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This will be the longest set of acknowledgments I have ever written,
because I have been blessed with so much help in researching this novel
(and the series that will continue from it). Of course, none of the people
I list below are responsible for any heinous errors that may remain in
my story. My apologies ahead of time for anyone important I may have failed
to mention; in 2005 alone, I exchanged over a thousand e-mails on the topics
in this novel, so I owe a debt to innumerable people.
This series would not have existed if my fellow author and friend Parhelion had not innocently asked me, "What are your daydreams like that you don't dare turn into stories?" So I told Parhelion, and somewhere along the way, I got to know Loren and Ken. In the subsequent weeks, the e-mails between Parhelion and me about leather customs helped me to think out many of the issues addressed in the series.
Most of the research for this novel was done between 2004 and 2006. I would like to thank the members of the e-mail lists leatherhistory, asb-gl, and leathertitleholders for answering my questions about past and current leather practices.
Leather history writers Gayle Rubin, Joseph Bean, david stein, Robert Bienvenu, and Rob Ridinger answered various questions I had about leather life before 1986. In addition, david stein was kind enough to read the initial draft of my novel.
Jack Fritscher and the late Robert Davolt, former editors of Drummer, provided me with information on the history of that classic leather magazine, and both men urged me, in their own inimitable fashions, to be historically accurate.
The writings of the late John Preston, particularly his essays on authorship, had a profound effect on my view of the ethics of writing leather stories. Although I sadly did not have the opportunity to express my debt to him, a number of his former acquaintances were kind enough to contribute memories of Mr. Preston to my Website, Topman: Online Writings by and about John Preston (duskpeterson.com/preston), thus providing me with a peek into the life of a man who first entered into the leather world at around the same time as my protagonist.
Rick Storer and Jeff Wirsing of Chicago's Leather Archives & Museum guided me through the archive's collection – including letting me paw through pre-1986 books at a time when they were stored in boxes – and then went beyond the call of duty by escorting me to one of the oldest leather bars in the country, the Chicago Eagle.
Likewise, Viola Johnson granted me special access to her large collection of leather periodicals and books.
I salute with respect the librarians at the interlibrary loan office of McKeldin Library, the University of Maryland at College Park. They did not so much blink as they delivered to me books with titles like Stud and Hard Corps: Studies in Leather and Sadomasochism. (The librarian at the reference desk did blink when I asked whether gay pornography magazines were indexed, but she promptly referred me over to the library's specialist in gay and lesbian literature.)
I had the great privilege to be present – via the Internet – when the leather, bear, and pansexual BDSM clubs of New Orleans were struggling with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The manner in which those communities – as well as outside leather/bear/BDSM communities – united to assist one another during the crisis confirmed what I had hitherto only suspected about the leather world.
And then there were the folks in the Washington, D.C., area. The Defenders (a gay and lesbian leather club), Black Rose (a pansexual BDSM club), and Masters And slaves Together (an M/s organization) all opened their doors to me, and the Defenders helped me to become acquainted with the D.C. Eagle at times of the night when I would otherwise never have had the nerve to visit that leather bar. The presenters and participants of the Master/slave Conference provided me with extremely valuable insight into the everyday lives of masters and slaves.
So many masters, dominants, daddies, sirs, submissives, slaves, boys, and bois answered my questions during the research of Edgeplay in Mayhill that it would take me a novel's worth of space to thank them all. But I would like to express my special thanks to Master David (Chastmastr) and his boy David, who honored me with their friendship and provided me with much food for thought on Christian views of M/s and SM; Master Taino, who welcomed me into his home and introduced me to many people; Master Tallen, who calmed my nerves during some difficult moments; and the slaves and boys I met at Master Taino's house – especially slave buck, who made me feel less like an ugly duckling. I badgered all of these folks with unending questions, and they answered them all patiently.
I must not forget to mention my hometown of Greenbelt, Maryland. Although my literary debt to this town is more obvious in Leather in Lawnville (my series about a suburban leatherman), it would not have been possible for me to write a story about a nonconformist drawn to the stability of living in a small town if I had not myself dealt with some of the same issues during the forty years I have lived in Greenbelt.
My final thanks are reserved for my apprentice Jo/e. Always Jo/e.
¶ Back Matter | Table of contents.
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