Character Interview - Sean (The Forbidden Room)

Sean is the 24/7 submissive who belongs to Nicole that Jayden and Ethan played with as part of Jayden’s Dom training in The Forbidden Room.  Beautiful and sweet, Sean became an instantly loved character as his puppy love crush on Jayden made Ethan wickedly jealous.

An excerpt from their session:

“Do you want to serve us, Sean?”  I asked from behind the boy, very low in his ear.  “You may leave if you wish.”  I ghosted my hand over his chest and his breath caught.

“No…I…I want to stay.” His voice was barely above a whisper.  It was the first time he had spoken, and his tone was shy, reverent as he addressed us.  I liked that.
“I’m not sure I believe that,” I said, with a hint of a smile at Ethan over the boy’s shoulder.  He winked back.

“I do, Sir.  I do want to stay…Please….” he implored, no doubt frightened of what his Mistress would say if he left.

“Show me,” I said, turning him slowly and looking into his face, he paled slightly.

“H…How Sir?” he asked nervously, but I saw that his cock grew noticeably harder.

“Have you ever sucked a man’s cock before, boy?”  I asked, and he shook his head slowly, a look of blank incomprehension on his face.

“On your knees then, I’ll teach you,” I said to him, reaching out to stroke his face, I wanted his first experiences to be a little different than mine.  Ethan had been fairly careful with me, but he had not been tender or kind by any means. This kid was barely over eighteen, he needed more care than I had been shown.  When he got to his knees quickly, I stepped forward so that my cock was just inches from his sweet berry-colored lips.

“Kiss it, Sean.” I held my cock level, so that he could touch his soft lips to the tip.  “That’s it…Now lick the head….” He stuck his tongue out tentatively and licked the head of my cock.  I was so hard I thought I might just come all over his sweet face right then, but I held it off.  “Now the shaft,” I managed to get out in a strained voice.  For a kid with no experience, he made me feel like a teenage boy.  As he licked me, I decided I was going to blow much too soon if we kept going.

 [J. P. Barnaby] Hey Sean, I’ve missed you.  How have you been?

[Sean]  I’ve been really good, learning a lot from Mistress. She’s amazing.

I’m glad. We haven’t seen a lot of you since The Forbidden Room. Are you looking forward to coming back in Community Service?

Do I get to play with Master Jayden?

Yes, you get to play with Master Jayden. I love that sweet little blush too, by the way. It’s sexy…. Yes, that’s the one.

Thank you.  If I get to play with Master Jayden again, then I’m definitely looking forward to the new story.  Are we in the playroom with Master Ethan?

Sean, I thought I was supposed to be the one asking the questions here. And actually, no, you won’t

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.

[In a whisper] You won’t tell Mistress, will you?

No, sweet boy, I think this time we’ll let it slide.  Sean, tell us about Ryan. How do you guys get along?

We get along okay. Mistress wishes that we were closer, but I think he’s kind of mad at me for having a session with Master Ethan. I know that he’s Mistress Nicole’s sub, but I think he’d much rather be Master Ethan’s.

Has he said that?

No, but you should have seen him when Mistress asked him to take care of Master Ethan’s house while he was in Chicago. You’d think Ryan had hit the lottery or something.

Are you jealous that he got to live there for a while?

No, it’s not like…  Uhm, no, Mistress wanted Ryan to do it.

It’s not like what, baby?

It’s not like…like Jayden was there.  They were all in Chicago.

Sean, tell us about Jayden. What it is that you like about him?

Oh my God, he’s just…he’s beautiful. During our session, he was really gentle and sweet. It was like he cared about me, like he wanted to take care of me. Then when he took me, oh man, it was nothing like when Mistress does it with a toy. I felt really connected to him. God, I’d love to be his boy.

Okay, I think we’re out of time. Is there anything else you wanted to say Sean?

Just that, if you could find a way to do it, I’d love to hang out with Jayden and Ethan more.

Hmmmmmmm….

Character Interview - Ethan Hughes Sr. (The Forbidden Room)

Ethan Hughes Sr. is the quiet and often misunderstood father of Ethan Hughes Bryant from the Forbidden Room series.    An introverted and soft-spoken man, Ethan’s dream of his namesake joining the family practice was shattered as he was forced to watch his broken son attempt to cope with his trauma.  An educated professional, he found himself completely unequipped to handle the teenager’s problems.  Eventually, he was reduced to mourning his son rather than engaging the man Ethan Jr. would become.

