Nine Naughty Novelists

Rigger is out today with Ellora's Cave Publishing.

I was inspired by some beautiful bondage photographs to write Rigger. I wanted my hero to be an artist - a rigger and a photographer. So Alek likes taking artistic pictures of naked women that he ties up - a very erotic art form! I found a lot of visual appeal and beauty in rope designs on a naked (or semi naked) female bodies.

The word Shibari literally means "to tie" or "to bind" and is used in Japan to describe the artful use of twine to tie objects or packages. The Japanese word Kinbaku means “erotic bondage", and Kinbaku-bi literally means "the beauty of tight bondage". Kinbaku is a Japanese style of erotic bondage which involves tying up the bottom using simple yet visually intricate patterns, usually with several pieces of thin rope usually hemp or jute. We most often hear of simply Shibari, though technically the term Kinbaku is more accurate.

But there’s more to Shibari than just the visual. The placement of the ropes and knots on a submissive’s body, if done correctly, can give great pleasure. In fact, rope artists speak not of “inflicting pain” but of “inflicting pleasure.”

And I’m fascinated by the power exchange between Dominant and submissive when doing the bondage. In Rigger, here’s how Shaela describes it:

“Alek groaned and she loved that she could do that to him. The joy of yielding to him mingled with power—the power to thrill him with her submission. It was a never-ending loop of gratification, of giving and receiving, pleasing and getting pleasure, and her heart swelled inside her chest until she thought it might burst.”

I love the combination of sensual, physical and spiritual in this kind of art, and how being bound and helpless forces the bottom to surrender and be taken on a spiritual journey where she can find ultimate pleasure —and find herself. It’s not just about rope and restraint, but also a journey – a journey of self-discovery and self-knowledge.

Alek and Shaela both take that journey in this story – though Shaela doesn’t want to at the beginning, and Alek learns things about himself he, too, is reluctant to face. And they both end up on a journey neither of them expects.

I hope you will take the journey with Shaela and Alek!