Hi friends,
One of my books is going “on sub” soon, meaning my agents are going to pitch the manuscript to editors, who will—ideally—love it and agree to publish it.
This on-sub book is the first romance novel I ever wrote—before COVID! It’s dark and kinky and involves a love interest—an enigmatic domme named V who runs an underground sex club—who refuses to show her face for almost the entirety of the book.
As such, many scenes occur in dungeons and/or total/near darkness, so that was an interesting challenge—one I was oddly well-equipped to take on, as San Francisco has an impressive number of weird, experimental spaces that offer sensory deprivation and I have been to many of them.
Who knew such knowledge would come in handy!
The scene I’m sharing with you below got cut from the final manuscript, though it was one of my favorites. It’s an introduction to V in her element, a modest dungeon that I modeled (from memory) after two play spaces in Chicago, Galleria Domain 2 (more on that below) and one my ex/friend Domme’d in.
Fun fact: Though the love interest is named V and my wife often goes by V, I wrote this book before I met her. V-the-character’s name comes from a work by Dante, La Vita Nuova, or new life. V’s name is about reinvention, transformation—particularly after a toxic relationship.
The first dungeon I ever went to, at 24, was GD2 in Logan Square. It’s still around! You can see it here—or visit, if you’re so inclined. It’s classified as a nonprofit—because why not?
GD2 was hosting a meet-n-greet for potential members and the girl I was dating at the time—the one who introduced me to the worlds of polyamory and kink, in fact—was thinking of joining.
So we went.