Hi everyone– I’m welcoming J. A. Rock, my fellow LI author, to the blog today and her new book, Calling the Show sounds like so much kinky fun! Before i hand over the reins to J.A., i want to tell you to be sure to leave a comment with your email. J.A. is generously giving away the winners choice of the new book or either title from her backlist. Go over to her website to check out the book you want to win. Okay, J.A. is on deck!
Meet the Kinky Hula Hoopers of Calling the Show
I’m so happy to be here today on Tara Lain’s blog to discuss my just-released novel, Calling the Show. Calling the Show is part of Loose Id’s Pick Your Pleasure series this July (as is Tara’s Genetic Celebrity!), and it centers on two college theater students, uptight stage manager Jesse and free-spirited light board op Sim, who bond through theater, Hula-Hooping lessons, and BDSM.
Calling the Show is a book of firsts for me—my first non-Domestic Discipline novel, my first time taking two characters from enemies (or at least, decidedly not-friends) to lovers. Definitely my first book involving Hula-Hoops. And my first book where both MCs are young—but legal, of course—and there’s almost no age gap between them.
When I write BDSM relationships, I tend to go for the older, experienced dominant/younger, less experienced submissive combo. Things feel safer for me that way, since if you’ve got a young or inexperienced dom wielding scary implements, there’s a whole set of issues the book has to tackle before readers can stop holding their breath like they’re in the passenger seat next to a teenager who’s just learning to drive. Which is great, if the dom’s learning process is part of the story. But up to this point, I’ve focused mostly on subs’ journeys, and I’ve made the characters swinging the paddles well-practiced and sure of themselves.
The situation in Calling the Show is different in that the characters are college-aged, and they’re both exploring their interest in kink for the first time. They’re not sure who’s dominant who’s submissive—they both like elements of each role. Eventually they even holda kinky contest to determine who fits the dominant mold better.
What was interesting to me as a writer when I worked on this book was how enthusiastic the two characters were about exploring. This was the first book I wrote from an outline, and so I’d expected it to be a much more organized writing experience than I’ve had in the past.
Jesse and Sim made it clear exactly what they thought of my outline. There were times the two of them seemed out of control, and I felt helpless as I tried to wrangle them. My previous novels, By His Rules and Wacky Wednesday, both feature wild brats paired with calm, experienced tops. So during those writing processes, even if my brats were behaving badly and doing things I hadn’t expected them to do, I felt like I had allies in my top characters. The wrangling was their responsibility, not mine.
But two college boys discovering first love, the joys of spanking, and the unforeseen benefits of Hula-Hooping? They fed off of each other’s energy and left me sitting in front of my computer screen with my fingers crossed, hoping I’d end up with a coherent novel when they were done getting high on their own awesomeness.
I know author-character relationships are different for every writer. I’m definitely someone who bonds with my characters—who has conversations with them and feels proud when they grow throughout the course of a novel and learn to make mistakes gracefully and sacrifices wisely. So it was funny to me to feel almost left out at times during Calling the Show. Once Jesse and Sim fell for each other, they seemed to need only each other, and not me. But we eventually found a balance between chaos and structure, and I’m very proud of my boys. And I think they’re glad I was there on occasion to wave the outline at them and be like, “Back to business.”
Here is a blurb and an excerpt from Calling the Show:
Senior stage manager Jesse Ferelit and sophomore light board operator Simon Whedon meet while crewing a college theater production. Jesse hates everything about Sim, from his lack of theater experience, to his obsession with LGBTQ politics, to his infatuation with, of all things, Hula hoops. Well, he doesn’t hate everything. He doesn’t mind Sim’s eyes, or hair, or his surprising ability to be cool in a crisis. But Jesse is graduating in just a few months, and if there’s one thing he does not have time for, it’s a relationship.
Sim knows exactly what he likes: civil rights, the circus, and sex. And he knows what he likes about Jesse. In the control booth, Jesse is exactly Sim’s type—a natural leader, collected and confident. But outside the booth, he seems reclusive, acerbic and uptight—hardly Sim’s type at all. Is a relationship with Jesse a real possibility, just a fantasy, or a hopelessly lost cause?
When Sim offers to teach Jesse how to hula hoop as a way to relax and loosen up, the lessons ease the two men into an unexpected shared world of sex, kink, friendship, and eventually love.
****
Jesse was getting better at keeping the hoop up, but he got frustrated easily if he lost it. He could do it pretty well around his upper arm but had trouble controlling it around his wrist and hand.
“It hurts when I do it around my wrist,” he said. “I mean, not bad, but I’ve seen bruises.”
“That’s normal,” I said. “The wrists and ankles aren’t very protected. You get used to it, though.”
“I want to do it above my head, on my fingertips, like you do.”
“In time. Let’s go around the waist for a few minutes.”
We launched our hoops, but he lost his after a few seconds. “Dammit.”
“Gotta stay relaxed,” I said, spinning my hoop over my head. “Don’t sweat it if it falls. This is supposed to be stress relief, remember?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. He started the hoop again. It made two circuits, tilted, and fell to the floor. “Fuck. I had it the other day.”
“Here.” I stepped toward him. He froze as I got in the hoop with him—though I left the hoop on the ground. “Turn around.”
Cautiously he turned so his back was to me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rocked back and forth, pulling him with me. “Nice and easy. Just like this.”
My nose barely came up to his shoulder. His back was warm, and I liked the way his ab muscles moved under my arms as we rocked.
“Let all that tension out.” I said, jostling his stomach.
He took a deep breath.
“This is what you want it to feel like when you’ve got the hoop going.”
“Hey, Sim?”
“Yeah?
He didn’t say anything, but I imagined he might have been about to address the fact that my dick was poking his ass. I let go of him and stepped out of the hoop. “Try again,” I said.
He picked the hoop up and gave it a spin. This time it stayed up. He had to thrust his hips awkwardly a couple of times to keep it going, but he looked much more relaxed. “Nice,” I said.
When he finally lost the hoop, he laughed. “All right. Your turn, Whedon. Show me something I haven’t seen.”
I started the hoop around my waist, then took it up around my shoulders and finally around my neck. Then I brought it back down to my waist, around my thighs, and finished with it around one ankle.
“Pshh.” He rolled his eyes. “Show-off.”
I got the hoop going around one arm, then drew my arm into the hoop so the hoop circled my elbow. I passed it behind me onto the other elbow and finished with it around my opposite hand.
“Okay, I get it. I’ll never be as good as you.”
“Who says?”
“I say.”
I started the hoop around my waist again, but he reached out and knocked it to the floor. “Hey,” I said.
“What’s the matter? Can’t keep your hoop up?”
I stuck my tongue out and headed for the corner where we’d left our water bottles. As I passed him, he smacked my ass.Oh God.
****
Doesn’t that sound FUN! Be sure and leave a comment with your email to win. I also love blog followers! Remember to enter my Pre-Tour Giveaway going on at Beautiful Boys Books. Go over there and enter to win Deceptive Attraction. And remember, Genetic Celebrity releases on July 24th. MMF menage with food fun!