Layers of Diversity

A diverse group of women and men.

Today, there is a focus on diversity. That’s a good thing! Interestingly, it is almost always the same aspects: gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race, age, ethnicity, religion. These are also, not coincidentally, protected classes (meaning protected by laws, at least some of the time).

What isn’t often discussed, however, are all of the other layers of diversity worth recognizing. For example:

  • Wealth or income level. The amount of money you have affects how you view the world and your experiences in it.

  • Education.There are those of us with Doctorates and those without high school diplomas and every step in between.

  • Skin tone. Having a lighter or darker pigment, depending on the culture, can affect how you are treated.

  • Beauty. Yes, beauty standards vary. But if you exceed or don’t meet the standard, it can affect how people view you.

  • Geography. Urban/rural. North/south. East/west. You know what people think. People in the south are slow. City folks are rude. West coasters are laid back potheads.

  • Weight/body type. All kinds of assumptions are made about people who are overweight—Lazy. Stupid. Jolly.

On the one hand, it is a research-based fact that when you have a diverse environment, people are happier and more creative, and decision-making is high quality.

In my books, you’ll find characters along many layers of diversity. My characters are older and younger, rich and poor, straight, gay, and transgender, chubby and not. There are attorneys, musicians, drag performers, and corporate bigwigs. And of course, a myriad of races, including the supernatural kind: Vampires, Weres, Incubi, Huldra, Caladrius, Dragons, Wizards and more. All of this makes for, as one reader noted, Memorable characters, humor, compassion, and adventure.

That’s the kind of world I want to live in. The one that diversity can create.

Guest Author: Lisabet Sarai

Incognito: Secret Lives, Forbidden Loves

Shy and serious by day—insatiable by night.During the day, Miranda Cahill works diligently on her doctoral thesis. At night, she has sex with strangers.

Public coupling, multiple partners, age play, spankings, bondage, lesbian lust—each salacious adventure exposes new dimensions of her depravity. Her secret life explodes when she realizes her masked partner at a kink club and the charismatic colleague courting her are in fact the same man.

Dickens scholar Mark Anderson seems like an affable, uncomplicated Midwesterner, but he has hidden depths, myriad talents, and an unlimited appetite for erotic variety. With Mark as her guide,  Miranda comes to accept the intricacy of her own desires, as well as to trust her heart.

Reader Advisory: This novel is an erotic romance featuring a committed relationship and culminating in a wedding. Nevertheless, the main characters participate in a wide range of taboo sexual activities, both together and separately.

Excerpt: Rated R

“Lovely,” sighed a cultured feminine voice, close to her ear. “Don’t you agree?”

Miranda whirled round, startled and embarrassed. She hadn’t realized that she had companions in her blatant voyeurism.

They were young, close to her own age, and enough alike in stature and demeanor that they could have been siblings. Both had thick brunette hair. His was brushed back from his brow, while she wore hers in a bob with blunt bangs. They were both clad in tight black jeans and tank tops that highlighted every curve and swelling of their athletic bodies. Prominent nipples capped her small breasts, clearly visible through the clinging fabric. His half-engorged organ was equally obvious.

Of course both of them wore masks. Near-identical brown eyes gleamed behind their dominoes. It was their mouths, though, that captured Miranda’s attention, their ripe perfect lips inviting, sensuous, bowed in the perpetual promise of a smile.

Miranda ached to kiss those mouths, to trace their luscious curves with the tip of her tongue. She felt the ache in her throat, in her chest, in her painfully taut nipples, in the damp, hungry recesses of her sex. Her palms yearned to glide over those smooth thighs, those flat bellies. She wanted them, both of them, craved them in a visceral way that was totally new to her.

She stifled a moan, and took the hand the woman extended.

“I’m Marla,” the other woman said, her voice melodious and a bit husky. “And this is Marcus.” The young man smiled mysteriously but said nothing. “We were admiring your costume.”

It took Miranda a moment to recall the red velvet jumpsuit that she had chosen from Lucy’s wardrobe. It was defiantly flamboyant, clinging to her body like a sensuous second skin. A gold-colored zipper ran from the scoop neck down to her navel. Matching zippers adorned her wrists and ankles. She knew that the color suited her, contrasted with the hair spilling over her shoulders like a river of jet. She also knew how obvious it was that she was naked underneath the velvet. Not a shy garment, but perhaps just right for tonight.

