A Slave's Uniform

I am so pleased to welcome Joelle Casteel back to Romance Righter as part of her blog tour. I know you will find this post as interesting as I did! 

It's day 13 on my blog tour for the re-release of "Out of the Night: Book One" of my Vala's Story serial. Please visit this page if you want to catch up on missed posts. Thank you, Angelica, for hosting me.

Excerpt from "Out of the Night: Book One" Copyright Joelle Casteel

"Chitra, step forward."

A tiny Indian woman raced from around the couch behind The Queen. Her pure black hair curled around her hips, the bangs curling prettily around her face. She was about the same size as Vala except for her slightly smaller chest. Her dark brown eyes were small and intense. On her belly glittered a navel ring, a small silver circle that shone like the moon against her dark skin. A black leather collar, about three and a half inches thick, with a large D-ring attached in front encircled her neck and pushed her chin up. She wore a leather harness which consisted of thick strips of leather that went over her shoulders, between her breasts, going around her sides to meet on her back in a large O-ring same as the straps did in front just below her breasts. To Vala's delight, four large buckles held the straps to the front O-ring. Two connected black strips of leather formed a g-string that hung low on her hips and came up between her legs, just barely covering her lips. Besides these things, she was naked. She knelt before The Queen and said, "My Queen."

"Chitra has been my slave for three months. She is in her official training period.

In this excerpt, we get to see The Queen's training uniform as Vala sees it for the first time on Chitra. No one else in the room is dressed in a similar manner. And while Vala doesn't know exactly when The Queen will collar her, she knows she will be dressed as Chitra is "soon." I can tell you from first hand experience that posture collars like these aren't comfortable. As a submissive, I can't imagine wearing one if my dominant doesn't like them... and well my Master of 13 years doesn't like them, so it's not something I wear anymore. Of course the harness got mentioned in the "Why Re-release?"- I wanted to fix the harness. One of my games in reading, re-writing the books has been "follow what pieces of her uniform Vala is wearing." Because yes, it isn't possible to have vaginal intercourse with a g-string in the way lol. Well not just Vala- I spend the time with The Queen- did he put on jeans? Did he actually put on more than jeans? He may be the Master, but he hates wearing clothes hehe. So yeah, the uniform shows a lot of skin- I live "clothing optional" so it doesn't even phase me. And wait for the post on "the twins"- nope, The Queen didn't put them in a different uniform because they're siblings.

"Out of the Night: Book One" blurb

Restless and world-weary, Mearr isn't about to admit she needs anyone's help, even this gorgeous man who has taken her into his home. Well one of his homes and part of this huge family she's heard about but not met all of. She's young, looks young, and knows it but at least she's legal now so she can pick a new name to go with her new life...

The Queen knows he wants Mearr bad, ever since the first time he saw her in the window of the coffeehouse. He has his plan, but even a Dominant's plans don't always survive the unpredictability of the future. He struggles to figure out this temperamental woman he's brought home, how best to help her. Then he takes her to his mansion...

They wait patiently for The Queen to bring Mearr home. Well to the home they've been redecorating for Him and for the hopes that she'll become part of their family and be trained to please Him. Simon and Tommy have seen her, of course, being The Queen's right and left hands; they say she'll be a perfect addition...

Please come along with Joelle on this journey, shared with the readers in serial fashion. A multitude of "Happily-ever-afters" are waiting with the completion of book 9.

Author's Note: This novel is meant for open-minded adults. Activities described include a wide range of BDSM and sexual activities, some of which are male/male, male/female, consensual slavery, oral/anal/vaginal intercourse, bondage. The story also covers some sensitive topics in characters' backstories, such as drug abuse.

Please join Vala's world. http://joellecasteel.blogspot.com/  https://www.facebook.com/JoelleCasteelAuthor http://authorjoellecasteel.tumblr.com/ and on http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/10571043-joelle

Buy it on-

Smashwords

As they become available, please check on the "My Books" page for links to buy on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Allromanceebooks.com, if you'd prefer not to buy at Smashwords.

Joelle's Bio:

Joelle Casteel has been writing for as long as she can remember. Explicit, graphic, her writing isn't for minors or the easily offended. Once upon a time, she preferred to write on a PC, sitting on a stool- there were those who told her she looked like Tori Amos playing the piano. She's still trying to get the hang of writing in an arm chair instead, normally with a heavy dog's head resting on her feet, whether she wants that or not. With BDSM gaining a broader audience with various books- which she will not name because she can't stand them- she feels it's past time to put out her impression of what BDSM can look like in reality.

Yeah, I Write Erotic Romance, and I'm Proud of It

I have to learn not to take umbrage. I get it a lot. The sly winks. The horrified looks. The gasps. The queries about how does it feel to write smut/dirty books/trash?

I love writing sex scenes. Yeah, I do. Maybe because I like sex so much. <shrug> Does it really matter why?

