TITLE: Submission (Submit for Redemption # 1) by
PUBLISHER: Storm Moon Press
RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2015
GENRE: BDSM Romance
BOOK LINKS: Storm Moon Press | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | All Romance (ARe)
Talking Trash with the Don of the Doms! A Special Guest Post!
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.
In the excerpt above, masochistic Army Ranger Everett Palmer meets His Grace, Finny Bainbridge for the first time. Finny has just rescued Ev from a violent assault by one of the more sex-crazed and disturbed patrons of Cuffed Links, an illegally operated underground BDSM club in Kabul Afghanistan. Hopefully you get a sense that there’s a lot of electricity passing between these two MCs. It only gets more intense as Finny draws Everett further into his illicit world.
Finny is a somewhat mysterious figure for most of Book One. He’s hiding a lot, mostly from Everett. Wanting only to capture Everett and coerce a confession from him, Finny finds himself falling deeply, inexplicably in love with the younger captain, which both thrills him and knocks him off balance.
We were lucky enough to get a transcription of a telephone interview conducted by Good Reads UK reviewer extraordinaire, Jessie Cox. Her mission, which she generously and gamely accepted, was to interview His Grace from his eponymously-dubbed Greek isle, Phineas, on the morning of his departure, with Everett. Here’s the interview in its entirety, Brit to Brit.
Jessie: Good afternoon, Your Grace. Thanks for dropping by.
Finny: Thank you, Jessie. How do you do? And call me Finny, my friends all do. I don’t often find myself on the other end of an interrogation, as you know [laughs]. Please—go easy on me.
Jessie: I’ll try, but I warn you I have Habib’s number in my pocket as well as a set of thumbscrews in case you’re stubborn.
Finny: Ouch! You’re ruthless—but a woman after my own heart.
Jessie: Quite right. So, what was your relationship with your parents like?
Finny: Right into the fray, eh? You don’t pull punches. [Pauses] To quote the Coen Brother’s delightful film Raising Arizona, it wasn’t Ozzie and Harriet. I lost my mother when I was young, and even when she was alive I believe I saw her once a day for perhaps an hour, after tea. It’s made it hard to even picture her face in my mind or hear her voice at this point. Father was a complete nightmare. When he was around, there was always something wrong it seemed, usually involving me. We never really connected. I was much closer to Habib, my father’s valet and now mine. Father used to have Habib discipline me when I was younger but it wasn’t very effective—we would both usually end up in giggles or tears, sometimes both. Habib never needed to strike me in order to get my nose back in joint. One stern look from him and the wind would exit my sails faster than you could say Jack Robinson.
Jessie: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Finny: If I can’t name Finding the Love of my Life, in Everett, I’d say… well, that’s a tough one. To be frank, I’m not proud of anything I’ve done. Quite the opposite. I guess it would be a toss-up between starting to weed out contract interrogation jobs that are just wrong. Funny how that’s happened. I used to be such a terrifying son-of-a-bitch. Now, anytime I’m faced with a potential subject all I can see is Everett’s face. Pain is something I’m finding it harder and harder to take pleasure in, unless it’s with Everett, and in a consensual context. It almost feels a violation of our contract to share that with anyone else. Frankly, it has me a bit worried, but maybe it’s a cue that I’m in the wrong line of work altogether. Wouldn’t father find that funny? I’m proud of finally dumping Hector Ventana. What a disaster that was—he only brought out the worst in me, entirely the opposite of Everett in every way. Hector, if you’re reading this, it serves you right. Why are you still obsessing over me? As the yanks say, get a life!
Jessie: What is your most prized possession?
Finny: That’s another thing. Prior to Ev, I wouldn’t know where to start with the list—I have many beautiful things. But now they don’t seem so precious in light of having someone I can truly give my heart to. Though of course I don’t own Ev, not by a long shot. I don’t think anyone owns Everett. And—that bothers me a bit. Old habits die hard, you know. But in answer to your question, I think it would have to be a pair of antique watch fobs that date back a few hundred years, one of which I recently gifted to Everett. Though oddly enough, mine seems to have gone missing as of late.
Jessie: What was losing your virginity like?
Finny: Liberating. Terrifying—amazing. It was after a fencing match at Eton. I’d had my eye on this young man for some months and it was one of those things where each time I’d glance at him, I’d find he was doing the same. And not just glancing, our eyes were exploring each other. Granted, I think this happened quite a bit at fencing events—it certainly didn’t hurt that our uniforms were tight and clingy and we were always bathed in perspiration. This particular match was actually played on my family estate, so I had a very good lay of the land, as they say. Still, I was feeling more and more trepidatious as to what I would say to him—how could I express my feelings and not drive him away, yet also let him know how amazing I thought he was? And how would I get away with making a move on my home turf with forty or so staff roaming in and out of all those rooms. Turns out I didn’t have to say anything. He was waiting in the back of the hall for me just as I thought I’d lost him forever. We made love in a large dusty old closet—banging up against a stock of masks and foils—appropriate, isn’t it? [Laughs]. I spent god knows how many years getting up the nerve to come out of the closet and I find myself breaking cherry inside of one. That should have been a lesson, a harbinger of what was to come. Still, it was magic. My whole view of the world just opened up and a lot—not all—of my constant anger just seemed to leave me. Similar to how I’m feeling now, actually.