 [J. P. Barnaby]  Ethan, I know that this is difficult for you but I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.  It’s nice to see you again.

[Ethan Sr.]  It is difficult, I’m afraid I’m not sure exactly where to begin.

Why don’t you tell me about the first time you saw Charity?

[For the first time since I approached him about the interview, a smile brightens Ethan Sr.’s face]

The first time I saw her wasn’t actually the day we met.  I don’t know if I ever told her that.  We were at Northwestern together and we met when she was assigned as a TA for the Philosophy class I didn’t want to take.  The first time I saw her though was at the library.  I was sitting in one of the carols in the back, with my head stuck in a book as usual, when I heard a couple of girls giggling at a table nearby.  Normally, this would have upset me because I was so serious back then.  Having few friends and no girlfriend, my whole life was pretty much devoted to school.  When I looked up to say something, I saw the most beautiful girl.  Her light brown hair fell to her shoulders and had little golden strands in it that caught the sun that streamed down through the high windows behind her.  Even in jeans and a faded T-shirt, she was just stunning.

You didn’t talk to her then?

Nope, it took me weeks of seeing her twice a week in class to work up the nerve to talk to her.  When I did, I was amazed by her mind.  Everything about her overwhelmed me.

After you were married and settled in as a young couple, how did you feel when Charity told you that you were going to be a father?

Honestly?  I was thrilled.  Of course, I was scared because it meant that I would then be responsible for a whole family instead of just my incredibly self-sufficient wife. 

Tell me about the first time you held Ethan.

[Ethan Sr.’s eyes brighten and a faraway look comes over his face.]

EJ was such a tiny little thing, only a little over six pounds.  I remember standing there in the delivery room, holding my wife’s hand as she squeezed the bones to dust.  The doctor had cried “It’s a boy!” just seconds before we heard the tiny wail of our son.  Having grown up with four sisters, I’d wished so hard for a son.  When the nurse handed him to me as they finished up with Charity, I remember thinking that I could hold him in one hand.  I couldn’t believe that this tiny little person was really my son.  There was this warmth in my chest, like a balloon had inflated with hot air inside my ribs.  It was amazing.

That feeling stayed with me as I watched him learn to walk and talk, as I played catch with him in the yard and as I listened to him telling me excitedly about his first day at kindergarten.

What happened the day that Ethan went missing?

It was one of the worst days of my life. Charity had called me at work, but she wasn’t making any sense, I couldn’t understand.  Then another voice, a man who identified himself as Chicago PD, came on the line and told me that my son was missing. I don’t even think I turned off the computer on my desk before I raced out the door.  It would be weeks before I came back to work.

We called everyone we’d ever met, his teacher, his friends, anyone we could think of.  No one knew where he was.  Charity and I spent that first night with one of the house phones pulled into his room.  Everything was just as he’d left it that morning and it was torture to think that he wasn’t just going to walk through the door.

I think it took at least six months for Charity to be able to pick up the dirty clothes from the floor.  She was so determined to leave everything as it was.

A fan of the series asks "As a father having your son kidnapped is a parent’s worst nightmare. I just wonder given your financial and powerful resources did you do anything in addition to having the police and FBI search for Ethan?  Did you hire private detectives?  And now that I read that his abductor was killed in jail...did you have any involvement in that?”

[Ethan sits back in his chair and sighs]

I’ll answer the last question first.  No, I didn’t have anything to do with that monster being put down though I’m not sorry it happened.  I hope that before he died he received a thorough education in what my son went through all those years.

When EJ disappeared, I went through every resource I had access to in order to find him.  We hired a private detective, put his face on the news, granted interviews to all kinds of agencies, anything we thought might help.  In the end, I failed him utterly and he got out by rescuing himself.

Sometimes I wonder how long it took for him to give up hope, or if he hates me as much as I hate myself for my failure.

What was your relationship with Ethan prior to the kidnapping, after he was returned and what do you hope for now?

