Check me out in New Times Broward Palm Beach Article about Erotica writing Grandma! So Excited! http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/arts/erotica-author-skye-michaels-is-a-65-year-old-grandma-from-davie-7650016 It was so much fun to have an interview published in my local weeky magazine.
Now I’m a porno provocateur! LOL
Skye XOXO
Hi and thank you for visiting Skye Michaels Books. My name is Barbara, also known as Skye Michaels. I write erotic romantic suspense. I currently have thirty novels published by Siren Publishing. My novels are in the BDSM, M/f and M/m contemporary genre. LOL – I’m an equal opportunity naughty book writer! I am currently working on book number 31.
I started my first series, The LeClub series, with Calleigh’s Collar set in the glamorous horse world of Ocala, Florida. I finished the first draft in 17 days. Granted it was only 22,000 words. It and a second manuscript, Kelly’s Challenge, were accepted by Siren Publishing within three weeks. I was astounded, excited, terrified. Since then I have learned a lot from the editors at Siren Publishing. I have since started other series: The Golden Dolphin set aboard a 300 foot mega yacht (currently 6 books with at least one more to come), and The Black Iris Club set in my hometown of Fort Lauderdale that tells the stories of four girlfriends who are either cops or attorneys, The Black Dahlia Hotel series which is a spinoff of Black Iris, and The Wilton Park Grand Hotel series set in Wilton Manors, Florida which is Manlove. I love the BDSM genre, and have had some interesting conversations with people about it. I recently attended a writer’s conference given to educate writers about the lifestyle. I met some really terrific people there who live the lifestyle and learned a lot.
My heroines are all hard working professional women with lives of their own. Although I am writing about Dominant/submissive situations, none of my girls are downtrodden or lack spunk. My heroes are all rich and handsome since this is Romance with a capital “R”. If we all wanted real life, we only have to look around us not to romance books.
I just love being able to take a reader some place she may not have had an opportunity to go – a polo match at the Palm Beach Polo Club or an international Dressage competition (The Appearance of Impropriety), a cruise to Rio or a performance at Lincoln Center (Violette’s Vibrato), a cruise to Alaska and a gold mine in the tundra (Pandora’s Box), or the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown (Madison’s Choice and Belinda’s Crown). While my books are not intended to be travelogs or tutorials on how to train a race horse or sail a yacht, I want my readers to feel like they have been there. I hope I can provide my readers with a little respite from everyday life as well as some fun and hot romance — emphasis on HOT.
Please follow me on Twitter at @skyemichaels and visit my fan page on Facebook, Skye Michaels Books. All of my covers and first chapters are here in the Bookshelf, Books by Series. Or you can just search Skye Michaels on Amazon, Bookstrand or Barnes and Noble and my books will pop up.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Book Giveaway Contest in February.
Here are the winners:
First Prize to Chandera Desautel (All 4 Black Iris Books)
Second Prize to Lee Todd (Alex and Ricky from Wilton Park with Danny as a surprise extra book)
Third Prize to Walt Tucker (Alex from Wilton Park)
Runner Up Third Prize to Anthony Taylor (Alex from Wilton Park)
All books have been sent out in PDF. Please let me know if you are unable to open any of the books.
It was a lot of fun. Now I have to think up a new contest! Feel free to communicate any bright ideas. I can use them.
Skye
As I am sure most of you know (but some may not) BDSM stands for Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission and Sadomasochism, or some other scramble of those ingredients. Some people also refer to it as the ‘lifestyle.’ Some prefer to refer to it as a “community.” It includes Dominance and submission, role-playing, bondage, knife, impact play, and things like that.
Dominance and submission or D/s is what is called a power exchange. One party (the submissive or bottom) gives over their personal power to the other party (the Dominant or Top) who is then in charge of the relationship. It can come in any flavor and degree of commitment—heterosexual, homosexual, polyamour. It may be a 24/7 arrangement, or just in the bedroom or at the club. It is completely consensual, and all parties must get pleasure from the exchange. The pleasure also comes in many flavors and is specific to the individuals. Hard limits are negotiated beforehand and safe words are used.
That’s how I explain it in each of my thirty published Light BDSM Male/female contemporary erotic romance novels (currently working on number thirty-one). I have to say that the genre is very popular even among people who are not actively participating or interested in the lifestyle or would even ever consider it. Why? Darned if I know, but it is a fact. People have all kinds of unacknowledged fantasies—many of them very private. I know that when I stumbled upon a couple of BDSM ebooks, I loved them, read more, and decided I could write them. Do I participate? No, not at this time, but I might be interested if I currently had a partner I trusted to that degree. That’s the thing. It’s all about trust.
