The House of Elyot

I have republished the third of my regained Xcite titles, but this time I have done it differently.

Saxonhurst Secrets was released in September 2011, but it never sold as well as the previous two titles. I think part of that was the more niche genre, and another the rather vague title, so I decided to change it.

The new title, Under Her Spell, makes it clear that there are paranormal elements and a strong female lead. In fact, the character of the book is something of a departure for me at that time, in that it wasn’t a specifically kinky BDSM read, and it actually had a plot (my first two books were essentially linked short story collections, and my third, Meeting Her Match, was more episodic than structured). Another big difference is that the ‘hero’ is a deeply repressed virgin – a clergyman struggling to fight the temptations of the flesh that assail him constantly in his depraved new parish.

It’s a kind of homage to one of my favourite films, The Wicker Man. Spoiler alert – it doesn’t end as horrifically! On re-reading, I enjoyed its quirkiness, my poor confused Adam, and the two strong but opposing female leads.

I didn’t enjoy its bad home-made cover, but alas, my Paypal account has run almost dry and I can’t afford schmancy cover art any more.

So, if you can ignore that, and you enjoy a tale of pastoral debauchery with paranormal elements, you might dig this.

My old Xcite titles are reappearing at Amazon, one by one. This time I’ve given Meeting Her Match an e-makeover and a luscious new cover. I love this one a lot.

Meeting Her Match was originally published in the autumn of 2010. It sold pretty well, and then very well for a few months in the slipstream of Fifty Shades. The adventures of Cherry as a rookie submissive, trying to find her niche in the scene, were tremendous fun to write. Additionally, as this was my first full-length commissioned novel, I enjoyed staying with one character in a linear narrative from beginning to end.

Not that I always knew what I was doing. Three quarters of the way through the book, I was seriously tempted to change my original ending and have Cherry end up with someone else – a minor character who came to life during the scenes I wrote for him, and beguiled me something chronic. But I’d given the outline to the publisher already, so felt things were set in stone. Although they probably weren’t.

Anyway, I still like it for what it is – a romp and an exploration of what it might mean to be a submissive woman in the modern age. I’d hesitate to call it a romance, but there are elements of it all the way along. If you decide to give it a whirl, I hope it’s worth your while. Here’s a link for anyone interested:

2017 is here. My tax return is due, but I know before looking at the figures that I won’t have earned enough to be liable.

I had five good years (2009-2013) in erotica, but the last few have been thin indeed, and getting thinner. I flipped through Amazon’s top erotic titles yesterday, and very little appealed. The same half-dozen writers showed up over and over. The publishing houses that used to do such good work have closed or stopped accepting submissions. And the self-publishing market is overwhelmed with content, all fighting for limited reader attention.

It all combines to make a dispiriting, demotivating brew.

But I want to keep writing! I love it; it gives me life. Yet writing into the black hole of Amazon Kindle Direct has done nothing for my mental health. I need to know I’m making readers happy with what I write. I think I also need a commission of some kind – I’m much more prolific when I have a deadline/definite goal.

With that in mind, I’m throwing open the floor to you dear readers. What would you like me to write? Prompt me – feed me with scenarios.

Here’s a quick guide to my strengths, if you want to play to them.

I’m at my most comfortable and natural writing M/f kinky stuff. Happy to branch into F/F, M/F/M or M/M/F or more!

Genres I like are contemporary fiction, historical (particularly love this), fantasy, mildly speculative (not too heavy on the science, eek), gothic but not overly paranormal (think I just invented that genre).

Settings I’m confident with are mainly European (would love to venture out into Asia at some point, but I get bogged down in research if I go much further). Cities, palaces, villages, seaside hideaways or what you will.

Anyway, those are just for an idea. Hit me with your deepest desires and I’ll see what sticks.

(I figure this way, at least I get one reader.)

Hello, I’m Justine and I’m your elf for the day. I hope you’re enjoying the season – and if you like a little bit of kink along with your eggnog, I’m your woman!

What does a kinky Christmas look like? Well, I imagine it’s as varied as the enormous range of fetishes and dynamics that exist in the world.

I haven’t had the most productive year (call it the curse of 2016) but I did publish a little anthology of short stories called Six of the Best.

One of them, Belonging, centres on an unusual dynamic that I find really interesting – a married couple with their very own live-in female submissive. Here’s my attempt to imagine their Christmas morning…

My alarm wakes me at seven.

I am on an inflatable mattress at the foot of Paul and Danni’s bed. They were out late for Christmas Eve, at a drinks party with some friends of theirs, and I took the opportunity to have a quiet night in, wrapping parcels in front of Carols From Kings. By the time they came in, I was asleep, and they didn’t disturb me.

I take my phone out from under my pillow and kill the vibrations. Sitting up, I can just about make out their shapes under the duvet. It’s pitch black and freezing cold, but I have no alternative but to take my naked self to the bathroom and start my morning routine. (It’s a house rule that I am only allowed to wear clothes in the house with their permission. On a normal day it’s given without a second thought – but today will not be a normal day.)