Jessie: Let talk more about Ev, since you’ve gone in that direction. What’s the biggest obstacle that you find in connecting with him? I assume you have your disagreements, as all couples do.
Finny: Oh yes. Right now, I’d say it’s trying to get him to see the forest for the trees, as they say. Ev comes from a simpler, more black-and-white world. He has had the responsibility of having many men under his direction in the Rangers but the effects of his decisions were always localized within his squad. The decisions I make can have ramifications all over the world, whether I like it or not. And when your scope of influence expands that far, you eventually hurt people as well as help them. That’s not something he understands just yet. Just as he doesn’t yet understand that I truly know what’s best for him. Not everyone is happy with our union, but I can’t speak too freely about that. He’s going to have to trust me as the road ahead may be difficult for him. But he should understand that, if he’s to keep to our contract as a willing submissive to me.
Jessie: Would you ever marry Ev? If so, where would you take him on your Honeymoon?
Finny: I get very nervous even thinking about that possibility. Not because I don’t want it, but because I don’t feel I’m quite worthy of him. Not yet, anyhow. And as I mentioned before, we still have a lot of hurdles to traverse. But where to go? The island I would think, seeing that it holds so many fond memories for us.
Jessie: The island you’re on now?
Finny: It does have everything we need. There are times I don’t ever want to leave it. Would be wonderful sometimes to just… stop the clock.
Jessie: What do you think is your biggest strength and your biggest weakness?
Finny: When I find something I want, I get it, no matter the cost. My tenacity is well-known. My weakness is that I sometimes don’t consider the cost of those things until it becomes too late. And there is always a cost—something I’m having a hard time learning. Sometimes that cost is monetary, but most often it’s emotional and even spiritual on occasion. I think spiritual cost is what’s taken its toll most on me, as of late.
Jessie: What is something sexual you haven’t yet tried but would like to?
Finny: [Pauses for several minutes, apparently in deep thought] No one’s ever asked me that. Outside of a few blatantly illegal, outright deviant acts, I can’t think of a damn thing. When I owned Cuffed Links, prior to giving it to Hector, I’d push the envelope in a number of directions. I used to take such pride in that. Now it all seems meaningless, a waste of time. The act isn’t what does it for me anymore. It’s hard to believe I’m even saying something like this. [Very long pause] The way I see it now, unless you’re with someone who means something to you, you might as well be banging a hole in the wall, a well-lubricated one, but still…. Why waste your time?
Jessie: Wrapping up, when you look into your future what do you see?
Finny: Everett and only Everett. Without him, there is no future—for me, anyhow. He’s the one thing I can’t afford to lose. And I can’t help wondering if there’s not a cost hidden in there somewhere that I’ve yet to encounter…. But, I must take my leave of you. Everett has quite a big decision to make this morning and we’re due back in Kabul today. Wish me well and it was wonderful chatting.
Jessie: Same here. I wish nothing but the best, Finny. Thanks again.
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
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 initially wants only pure pain, which professional interrogator and jaded British aristocrat Colonel Phineas Bainbridge is more than prepared to give. Their meeting, however, is not at all by chance.
Phineas has been contracted to coerce a false confession from Everett, implicating the captain in planting the bomb. Phineas has tortured many men in the past, but there is something different about Everett Palmer, a man whose sheer purity of soul causes the colonel to question his every selfish, devious act and legion of war crimes.
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, the harder it becomes to finish his assigned task. If he succeeds, the consequences may be far more explosive than he ever anticipated.
TAGS: Gay, BDSM, Contemporary, LGBT, M/M, Military, Romance
HEAT LEVEL (1 being no sexual content, 5 being erotica): 4
PAIRING: Male/Male
LENGTH: 99,300 Words
EXCERPT
(NSFW – You confirm that you are 18 years of age or older by clicking on the link to continue reading).
AUTHORS BIO:
Kathryn Sparrow has had stories spinning around in her head her whole life and finally decided it was time to write them down. After working twenty years in the Software Industry, she has left the engineering world to be a chauffeur mom (because she doesn’t really get to stay-at-home). She lives with her fantastic, geek husband and her two adorable, sometimes infuriating daughters, who are too smart for their Mommy’s own good. If she had spare time she would spend it knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, and doing any other handicrafts that catch her fancy.
Email | Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Storm Moon Press Author Page
Robert Cage has been writing BDSM novels and short stories for close to twenty years, publishing on the Web through various e-book publishers. From 1997 to 2010 he authored four novels and one collection of short fiction under another pseudonym. He has always striven to make his fiction “more story and character-focused than much of what he sees published in the BDSM world.”
Robert has just released his first novel, which he coauthored with writing partner Kathryn Sparrow in the male romance genre. Available now in both Kindle and print formats from Storm Moon Press, it is titled Submit for Redemption/Book One: Submission and is the first book in a multibook series planned by Robert and Kathryn. Robert is currently busy at work on Just Desserts, a novel that is a prequel to Submit for Redemption/Book One: Submission. He and Kathryn also plan to release Submit for Redemption/Book Two: Domination soon, also from Storm Moon Press.
In addition to writing fiction, Robert collects books, music, and films avidly, and also contributes to a number of online film sites as a movie reviewer.
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