping off a dazed and half-conscious Everett
·
Lonely Boy from El Camino (by the Black Keys) — This one’s especially vivid
for me, and follows the above track. In another part of Cuffed Links, we see a
large, masked leathered man wielding a huge bullwhip against a bound naked sub
who’s cuffed to a metal pole in one of the corners of the club. His strokes are
becoming more violent and his sub (who’s paying
to be flogged) keeps egging his punisher on, as do the growing crowd of
onlookers. Into this fray, enters Hector, Finny’s co-conspirator, housemate,
and owner of the club. Hector raises his voice, attempting to get the Dom’s
attention, saying something like “He’s here…now!” The leathered man turns right
to the camera and removes his black hood, revealing Finny, panting, bathed in
sweat, his expression that of a rabid animal. The four-bar guitar break in the
Black Keys’ driving track is the moment I can see Finny revealing himself,
making his onscreen entrance.
·
Super Bass from Pink Friday (by Nikki Minaj) — The minute Finny and Ev’s
eyes lock at the bar—Finny in his white suit, Ev still handcuffed (from a
near-assault by another patron that Finny averted), the chorus of Minaj’s
dance-rap anthem soars euphorically: “You got my heartbeat running away/Beating
like a drum and it’s comin’ your way….” Both men have no idea who or what they’re looking at, but they can’t
stop looking. Whatever it is, it’s something somehow right, yet they can’t
define it any further.
·
Can’t Feel My Face from Beauty Behind the Madness (by The Weeknd) — OK, I’m
cheating here. I originally had a somewhat slinky seductive Jerry Harrison
track (“AKA Love”) in the montage where Finny and Hector lead Ev on a somewhat
wild goose chase back to Finny’s compound, Ev trying to keep pace with Finny’s
Mercedes. But if I could do it over today, this scene would have to be set to
the hip-shaking rhythms of the Weeknd’s phenomenal track about dark,
inexplicable attraction.
·
Monster from The Fame Monster (by Lady Gaga) — Speaking of montages,
I couldn’t think of anything better than Gaga’s over-the-top glam anthem. Face
it, if Finny were a diva, he’d BE Lady Gaga! The scene in Book One where Finny
whisks Ev from his compound (via helicopter) to a private plane bound for his
Greek island is tailor-made for this track’s vigorous tempo as well as its
slightly ominous lyrics (Finny really is
something of a monster, devouring anything and everything in his path, as readers
should know, at this point in the story at least). At the song’s bridge, I see
Finny turning to the camera before entering the jet, waving to the Stratham
doms and subs that are still on the tarmac. He’s got his sunglasses on amidst
the Klieg lights, looking like a rock star.
·
Angeles from Either/Or (by Elliott Smith) — The late Elliott Smith’s
derisive paean to the city of Los Angeles came to mind for the scene where
Finny watches Ev frolic in the waves on their first morning on the Greek isle
of Phineas. You can see all the conflicting emotions wash over Finny’s face
(delight, lust, regret, fear, disgust for himself and what he must eventually
do to Ev) as Smith’s lyrics neatly mirror both the pleasurable and the painful
reasons behind Finny bringing Everett on this journey: “I could make you
satisfied in everything you do/All your secret wishes could right now be coming
true/Be forever/With my poison arms/Around you….” I can imagine the waves in
which Ev is swimming turning to bright red, as seen through Finny’s eyes.
Always gives me chills.
·
Heartbeats from Deep Cuts (by The Knife) — Lots of people have used this
seminal track by Swedish alt-dance-pop duo The Knife to good effect, for good
reason. It’s an addictive, elastic track with insightful, simply killer lyrics.
I see it used in the fencing sequence (excerpted above) between Finny and Everett
·
Crew Cut from Max Baker (by the Tijuana Panthers) — For the longest
time, I visualized some country hoe-down chestnut playing over the Blair and
Clark stage sex show, but this Tex-Mex track from Long Beach CA rockers Tijuana
Panthers more cooly fits the bill. I imagine a nice tall metal pole for Blair
to straddle and swing around, greased and g-stringed, of course. Yee-haw is
right.
I’ll
probably be posting a complete list on my own blog soon, but for now, thanks
for joining us.
Contact
either Kathryn or myself on Twitter or by email. We live to hear from readers!
Robert:
@robertcage2 on Twitter or Robert@robertcage.com.
Kathryn:
@KSparrowAuthor on Twitter or Kathryn@kathrynsparrow.com
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