My relationship with EJ was amazing prior to the kidnapping.  He looked at me like I was his hero.  After he came home and that illusion was shattered, we didn’t really have any kind of relationship.  I don’t blame him.  It was my job to protect him, to keep him safe, and I failed him in the worst possible way.  His life was a perpetual nightmare from the day he disappeared until the day he left home and I don’t blame him for hating me.

Now, I just hope that in some way he can find peace.

Does it bother you at all that your son is gay?  What are your feelings about that?

At first, I wondered if it was caused by his abuse.  Had what happened to him as a child made him like that?  Then, I sat down one afternoon at brunch watching Ethan with that kid Gabriel.  For the first time since he was eight, my son looked calm and he even smiled.  It was then that I realized that no matter what the reason, as long as I could see EJ smile again, it didn’t matter to me who he dated or fell for.

My family was very conservative growing up, and I knew that my parents and possibly even my sisters wouldn’t share that sentiment, but I didn’t care.  He was my son, and I loved him no matter what.

How did you handle your colleagues and friends during the kidnapping?  And when your son was finally back home with you?

It’s during the worst times of your life that you figure out who your real friends are, I suppose.  The worst part about having to deal with my friends and the people at work were the phrases “I’m so sorry” and “is there anything I can do?”  I mean really – they’re sorry?  They couldn’t possibly be as sorry as I was or as Charity was.  Our son had disappeared.  After the first year, I was convinced….God help me, I just knew he was dead.  Was there anything they could do?  Yes, they could find my son.  They could bring him home to me.  They could give my wife and I some peace and allow us to get even one good night’s sleep.

When EJ came back home to us, I pretty much shut out everyone.  I couldn’t believe that sweet little boy who used to read me every single joke from his candy wrappers had transformed into a terrified, traumatized teenage boy. 

What were your thoughts about Ethan Jr. state of mind when he returned home to you?  When he punched you?

All I could think about was how when he used to come and climb in bed with us after he had a nightmare, I’d tell him that I would protect him from the monsters.  He didn’t have to be scared.  I lied to my own son and wasn’t able to protect him from the worst one of all.

When he punched me, I just…I didn’t…I couldn’t imagine what kind of violence and torture he had been subjected to that would turn the sweet kid who used to bandage up the whole neighborhood into a violently defensive adolescent.

Do you feel you can have peace of mind now?

I’m glad that EJ has found someone to care about, but I can still see that haunted look in his eyes.  So, no, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to really find peace.

Character Interview - Charity Hughes (The Forbidden Room)

Charity Hughes is the vivacious and fascinating mother of Ethan Hughes Bryant from the Forbidden Room series.    Her life stopped the moment her eight year old son disappeared.  For eight long years, she was forced to wonder, forced to imagine what had happened to her beautiful child.   It was a miracle when she answered the phone in the dead of night to learn that he had been returned to her.  Once they got Ethan home, she realized that he was no longer the boy she had lost, but an angry, damaged, inconsolable teenager.  When Ethan left for college, she was sure that she had lost him again, this time for the rest of her life.

Read Charity’s account of her Ethan’s return free at JPBarnaby.com

[J. P. Barnaby] Charity, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.  It’s nice to see you again.

[Charity]  Trish, you’ve done such a wonderful job helping my Ethan tell his story.  Even though it was really hard to read A House of Cards, I think that it really helped my son to purge some of the darkness from his heart.  I also learned a lot about him that I never knew.

Okay, aside from his particular brand of sex life, what kinds of things did you learn about him?

I knew that Ethan felt isolated when he finally came home to us, but I didn’t know that he thought we wouldn’t want him.  We tried so hard to get him to connect with us again, but I see now that it wasn’t even penetrating his depression.  Whether it was because he truly believed what that….that man told him, I don’t know.  He was a little boy, being forced to live through horrors that no one should ever have to deal with, but to compound that by telling him that his parents had made it all happen.  It was no wonder he never really trusted us again.

I read recently that Ethan’s abductor was murdered in prison, if you don’t mind telling us, how did you feel about that?

I’ve never been much of a religious person, even less so since EJ was taken.  Through that first eight years, I talked to God, I prayed that he would keep my son safe.  When he came home and we learned the extent of the physical and psychological damage that had been inflicted on him, I knew that those conversations had been a waste of time.  If there was a God, one that would let such horrific things happen to an innocent child, I didn’t want to know Him.

