On the Ninth Day of Christmas....Alinar brings to you...A Blog Post from Kallysten

The prize I’m offering in today’s contest is a bundle of my BDSM series featuring Mistress Red and her submissive, the vampire Ray.

Carte Blanche, the novel that started the series, was inspired by a real-life dominant who goes by the name Mistress Phoenix. I met her years ago on a social website, although at the time I didn’t know about her lifestyle. As time passed, she sometimes let hints slip, until she finally ‘came out’ and made some long posts to explain what she does and why, as well as invited questions from the rest of us.

I’ve got to admit I was fascinated. I’m much too scared of pain to ever be on the receiving end of the equation, but I wondered, once or twice, or maybe a lot more often than that, what it would be like to be in her (very high, very pointy, leather) shoes boots.

Some time after that, I attended a writing convention during which Mistress Phoenix gave a talk about the BDSM lifestyle and what writers get right or wrong about it. She had brought a box of toys. She had also brought in one of her subs – on a leash, of course. At that point, I just had to write a BDSM story.



I knew from the start that my Dominant needed to be the heroine. With all the inspiration Mistress Phoenix had given me, it would have felt wrong to have a male dominant. Something else that seemed obvious to me was that being submissive would not mean my hero was weak. Ray has a need and desire to submit and receive pain, but these are simply parts of him, along with his courage, his passion for drawing, his stubbornness, and everything else that makes him who he is.

I realized, after I had finished writing Carte Blanche, that BDSM stories with a female Dominant are not very frequent, just like Mistress Phoenix had told us during that panel that the same is true in ‘real life.’ For a while I fretted about whether anyone would be interested in reading such a story, but it never was an option for me to change the characters, especially after Mistress Phoenix, who was the first reader, gave it a thumb up.

When the story was released, I received a few emails from readers who said they had never read a BDSM story before, or that they had never read one with a female Dominant, but who had nonetheless enjoyed Carte Blanche. These were the best compliments I could have received, and they encouraged me to write short sequels to the novel.



To take part in today's contest, just comment to this post and tell us if BDSM is a genre you enjoy reading, or if Carte Blanche will be your first peek into that world if you're the winner.



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We have an extra special contest today! The prizes are getting bigger. 7 eBooks are going to ONE lucky winner! Let's see what's up for grabs today: Kallysten's: 3 Book Bundle, Carte Blanche, Sunshine and Rules & Rewards, Lily Graison's: 2 Book Bundle of The Night Breed Series, The Calling and The Gathering, Candy Nicks: 2 Book Bundle of The Interview Series, The Interview and The Offer







Day 8 winner was - entry #3, Ode T.