My nearly standard disclaimer:
If you aren't supposed to be reading this because of your age, or where you live, then I don't want you to read this, either. It isn't that I believe 'minors' don't have prurient thoughts or engage in 'adult' activities. I know damned well that they do. It IS that there are laws which could get both of us (but mainly ME) in trouble.
Now for my completely non-standard disclaimer:
If you are reading this story because you heard that it was an erotic alternate history story in which the Confederate States of America won the Civil War of 1861, so far, so good. If you expect depictions of slavery, bondage and discipline, sado-masochism, domination and submission, humiliation and interracial sex, then you haven't read anything I've ever written before. There's a saying, represented by an acronym: TNWWTKBINMK (or something like it), meaning: "There's Nothing Wrong With That Kink But It's Not My Kink."
I write romantic stories of consensual sex for the most part. The final codes on this story might stretch my writing muscles, but not very far in those directions.
That being said, I must admit to an ulterior motive in continuing to write this story. I'm trying to create an Alternate Universe, and also a Shared Universe in the story sense. What that means is that I intend to write other stories in this 21st Century polygamous country, but I also invite other authors to base stories here.
Every story has a real life backstory. This story is no exception. It was originally Inspired by Stasya T. Canine's "Cosmic Orgasm Challenge", in which Stasya called for alternate universes created by a single changed decision; some pivot point in history (preferably related to sex) which changed the world we live in in some way.
"Fine," I thought. "I can write that." In my senior year of high school (class of '69), I had read a book — more a long essay — entitled If The South Had Won The Civil War. Combine this with the fact that in several newsgroups, I occasionally posted, in a humorous fashion I hope, as though a Confederate Nuclear Submarine armed with "torpeanuts" was rising to "throw peanuts" at a particularly odious pun. I had a ready-made crew to base my story on.
If I had written that story, Captain John Carter, a clean-limbed fighting man of Virginia, would have ignored orders to stop pursuit after the battle of Manassas (Bull Run to damnyankees) because he had a "hot" letter from his lover in Washington (a Miss Thoris, of course, a visiting Mormon Patriarch's daughter), and was eager to see her. Other units, in hot blood, would have followed and Washington would be captured. The pivot point would have been the episode of lovemaking that inspired Miss T. to write a letter so hot that a rebel officer disobeyed orders and accidentally won the war.
This isn't that story.
Historians are quite fond of pointing out, using the 20/20 hindsight of the microscope of time, the enormous number of pivotal points in battles, campaigns or wars. Civil War historians especially point at Manassas/Bull Run gleefully and highlight the many ways in which the outcome could have been quite different. The South had superior leadership, but it mostly reacted as independent commands on that day; communications and intelligence (of the information variety) were sorely lacking. Jefferson Davis, a jealous warrior, ordered Lee to stay away when he went himself to the battle.
Change a single decision for either side, and you can get a significantly different outcome. But none of that is important. This story takes place 140 years later. The Confederacy won that war. In enticing other states and territories to secede, they legalized polygamy. It brought in Utah and southern Idaho and changed the society in ways unanticipated by the framers of that law.
What's that? Farfetched, you say? So what? It's fun!
Another bit of fun is acknowledging some of the people who encouraged me to finish this story. They may not share the concept, but they encouraged the writing thereof. Desdmona encouraged me to write; she always has. Girl Friday did the same. I think she rolls her eyes at my polygamous society. Alexis has always been supportive. Denny, my editor, snorts a lot at the entire idea. But he proofs my most egregious errors anyway. And to all the fans who asked "When are you going to write more? I like it," I say "THANK YOU!"