When I found out that he was dead, I felt relieved.  Ethan would never have anything to fear from him again.  When Ethan was younger, I used to hope that the bastard that took him was suffering terribly in prison.  I’d always heard that child molesters weren’t terribly popular there, and as horrible as it sounds, I always hoped that his fellow inmates were visiting the same kinds of horrors on him that he had on my son.  That feeling lessened somewhat when Ethan came back to Chicago and we reconnected.  Even though he was in pain and struggling, he was finally working through it.  My empty, broken boy had started to finally live again.

Tell us about Jayden

[Charity picks up a tissue from the box on the table after finally letting the tears fall.]

Jayden… [she laughs a little through the tears]  I couldn’t have asked for a better person for Ethan to love.  Sweet, compassionate, and wickedly funny, he’s the perfect match for Ethan’s insecurities and sharp wit.  I can see when he looks at my son that he has devoted himself fully to Ethan and that’s all a mother can ask.

You told Ethan that passion was best when he was trying to make the decision between Gabriel and Jayden.  What did you mean by that?

Ethan had been merely existing for years, since he was a teenager.  He had a career, he had a home, he had some kind of life, but he wasn’t really living.  I could see that in his face each time we got together.  When he started getting closer to Gabriel, I was thrilled.  One thing that scared me about Ethan was that he seemed to have lost his ability to love, to have relationships.  I couldn’t stand the thought of him being alone forever.

It wasn’t until I saw the way his eyes lit up when he spoke about Jayden that I truly realized Ethan was trying to sort out his feelings.  He was working toward that love I had found with his father, that love that each of us has for his or her soul mate.  While I knew Gabriel would be good to him and love him, Jayden was the one Ethan needed.

We need to wrap it up here, but is there anything that you’d like to tell fans of the series before we go?

Be good to each other, and always remember before you judge someone else’s life take a minute to walk in their shoes.  You might just be surprised at what you find.

My 10 Favorite iPad Apps

I'm a technophile, I'll admit it. 

Working in IT for the last fifteen years has turned me into a technology junkie.  Some things like the Kindle or the Blackberry Storm I picked up because they were new and novel.  They weren't things I really needed, but they were fun and came in handy.  I liked the Kindle a lot - want a book in seconds that you can read anywhere, you need a Kindle.  Well, except, it didn't really do anything else.  I still needed an iPod, a smartphone and a laptop and all of the other little devices that helped me keep up with the increasingly desperate state of my email inbox.  The Storm was good for helping me stay up to day with email, so was the Droid that followed, but they were small and difficult to do a lot of typing or web surfing on. 

Then, came the iPad.

Now, I have to warn you, I'm not an Apple fan.  I've worked on PCs all of my life.  All of the companies that I've worked for have been PC/Microsoft shops.  Recently, I've had to start supporting a mac user, and it's honestly a nightmare trying to find what I'm looking for.  They may be "intuitive" for someone who knows little about computers, but for those of us that know a bit more - they're frustrating.  So, when the iPad was launched, I really had no interest.  I had a Droid, I had a Kindle - what the hell did I need with the iPad?

Until my boss bought one for us to evaluate.

It took about 15 minutes and I was hooked.  I ordered my 64GB w/WiFi & 3G that afternoon and waited impatiently for it to come.  It has been my lifeline ever since.  With hundreds of emails, dozens of twitter posts, RSS feeds, eBooks, Goodreads, Facebook and the dozens of other things I need to keep up with as an author the iPad makes my life a hell of a lot easier. 

Here are some of my favorite apps that help me keep up with all aspects of my life (in no particular order):

Dropbox - Dropbox is a really handy little application that allows you to share files between any number of computers and smartphones.  It does so much more than that, though.  If you work out of the Dropbox folder, then every file you touch will be backed up automatically.  Because you can also access your Dropbox files from their website, you can literally have access to all of your files wherever you are.  No more emailing files back and forth to yourself, or worrying about whether your thumb drive is going to work or get lost.   Another great feature of Dropbox is that you can share files or folders with any other Dropbox user. So, my works in progress are shared with my beta and we don't have to worry about multiple copies of files being overwritten.  This is probably my favorite iPad app.

