A warm welcome to author Xenia Melzer joining us today to talk about new release “A Dom and His Warrior, book 3 in the succesful Club Whisper series.

The Sub who is an MMA fighter

Those who have read the Club Whisper series so far know that Leeland is a secondary character from A Dom and His Writer and A Dom and His Artist. His parents are both cops, he loves everything Tim Burton (mainly because of Johnny Depp, but he’ll deny that to his last breath), and he does martial arts.

When I first thought of Leeland, I was fascinated by the idea of a sub who is far more than his androgynous, Twink exterior. The stereotype calls for Twinks to be obsessed with fashion and cosmetic products (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I know a few Twink characters in books I love exactly because of that), but for some reasons I thought a study in contrasts would be interesting. Subs have to possess a great inner strength to submit and I wondered what would happen if one of them had the outer strength to match it without showing it in his build.

Enter Jonathan, a Dom who wants a submissive that isn’t – submissive. At least not in certain respects. He falls in love with Leeland because he’s strong and self-reliant and technically doesn’t need a Dom. Leeland can also wipe the floor with Jonathan which makes him even more attractive to Jonathan.

Leeland’s past in martial arts competitions sets the story in motion when he decides to help his uncle out and compete for his gym in the UFC. Throughout the story, the relationship between Leeland and Jonathan is Leeland’s rock to help him through the challenges he has to face.

With a Dom and His Warrior I wanted to portray a mature relationship between two men who deeply respect each other and whose bond grows stronger under outward pressure.

I chose MMA as the sport Leeland does because I’m fascinated by martial arts and because it fitted my initial idea of Leeland being a physically strong character. Finding out about the intricacies of MMA fighting and the inner workings of the UFC was an interesting journey. The UFC’s official position on gay fighters is that they are welcome, though the first athlete still has to come out. There are several women in the UFC who are openly gay, but the macho culture of MMA seems to keep male athletes from coming out. There are several prominent athletes in the UFC who openly support gay rights. One of them was even featured in a prominent British gay magazine. But where there’s light, there’s always a shadow as well. A number of UFC athletes have openly made negative comments about gay rights especially when it comes to gay marriage.

For this reason, Leeland being gay is of course one of the catalysts for the story. At the end, Leeland gives an interview where he says some things about being a gay athlete which I hope will come true sooner than later. Because being gay and being an athlete is still a major problem in professional sports not only in the USA and I do think it’s high time we stop prioritizing an athlete’s sexual orientation over his performance.

Leeland Drake and Jonathan White are a committed BDSM couple and have just moved in together. Leeland has only one year left in college, and everything seems perfect… until Leeland’s uncle asks him to stand in for an injured UFC fighter.

Leeland wants to help his uncle, but he remembers all too well from his years competing in martial arts how strenuous life as an athlete can be. He doesn’t want to risk his relationship with Jonathan. After some discussion, they decide Leeland will go pro for a year.

As if the training and strict diet weren’t bad enough, the pressure skyrockets when Leeland encounters homophobic fighter Tommy Adams—especially when they end up facing each other in the championship

Between the bigoted rants of his opponent, the scrutiny of the media, the pressure from his sponsor, and a fire in his uncle’s gym, Leeland is close to breaking down. Only Jonathan’s support and love keep him focused enough to set foot in the octagon once more—and maybe even walk away a winner.

Buy Links:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Xenia Melzer was born and raised in a small village in the South of Bavaria. As one of nature’s true chocoholics, she’s always in search of the perfect chocolate experience. So far, she’s had about a dozen truly remarkable ones. Despite having been in close proximity to the mountains all her life, she has never understood why so many people think snow sports are fun. There are neither chocolate nor horses involved and it’s cold by definition, so where’s the sense? She does not like beer either and has never been to the Oktoberfest – no quality chocolate there.

Even though her mind is preoccupied with various stories most of the time, Xenia has managed to get through school and university with surprisingly good grades. Right after school she met her one true love who showed her that reality is capable of producing some truly amazing love stories itself.

While she was having her two children, she started writing down the most persistent stories in her head as a way of relieving mommy-related stress symptoms. As it turned out, the stress-relief has now become a source of the same, albeit a positive one.

When she’s not writing, she translates the stories of other authors into German, enjoys riding and running, spending time with her kids, and dancing with her husband. If you want to contact her, please visit either her website, www.xeniamelzer.com or write her an email: info@xeniamelzer.com .