BDSM Writers Con Golden Flogger Award Nominee

What does being nominated for the Golden Flogger Award mean to you?
I am thrilled for DEADLINE to be included with these other novels because the list of nominees demonstrates the broad range of BDSM in the community. DEADLINE is an erotic romantic suspense, but the romance focuses on the hero and heroine discovering who they truly are through their sexuality. Comparatively speaking, it is rather light for BDSM, but it provides a realistic portrayal of the dynamic of a developing Dom/sub relationship.

Tell us a little about yourself and your writing works.
I typically write in deep, deep point of view, where we know all the thoughts and feelings of a character or characters. In DEADLINE, I wanted to stretch myself as an author and attempt a panoramic point of view, which is more like watching a film. It was quite an exercise, but I do not include any inner monologue for the main characters – neither the hero nor the heroine – which is quite unique for any kind of romance novel, BDSM or otherwise. Primarily, the only thoughts we read are the delusions of the killer.

What are you working on now?
I am finishing up a contemporary male/male romance novel entitled BETWEEN THE NOTES, another story of someone discovering his authentic self through his sexuality. After that, I will continue working on RETROGRADE, another erotic romantic suspense. An excerpt from that work in progress was included in the BDSM WRITERS CON ANTHOLOGY. It has been a fun novel to write!

Do you practice what you write about with your partner?
As a 24/7 submissive, I do tend to write about what I know and the activities from our scenes. Frequently, if I want to write something in a novel that we haven’t done, I will ask Him to act it out with me to ensure that it is logistically feasible and to get a sense of how it feels. For DEADLINE, I think having my Master simulate fellatio on me while I pretended to stab should earn Him a medal!

What’s your latest book about?
DEADLINE is about author Gillian Tate who, after years struggling with sweet romance novels, finds overnight success with ménage erotic romance. When the second novel in the trilogy focuses on the gay romance, Gillian receives harassing anti-homosexual messages with Biblical passages from a hate group called the Sword of Michael the Archangel.

Meanwhile, her husband has demanded a divorce because could no longer tolerate the notoriety of his wife’s novels and the innuendos from his colleagues, and he also accuses her of wanting the ménage scenarios she describes in her novels.

Under a deadline to complete the third novel in the trilogy and distraught over her personal life, Gillian decides to get away from the city to clear her head. As Gillian settles into her remote cabin retreat in the Adirondacks with no phone or cell reception, her agent returns home to find her home office ransacked and her laptop missing. After hearing about the threats to her client, the police suspect the hate group may be involved.

After being notified of the threats by the authorities, the local police chief Sam Taylor checks on Gillian at her cabin. Taylor has heard of the notorious author, and he is surprised but pleased to find the voluptuous woman he meets is nothing like he would have imagined from her novels but everything he has dreamed of in his fantasies. He reads one of her books, and it unleashes his own Dominant desires. They begin a sizzling love affair, fulfilling each others fantasies, but the increasing violence of the Sword of Michael the Archangel casts a shadow on their nascent relationship.

If you could try any BDSM activity or equipment, what would it be?
At the 2014 BDSM Writers Con, we saw a demonstration of shibari. We are both quite interested in learning the ropes. 😀

Scarlet Hawthorne began writing short stories at the age of eight, poems at ten, and wrote her first novella – a romantic tragedy – at twelve. Today she enjoys creating characters who discover integrity and their authentic selves through their sexuality. She has been a speaker at national conferences discussing how power exchange can enhance relationships, and she loves including elements of BDSM in her erotic romances because she hopes to reverse the misinformation and negative stereotypes promulgated in the media.

An award-winning and bestselling author in a variety of genres under other pen names, Scarlet was a featured author at the 2014 BDSM Writers Conference in New York City and contributed an excerpt from her upcoming romantic suspense Retrograde to the first BDSM Writers Con Anthology.

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