Choked with desire, she found it difficult to speak. “Thank you,” she managed, finally, then couldn’t resist asking, “Are you twins?”

They gave similar, musical laughs. “Not exactly,” said the one called Marcus. “But we enjoy pretending.”

About Lisabet

Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wrote her first story at five yearsold and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – over one hundred titles, and counting, in nearly every sub-genre—paranormal, scifi, ménage, BDSM, GLBT, and more. Regardless of the genre, every one of her stories illustrates her motto: Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

You’ll find information and excerpts from all Lisabet’s books onher website (http://www.lisabetsarai.com/books.html), along withmore than fifty free stories and lots more. At her blog BeyondRomance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com), she shares herphilosophy and her news and hosts lots of other great authors.She’s also on Goodreads, Pinterest, and  Twitter. Join her VIP email list here: https://btn.ymlp.com/xgjjhmhugmgh

Buy Links

Kinky Literature: https://www.kinkyliterature.com/book/362-incognito-secret-lives-forbidden-loves

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1N7CTMQ

Amazon UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B1N7CTMQ

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940165857058

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1147874

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/incognito-secret-lives-forbidden-loves

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61138791-incognito

Incognito New Release Giveaway

Win a $10 bookstore GC or free books in my INCOGNITO giveaway. Contest runs from June 1 to June 15.

To enter, do any or all of the following. (Each action is one entry.)

o Join my VIP email list: https://btn.ymlp.com/xgjjhmhugmgh

o Follow me on BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lisabet-sarai

o Email me, telling me what book of mine you’d like to read:  contest@lisabetsarai.com

On June 16th, I will randomly select one grand-prize winner who’ll get a $10 gift certificate, plus two runner-ups who can choose any ebook from my indie back list.

Kate Hill’s Warrior Priest

On sale until the end of June!

Warrior Priest

by Kate Hill

Science Fiction Romance

What happens when a warrior priest from a strict religion meets a free-spirited priestess from a new age commune?

Jade and Selena are as different as two people can be, but to facilitate an alliance between their worlds, they engage in a cultural exchange. With their galaxy in danger from a planet that wants to conquer or destroy all others, they realize the importance of their assignment, but it is difficult for a warrior priest and a nonviolent priestess to understand each other.

Selena is both attracted and appalled by his old school masculinity, and Jade is tempted to break his vow of celibacy until marriage due to his powerful desire for her. Will this unlikely pair not only find common ground, but unconditional love?

Excerpt:

“I thought I saw my father.” Jade couldn’t believe he was confessing to her. “Back there at the waterfall. I heard him, and I saw him.”

Selena reached for his hand and squeezed it. “That’s what upset you? I dreamed about a bakery, and you dreamed about your dad.”

“I wasn’t dreaming. I didn’t fall asleep.”

Selena tilted her gaze up to his. “I’m not sure what to say. Have you ever seen a ghost before?”

“No, Selena! No, I’ve never seen a ghost, and I’m not crazy. I’m thinking that maybe this head wound is—”

“The scan was fine, Jade. Once we’re out of here, I can check again, but if the way you’re trekking through this cave is any indication, there’s nothing wrong with you physically.”

“You think I’m crazy, then?”  

“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I believe we might be able to communicate with spirits. My religion is based on a variety of beliefs that include the dead leaving imprints on the corporeal world. I also believe that sometimes ghosts aren’t about spirits reaching out from beyond, but about closure we need.”

“I never told him I loved him.” Jade’s stomached clenched. He felt more than a little embarrassed. There was no reason for him to tell her this. Still, he went on. “We didn’t talk much about feelings. Emotions are to be controlled. A lack of discipline can get you killed.”

“That’s true, I suppose. But pretending you don’t have emotions can kill you, too. Slowly. So you can’t ever be truly happy or even sad. It’s kind of like ignoring an injury. It won’t heal, or it’ll heal badly.”


Purchase Links:

Warrior Priest is on sale for $0.99 until June 30, 2022 at Smashwords and Amazon

Author Bio:

Kate Hill is a vegetarian New Englander who started writing many years ago for pleasure.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, watching horror and action movies, working out, and spending time with her family and pets.

Social Links:

Website: https://kate-hill.com/

Blog: https://kate-hill.com/blog/

Newsletter: https://kate-hill.com/index.php/newsletter/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kate-Hill/e/B002BLS7OW

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kate-hill

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16157.Kate_Hill

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