RED ZONE
T.S. McKinney & Shannon West
Gay Romance, Contemporary New Adult, Sports Romance, & BDSM
Release Date: 03/15/19
BLURB
From the outside, it looks as if college football quarterback Kingston Bentley has it all—good looks, outstanding athletic ability and a 4.0 average in his classes. But looks can be deceiving. Kingston is battling inner demons that are jeopardizing his safety and slowly driving him to more and more acts of desperation. Everywhere he looks, he’s got nothing but trouble, and when he loses his coveted first-string position on the football team, he goes back to the one thing he can count on—cutting to relieve the pressure and the emotional pain.
The gorgeous new quarterback on the team, Memphis Sabine, is the Coach’s son, and under enormous pressure of his own to lead his new team to the national championship. For that, he needs Kingston’s help, and they soon become an unbeatable force both on the field. But when Memphis discovers Kingston in the act of cutting, he uses his forceful nature and all he knows about being a Dom to take Kingston in hand and ensure his welfare. Kingston loves the pain, but he rebels against the idea of being Memphis’s sub. As Kingston begins his training, however, Memphis discovers just how fragile their relationship really is, and how desperately he needs to help Kingston deal with the secrets from his past.
Writing stories with BDSM
Writing stories with BDSM can be difficult—especially if you don’t practice it yourself. Similarly, writing about murders, writing about self-harm, writing about contacting aliens–all can be really hard when you haven’t had the experience yourself. Yet as authors, we have imagination and empathy and we’ve learned to do the research, so that only when we feel like we’re ready, we jump off in the deep end and hope for the best.
That’s pretty much the way TS McKinney and I approach the BDSM stories we write, with the added effort of interviewing people who do live it (and maybe watching a little porn. Allegedly!) No, seriously, research is an author’s best friend when it comes to getting the details straight. But just as important, or even more important to us is having a good love story to go along with the sexual content. In the end, from the research we’ve done, we’ve learned that there are many ways to express your sexuality, and BDSM is simply one of them. Being safe, sane and consensual is the hallmark of any BDSM story as far as we’re concerned, but a good romance novel is so much more than just the sex, no matter how good it might be.
Some of us are fascinated by BDSM, some may even cringe a little when they read it, but above all else, the love story still has to work even after the BDSM has been removed. T.S. and I write Romance with a capital R, so the love story is everything to us. In our book, Red Zone, I think you could remove the BDSM element and still have a good story. However, at the same time the Dom/sub relationship between them is important and integral to the plot. It emphasizes the trust that they have to build between them, in a relationship that started out as anything but friendly. These young men, rivals on and off the football field, have to find a way, not only to connect, but to build an extreme amount of trust between them and then maintain that trust. They both need that extreme connection.
Because of this, we decided not to do a harsh, heavy-on-the-Domination story. The control is there, yes, but also there is trust and growing love between the two. At one point in the story, Kingston and Memphis, our two main characters, are having a conversation. “What do you need from me?” Memphis askes him. And Kingston replies, “A friend maybe. No, that’s not exactly it…someone who gets me. You have to know what it’s like. Your parents had to be hard on you just like mine were on me, so you know what kind of pressure I’m under all the time to be not only a good student but a great quarterback. I need someone who’ll be there…you know?”
“I don’t want to be your friend, Kingston.”
Kingston is stunned and then this happens. “He grabbed my chin and made me look up at him. “I don’t want to be your friend. I want to be your everything. I want to be your friend, your lover, and your Dom, because I know what you need. And I will be there for you. I give you my promise.”
This begins the Dom/sub relationship between them, but it’s far from easy sailing for the two. Trust has to be earned and given freely between the two men, just as the reader has to trust the author to provide them with a little kink, but also something safe and not too harsh. And above all, provide them with a really good story. We hope we accomplished this in Red Zone.
I took hold of his wrist and held on, squeezing a little. “Who’s in charge here, fireball?”
I could see it trembling on the tip of his tongue to cuss me out and tell me to go to hell. His eyes got stormy and his face sullen, but I waited him out, pressing his wrist harder. “I’m waiting for an answer. I thought we’d already decided this last night. Now who’s in charge here?”
Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was really only a few, long seconds, he dropped his gaze. “You are,”he said, grudgingly. I loved his little hesitations. They told me this was hard for him, but he was doing it anyway, because I’d told him to.
“That’s right,”I said, my voice soft and coaxing. Sometimes it felt like I was encouraging some wild animal to come out of its hiding place in the shadows. “And what is it you have to worry about today?”
He looked up at me, a little blank at first, and then he got a nervous look in his eyes, like he’d forgotten something. I sighed and said, “The answer is nothing. You don’t have to worry about a damn thing because I got this for both of us. I’m making the decisions now and all you have to do is go along for the ride.”
ABOUT T.S. MCKINNEY
I have spent my entire life reading, reading, and reading some more! I love to get lost in the land of fantasy where I can be as naughty as I like without facing too many penalties! Earlier this year, I decided that maybe I should try writing my own naughty stories. That way I can do wickedly delightful things to my imaginary boyfriends without serving any serious jail time! My publishing company, Dark Hollows Press, has been awesome and most patient when dealing with their newbie.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2T8BkEV
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006245056875
ABOUT SHANNON WEST
Shannon makes her home in Georgia and North Carolina with her husband and family. She believes that love is love, no matter the gender. Shannon mostly spends her days at the keyboard trying to elude housework, which stalks her relentlessly.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2TOsKzN
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.west.399
