"Oh my God! An essay!" I can hear the screams of horror. I can see you all running away right now. For those of you brave enough to hang around, I'm either grateful to you, or sorry for you… perhaps both. As a result of writing my stories, and events in my real life--such as I have one--I have been driven to sit down and write a little bit of non-fiction.

It is often assumed that what I write in my stories is what I believe and what I desire. This is not necessarily so. Fiction is, after all, the art of telling lies. While the characters in the stories I write are often drawn--to one degree or another--from people I know in real life, they are not those people. And neither are the protagonists a true representation of me. There is, admittedly, a lot of me in Indigo and Porter, and others who may come later. It's impossible for an author to write without putting something of himself into the main character, but those characters also go to places--metaphorically speaking--that the author can't or won't . The stories I write are just stories. I have written them so that others may enjoy reading them, not to use them as a venue to evangelize my philosophy or dictate rules for others to follow. Some are written specifically to appeal to the tastes of friends, others are just exercises in style.

This essay, therefore, is being written as an explanation: both for the curious, and for those who think they might know me. It is also for myself. As with many writers, putting words to paper (or bytes to disc) helps to codify and clarify the ideas in my head.

There is one thing I should make clear. When I mention my interest in D/s, it is quite often assumed that I am a Gorean. I am not. As with all things in my life, I do not associate myself with any group or doctrine. I feel that relationships are a personal interaction, and should be subjected only to the rules established between those affected.

For the sake of consistency, this essay utilizes a couple of conventions, based on personal bias. I am a dominant, heterosexual male. As such, I have written this under the assumption of a male Master and female slave. This is purely for consistency and ease of writing.