Once I am shower fresh, I head downstairs and put on the fairy lights. In their dim shimmering glow, I take a big bow-topped box from under the tree and open it, examining my secret stash.

The silence and darkness is both eerie and exciting. Peeking through the curtains, I can see only one set of house lights on in the street – belonging to a household with small children. I smile, remembering Christmases past, when I tried to stay awake all night to catch Santa.

Now I’m the one that wants to be caught.

In my box, I have a hairband with jingle-bell antlers. I set it on my head, keeping my movements to an economic minimum. I am goose-pimpling all over, my nipples stiff and my toes like ice. Luckily enough, I have a pair of woolly reindeer-printed socks to put on. I suspect they’ll count as clothes, which will earn me a punishment, but a spanking beats gangrene any day, so I defy the rule.

Next I draw from the box a beautiful leather harness. This is my real Christmas present to Paul and Danni. I know they’ll get so much usage and enjoyment from it, dressing me up and putting me through my paces. It’s gorgeously soft and pliable leather – cost a fortune, but I know it’s worth it as I strap myself in, attaching clips to D-rings and pulling taut until my breasts stand out and proud, securely contained along with the rest of my torso. I put a pair of red glittery nipple tassels in the shape of present bows on those distractingly stiff peaks, take a look at myself in the mirror and laugh with pleasure at the thought of their faces when they see me.

Now for the difficult bit.

I take the bottle of lube and the ponytail butt plug and eye them up fearfully for a while, gnawing at my lip. I’ve never tried self-insertion, and I’m worried I won’t be able to go through with it.

Besides, a reindeer butt plug doesn’t seem to exist, so the ponytail seems a bit wrong. Reindeer don’t have tails like that, do they? In fact, I’m not even sure what a real reindeer looks like.

“Artistic license,” I whisper to myself, opening the lube and spreading a thick layer over the business end of the plug.

I use a combination of pushing in and squatting back to get the thing in. I do it quickly, in one tear-inducing move, so as not to wimp out. Paul or Danni will always go for the gradual insertion, to get maximum squirming and pleading from me. My own technique is shocking, but mercifully swift.

But it makes me cry out.

I raise my eyes to the ceiling. Did they hear me?

There’s a chance they did, so I arrange myself swiftly. Now I’m fully plugged, all I have to do is take out the riding crop and hold it between my teeth. I crawl forwards, into the embrace of the fluffy white rug, in the welcome glow of the fire, and get myself into position: a begging stance, on my knees with my back straight and my hands out like paws. Begging to have the crop used on me.

I know that the alarm I set on my iPad and left on their nightstand will wake them soon, even if my amateur self-plugging hasn’t done so already. I wonder if they will be annoyed at being woken early; if they will be hungover and grumpy and all this will fall flat.

My nerves tighten as I hear the distant thunder of a footstep overhead. Gushing from the water pipes, the muffled high note of Danni’s laugh.

My teeth clench so tight against the crop I worry about damaging the shaft.

My vision is a multi-coloured fairy-lit blur by the time I hear the first foot on the stair. I shake my head, sharpen my senses, make the room return into focus.

Danni enters the room alone, in her short silk wrap and nothing else.

My heart swells to see the enchanted look in her eyes.

“Well, well, well,” she says in a low, laughing voice. “Paul!”

“Just a moment.” From the echoey tone, he is in the bathroom.

“Come and see what Santa’s left us.”

He is down in seconds, still holding his toothbrush, usually immaculate hair falling in an unkempt sweep over his brow.

“Ohhhh yes,” he sighs, taking me in from head to knees. “Santa knows what we like.”

He comes to crouch in front of me, reaching out to stroke my cheek, as far as he can with the obstruction of the riding crop crossing it. He removes the whip from my mouth and proffers it at Danni, who takes it from him.

She slaps it into her palm, watching Paul kiss me thoroughly. His newly-minted toothpaste breath makes me tingle, even as his tongue slips into my mouth.

“Well, then,” he says, standing up again and motioning me on to all fours. “That lily-white bottom isn’t the proper festive colour, is it? We need a good Santa hat red, don’t we? Danni?”

He puts one foot between my shoulder blades, holding me down and raising my bum high. Danni walks around to my rear, swishing the crop through the air.

She lays the flat tip against my plug and taps it once, twice, three times.

“Merry Christmas, darling,” she says, as the first stroke swipes home.

Thanks for reading! If you are interested in reading more about Paul, Danni and their pet, you can find their story in my collection Six of the Best, available for Kindle on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Six-Best-Justine-Elyot-Collection-ebook/dp/B01MAWQW3T/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480678319&sr=8-1&keywords=justine+elyot+six+of+the+best

I wish you all a Merry Christmas – I hope it’s just as kinky as you want it to be ;).