Good question!
I should make it clear from the outset, that I write BDSM as loving and consensual – anything else is non-con/torture/rape/abuse. However, I’ve never shied away from writing on those topics, either – in stories like The Adversary, Two Wolves, Back from the Well, Damage etc – and stories like Hiding in Plain Sight and The First Collar, which have Tony being tortured and abused. I have never glamourised it in my fanfic stories, and it isn’t glamourised in Slavecatcher, either. Alex’s situation is in no way romanticised – the opposite I’d have said.
In Slavecatcher, the system of Indentured Servitude is a way of exploring what happens when societies go badly wrong and how easy acceptance of that can be in the name of a greater good. It’s also about how we create an ‘other’ and then mistreat them because they aren’t part of ‘us’, and how we all must take responsibility for that. I hope all of that has relevance and resonance in these novels.
In Slavecatcher, there is no abusive sex between the two main characters – one is a slave, and the other the ‘slavecatcher’ but they fall in love, and there are huge issues around consent and Alex’s ability to consent in the circumstances, which are fully discussed and explored. Josiah does not exploit or abuse Alex at any point – that’s very important to me.
Alex’s situation is pretty horrible, and Josiah has his own reasons for reacting to it and to Alex the way he does. As we find out more about both men, it becomes clear that neither of them is what they seem and both have some pretty huge ulterior motives for what they do and how they behave. You have to keep reading quite a long way to get to grips with what those motives might be, though! Whatever you think you know about them at the start, you can pretty much throw out of the window by the end! And they are both much nicer and more noble than we might initially think…
Non-con/torture is an extreme form of angst and hurt/comfort, which I’ve always enjoyed exploring. I also wanted the challenge of creating a form of modern slavery. To be honest, modern slavery exists in many forms all around us still, but I didn’t want to exploit the very real suffering of people in that situation by writing a romance novel about them. This is deliberately a futuristic, dystopian scenario that I hope has that ring of ‘but it could happen’.
Also, the system itself exists as an ‘antagonist’ in the form of obstacles to the love affair between Josiah and Alex, so that makes it interesting to write about as well. Alex’s fall from grace into ‘indentured servitude’ is very fully explored – a main theme of the novels is that of erosion – what parts of yourself you give away to protect yourself, or someone else, or because you don’t care or realise it might be important… and what the consequences of that might ultimately be. Is it better to bend or break under extreme stress – we see examples of both in the novels. Why a well meaning society might look the other way, and how attitudes can be paternal, or exploitative, or even positive, and how all can be inherent in the system, because at least one of the Indentured Servants in the book is very happy about how the IS system has helped her get an education and job. Others are much less fortunate.
It’s an extreme situation that drives an extreme narrative – I like writing that kind of ‘big’ story with drama and angst as you know. So, all of those were an attraction, too.
All that being said, there are some pretty edgy scenes in these novels, which won’t be for everyone.
I hope that answers the question a bit, but do let me know if not!
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