QuickOffice - QuickOffice integrates with Google Docs, Dropbox and other file management systems to allow you to edit and add office documents on the iPad.  Use this app in conjunction with Dropbox and you have access to those files anywhere on earth.  The only two complaints that I have about this app are that it doesn't handle Word comments or formatting well at all. 

Goodreads - For readers, the Goodreads application is actually easier (I think) to use than the website.  You can drop books onto shelves, review, etc. all through this easy to use app.  There is nothing for the author side of Goodreads including posting to your blog - but I can keep track of books that I download and read without dealing with the website which is difficult to use on the iPad.

Flipboard - I can't even start to explain how cool this application is.  You add RSS feeds like Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc and it converts them into a magazine like format that you can just sit and read.  It is a fantastic way to keep up with all of your feeds.  My only complaint is that the feeds don't combine into one big magazine format so you have to hit each one individually, but I still love the app.

iBooks/Kindle/Good Reader - I love to read and to be able to read whenever and wherever I want was a huge draw for the eReaders.  If I get bored at a family or work function, I can just take my iPad and sit off to the side and read.  I'm not a very social person, so this is kind of a Godsend.  Another thing that I love about the eReaders is that I can buy books anywhere and not have to worry about if they are in stock.  I can carry around every book I own and not worry about it getting lost or damaged. 

Facebook/TweetDeck - One of the things that I have to keep up with, more often than not, is social networking.  Being able to do it from the line at the grocery store or while waiting for my tank to fill has been a huge benefit to me.

Apps Magazine/App Shopper - There are now hundreds of thousands of applications for the iPad.  Dozens of twitter apps, dozens of task list apps, calendars, notepads, etc.  Apps Magazine is a UK based magazine, but a lot of the apps they review are not region specific.  The magazine and the little app shopper help to bring new apps to my attention that might be really useful.  They also help pit one app against another to determine which is the better buy for me.

Informant HD - This useful little calendar app synchronizes with multiple google calendars allowing me to keep track of my publisher's calendar, my calendar, and other things that are coming up that I need to be concerned with.  The app also has a task feature that I'm finding very handy.  Unfortunately, the tasks don't synch with google.

Dictionary - This is a dictionary.com application that allows you to look things up but also pops up with a word of the day to help build your vocabulary.

Highlighter - I like this little app because I can pdf my stories and drop them in here to highlight and draw on them helping in the editing process.  I can also throw other stories in it to highlight and take notes on things that I liked or hated.

mSecure - All of my 4.2 billion internet passwords in one place?  Yeah, that's handy! 

Talking Rex - Yes, okay, I'm a child, but I think this app is funny.  It's a dinosaur that repeats, in his dinosaur voice, whatever it hears. It's especially funny when my 2 year old niece sits and has an entire conversation with it.

And...there you have it my favorite iPad apps from the most productive to the truly time wasting. If you have an app that you love that you think others should try - comment and let me know!

5 Kiss Review of The Perfect Tree

I was honored to see that Michele & Jeff Reviews had given my short little Christmas present The Perfect Tree a 5-kiss review.

Here's a little of what they had to say:The dialogue presented was quite realistic, and the manner in which the Dom spoke sternly yet lovingly to his boy was powerful and incredibly erotic. I love a BDSM story where the Dom is obviously turned on by his sub. It seemed to almost be as much of an act of willpower for the Dom to remain in his role to complete the scene as it was for the sub. It seemed what he really wanted more than anything was simply to make passionate love to his boy.
Read the review

Interview with Michele & Jeff Reviews

Want to know more about J. P. Barnaby? Michele & Jeff Reviews has posted an interview with me - 

How much of yourself and the people you know manifest into your characters? How do you approach development of your characters? Where do you draw the line?

I do tend to put pieces of myself into my characters where appropriate. Master Ethan from The Forbidden Room series id based heavily on my own mannerisms, fears, and quirks. In developing my characters, I use Microsoft OneNote 2010 and attach images that I think represent them so that I can better describe their physical characteristics. I have also taken different personality questionnaires that I have found and used them to answer questions about how a character will react in certain situations based on their perceived personality traits.

As I've mentioned, realistic, three dimensional characters are essential to driving a story and leaving an impression with the reader long after they've finished the novel.

With regards to drawing a line - I have not yet found that I have that distinction.

Read the Interview