But there’s something you have to know. I do not write smut/dirty books/ trash. I write stories about people struggling with the same issues they struggle with in non-erotic romance. It’s just that I add in the very real component of their lives that makes some of you uncomfortable.

In Streetwalker (by Sizzler Editions), my protag Carrie carries around some heavy stuff. (Gee, get why I named her that?) She is a victim who refuses to be one, still, she is affected by past events and lives the life she does because of it. Streetwalker is, at heart, is a story of redemption, recovery and renewal. But if you didn’t get past the first page where she is servicing a John, you might not know that.

So why did I write Streetwalker? To the horrified, the offended, the appalled, here’s an open letter:

Dear Reader (who might be a friend, relative, or unknown to me):

I write stuff you probably don’t like. Even secretly. Because there are some of you who ACT appalled, but you really do kinda like to read explicit sex scenes. You just don’t want others to know that.

Okay by me. I’m a live and let live kind of reading person. But don’t go all hypocritical on me. That I have do have a problem with. If you can’t admit to others you are fascinated by LGBT sex, or BDSM, or even explicit old-fashioned traditional sex, at least don’t go mouthing off about how awful it is that I write it.

I do. End of story. And your opinion doesn’t faze me.

But for others of you, those who are truly horrified, offended, and appalled, let me be an apologist for the erotic romance genre. Not all of it. Just mine.

I’m a farm girl. Sex happens. In fact, it must happen if the farm is to be successful. Spring time! Yay! Frolicking! Summer time! Yay! Babies! That’s how it works.

The beauty of sex among humans however is the emotional component. Because, see, I try to tell a story about the people having hot, explicit sex. And some of them are wounded, some are psychotic, some are insecure, some are just lusty souls reveling in all the good feelings from good sex. But that is true in other stories too. We authors create a panoply of characters to play off one another in various story premises.

I wondered what would happen to a girl sexually abused who only saw herself as breasts and a vagina. How would she create her adult self? Could she ever begin to recover from the horrors she faced and develop self-esteem based on accomplishments and intelligence?

And what happens when you put her with an erudite, sophisticated, professional man who lost it all when he couldn’t keep it zipped? How he reinvented his life revealed his own wounds.

I wondered if they could help one another heal. And that’s why I wrote my book. You may still hate the way I told my story, but I hope you can agree that the story premise is a timeless one.

Sincerely,

Angelica French (who uses 3 pen names for different genres, not out of embarrassment)

Where the Customer Comes First

The title of this post comes from one side of a brothel token I saw online. I burst out laughing.

When fellow author, Wendy Ely, posted on Facebook pictures of brothel tokens she had picked up in Jerome, AZ, I had to know more. And, I had to have some. Do you know Amazon sells brothel tokens? Amazing, aren’t they? They make an interesting addition to my guest bathroom. Reading material, you know.

Well, to clarify, I don’t have real brothel tokens. Those cost hundreds of dollars. DH would not spring for them! (But I wonder if a request for real ones could be on my Christmas List? Hmmm.)

My Amazon brothel tokens are replicas of the real thing (maybe) referred to in the collecting trade as “fantasy” or “reproduction” (interesting word there, eh?) brothel tokens. I briefly toyed with having Carrie (from STREETWALKER) use tokens instead of the paper trail their bordello creates by billing customers, but I'm not sure how that would help. They're in trouble with the law no matter what.

The research into brothel tokens was fascinating. Brothel tokens go back to Roman times. Or maybe they were just used for gaming (Though why would they have sex acts depicted on them?). Maybe they were both.

I came across one well-researched blog, but mostly I pieced together what I learned from reading about brothel tokens on some websites selling them and a few other places. The information accuracy might be iffy. I listed some of these at the end. Go take a peek.

Many of the tokens were valued at a bit--12 ½ cents (8 bits makes a dollar). A drink usually cost one bit. Or one “encounter” with a woman.

To summarize a lot of stuff, old west tokens came about to solve a couple of problems. Legal-tender money was in short supply in isolated areas of the western mining towns. One article speculated business owners came up with the tokens as an alternative way to pay. I guess the Bitcoin phenomenon might be comparable today.

Another problem tokens solved was the madam of an establishment getting paid. The customer bought the tokens and used them to pay the selected “lady of the night”. This ensured the madam got paid, and if the customer left more, that belonged to his partner. That way the girls couldn’t secrete money from the madam. They’d turn their collected tokens in maybe once a week to be re-sold.

All in all, this was fascinating. I have to do more reading on the topic. Brothel tokens are an entire area of history I was unaware of.

Read more about brothel tokens:

http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com/2011/02/saloon-and-brothel-tokens.html

http://www.backintimetradingpost.com/products/old-west-denver-colorado-cat-house-brothel-token-2.html

http://www.louisiana-trade-tokens.com/brothel-tokens.html

http://brothelcollectors.com/