Author Notes
I’m pretty sure Jay over at Joyfully Jay was the first one to ask if I’d considered writing a story about Rune, Oliver, and Jackson. I credit her for that initial spark of wonderful inspiration, because that was the moment I first seriously considered really doing it. As soon as she planted the idea in my brain, I knew I absolutely had to write Rune’s story.
The first thing that grabbed me was that I loved the intensity of his challenges in doing things we all take for granted, like small talk or ordering a burger. But he struggled with the big stuff too, like figuring out what the hell the point of it all is anyway. I could relate to the sense of being bizarrely adrift and alone while simultaneously surrounded by lots of people, and wanted to investigate that further. But I also saw Rune as a force of nature—untamable, wild, and with an almost singular focus once some key pieces began to line up for him. From the start, I saw him—to be blunt—as someone with no more fucks left to give. He was going to do whatever he was going to do, and there was almost nothing anyone could do to stop him. Fueled by a righteous cause and with nothing tying him down, he was able to throw himself into the fire with no thought given to getting burned.
But that’s where Oliver and Jackson came in. They’re the necessary balance, a pair of mostly-sane bystanders who arrange their lives around rules and responsibilities. They actually, unfortunately for Rune, give a shit about what happens to him in the end. Rune appreciates that about them enough that he doesn’t discredit them entirely. They’re what he bounces himself off of, symbolizing everything he thought he’d never get to have. While Rune is out there, risking his life and telling himself it’s okay because he’s disposable anyway, there are these men suddenly in his life, showing him all of the ways he’s wrong.
The interesting thing about this book, like some of my others (Loving the Master, Song of the Lonesome Cowboy, and Caged Jaye, to name a few) is that it takes place before another book I’ve already written. Some things had already been set in stone before the first word on page one was ever written. More, I had never planned to write any of those follow-up books, so it’s not like I intentionally wove things into the story to easily pick up later. It was a case of dealing with the threads which naturally appeared in the original stories, and figuring out ways to weave them into a new pattern that still made sense and honored the first. Little details about the three guys were already sprinkled through Bare. I couldn’t change any of those. Just like I had to work with the complex triad Dominant/submissive relationship between them. Most of all, we already knew how things turn out. We know the guys wind up together. With that as a given, I wound the clock back a few years and explored just how they came together in the first place. And honestly, I had no idea until Rune showed me the way.
Here’s a confession: I loved driving Oliver crazy in this book. He’s the perfect sort of guy to torment, because he’s so good at convincing everyone he’s unflappable, going after the money, the quick and easy buzz, the good sex, bouncing around to chase whatever feels nice in the moment. But we discover the truth fairly quickly, that Oliver’s heart is a tender one, and the rest is just an act borne of self-preservation. His undying loyalty to his best friend, Adam, proves as much (another confession, the Oliver/Adam banter gives me life). I knew as things progressed, I could let Rune be as bat-shit crazy as he wanted to be, and Oliver would fight just as hard (while completely freaking out) to cage him again, for his own good, of course.
And then there’s Jackson. The true grown-up who’s not afraid to be weak. The stable, level-headed presence with too many ties anchoring him solidly to earth, who appreciates the crazy adventure both Oliver and Rune bring. He’s there to help pick them up, to remind them who they are, who they can be, and he shows them how clearly he sees them despite it all. No matter what lies Oliver and Rune try to tell themselves, Jackson is always there to reflect truth back if they need to see it, and I love him for that.
It was profoundly important to me in tackling this story to pay proper respect to the deaf community. Like Jackson, I wanted to reflect back with this book how relatable the simple, daily struggles are when one part of your body suddenly stops working properly. I needed to show how strong these people have to be in order to navigate a rather unforgiving cultural landscape. There’s a lot of ugly noise in this world, but when it gets stripped away, beautiful things can be revealed. The language of gesture is something I find gloriously intentional and emotive. Things like lip-reading require a focus and skill that’s hard to comprehend. All of the ways the hard-of-hearing communicate require a sort of real human cooperation of which I truly stand in awe. I sincerely hope all of this is reflected in the book. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Hope Vincent for all of her input in helping me do right by Rune and my deaf or hard-of-hearing readers. It was the key to the whole thing for me, so Hope, you’re my hero.
This book was a real whirlwind for me from start to finish, but I learned a heck of a lot along the way. These guys made me laugh, cry, and stole my heart. I thank you, my lovely readers, for taking the ride with me.
Lynn Kelling
January 9, 2018