This excerpt is from the first draft of a book that started as a NaNoWriMo book. It’s almost completely unedited, so please keep that in mind. Once the trilogy is complete, the books will be edited together as a lump to keep errors from continuing throughout, so even parts of this could change.
Contracted
My name is Isabella Domme though I was born Isabella Martin. I changed my name in the twenties when we all started coming out of the playroom. The community as a whole was hesitantly accepted, but I was a well-known face and backlash came down on me.
See, in the late tens (teens?) and early twenties, I was an advocate for the rights of poor folk. I was the one who organized the marches, I was the one who stood in the parliamentary building until they allowed poor folk to run for government positions.
Yes, the rumours of that are blown out of proportion. I did not do anything untoward to anyone, I simply attended every meeting, every vote, completely naked. At first they thought it amusing to eye a woman, but eventually, I won them over.
Of course, that all was before my name change.
I’ve been asked by my editor to write this introduction thing for my first-hand account of a contract in the Program. The whole thing will be included in the national archives along with the accounts of several others who took part in the Program, from both sides of the contracts.
My own account was first published in the twenties, though it was then done through the community as an example of what not to do. In the early days of the community, the founders patched together what they could find from historical records. The foundation had the right idea but was wrong in several important ways.
When the national archives first began, the community—which was founded firmly in both the poor and rich folk, and had access to nearly anything within the borders of our country—began a new sort of growth. Our information before the archives was based mainly on literature that had survived. These consisted of a few classics from the middle of the C.E. and a plethora of electronically stored books from shortly before the end of the Common Era.
Basically, what I’m trying to say here is: Don’t take this as the way to approach BDSM safely. If you want to dabble, go to the local event on Sunday and remember to always practice safe, sane, and consensual sex.
With that being said, don’t read this expecting a whirlwind romance. For some damned reason the editors insisted on a romantic genre, but I’m pretty certain this would count as erotica, not romance. In the BDSM community? Sure, I could see this as being a romance of some sort, but to the rest of the world, the world that doesn’t understand what it is to surrender will and body, it’s…
It’s kind of creepy…
It’s probably abusive…
Aya DeAniege 