Also in my opinion, some of the how-to books and information available on the internet are not realistic and should be taken with a grain of salt. Also, one should be careful in viewing the porn depicting this lifestyle, and very careful of anyone met online purporting to be a “Master.” He could be some sixteen year old kid in Boise with an active imagination or a predator. In addition, as was pointed out, there is no One True Way. Each couple has to find their own comfort level.
But if you are interested, certainly check out the available books. And—wait for it—read some of my books listed on this website.
I hope you will sign up for my Blog, follow me on Twitter at @skyemichaels, and check out my fan page on Facebook, Skye Michaels Books. I love to hear from readers, so drop me a line and let me know what you like and what you don’t (not so much the what you don’t – LOL). – Skye Michaels
I have often been asked why I write most of my stories in the BDSM genre. The answer would be because it’s interesting, sexy and a little edgy. Certainly, it is not for everyone, but the people who love it REALLY love it. I was writing in this genre before I ever heard about Fifty Shades of Gray. I know. I know. My head must have been buried in the sand.
BDSM is something different that people are interested in. You never know. Your neighbors may be living the lifestyle and you have no idea. Jim and Mary Jane next door may have a dungeon in their basement. I have to say that this genre is very popular even among people who are not actively participating or interested in the lifestyle or would even ever consider it. People have all kinds of unacknowledged fantasies—many of them very private.
I know that when I stumbled upon a couple of BDSM ebooks, I loved them, read more, and decided I could write them. While I am not currently a participant in a BDSM relationship, I wouldn’t rule it out. I might be interested if I had a partner I trusted to that degree. That’s the thing. It’s all about trust. In my opinion, if you don’t trust your partner, you would be insane to let him handcuff you to a cross, blindfold you and then paddle your butt!
As I am sure most of you know (but some may not) BDSM stands for Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission and Sadomasochism, or some other scramble of those ingredients. Some people also refer to it as the ‘lifestyle.’ Some prefer to refer to it as a “community.” It includes Dominance and submission, role-playing, bondage, orgasm denial, breath, knife, impact play, and things like that. The participants are a very accepting, non-judgmental group of people. What floats your boat may not float mine. The only hard and fast rules are that play must be “safe, sane and consensual” and safe words are sacred.
Dominance and submission or D/s is a category of relationship under the BDSM umbrella. It is basically a power exchange. One party (the submissive or bottom) gives over their personal power to the other party (the Dominant or Top) who is then in charge of the relationship. These relationships can come in any flavor and degree of commitment—heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, polyamour. It is often said that the submissive drives the bus and has the real power because what they are willing to agree to governs the relationship. It is completely consensual, and all parties must get pleasure from the exchange. The pleasure also comes in many flavors and is specific to the individuals. Hard limits are negotiated beforehand and safe words are used. This is not abuse.
Like in anything else, people are different. Some just want to play in the bedroom or have a Dominant/submissive vibe to their relationship, while some want to live full-time Master/slave relationships.
I have met and talked with many of these people. I recently attended a writer’s conference where I met many couples who actively engage in the lifestyle. There were classes, round table discussions and live demonstrations put on by actual participants in the lifestyle. Naked butts were getting paddled everywhere, there was suspension bondage, vampire gloves (oooh – loved them) and violet wands were in use. We were able to ask questions (nothing off the table), handle the equipment and get an up-close and personal view of what is actually happening. I got to try whips, floggers, paddles, wooden spoons, and every nature of impact “toy.”
What was interesting to me was that although they may have been of different flavors, you could see the love in these relationships. Some couples were more “high protocol” than others, and some were actually in Master/slave, or M/s, relationships. The women (and a couple of men) who were the submissives were not downtrodden, weak or spineless. They had jobs (some very responsible and high profile) and went out to earn a living and contribute to society every day as well as run their households and raise their children. They were not weird, scary or anything like that. They were not all lingerie or male models. They were people who have a few sexual interests that might raise eyebrows is some circles, but they are happy, healthy and love their partners. I went to the conference to learn more, and I was very happy I did. I was able to bring a lot back to my writing and had a great time.
My books are on the light side of the BDSM spectrum. My heroines (while submissives) are spunky and don’t take any guff. They are accomplished women who have minds and hearts of their own and choose to give the gift of submission—or not (witness Paula Greenley in Paula’s Commitment who is always topping from the bottom). They do not all have perfect bodies or lives. Anne in Anne’s Courage had body image issues due to scars from her breast cancer surgery, and Jamie had to break through some serious barriers. My heroes are not all perfect either. They are all handsome and successful. Come on now. This is Romance with a Capital “R,” but they have their own issues to overcome. It’s just like real life—only better.
There is a great quote that I would like to pass along: One word will stop a BDSM scene, while a thousand words will not stop abuse.
Skye Michaels, Erotic Romance With a Dark Edge.