Shall I proceed with the usual bla-bla-bla I put in my forewords?

Nah, I'll spare you the boring speech as you can just refer to previous books of the series if you need a reminder that it's a gay story, BDSM-related, with graphic sex scenes aimed at adults (let me roll my eyes...), that I'm French (English being my second language), not into the BDSM lifestyle myself, and that this is a fiction.

Nonetheless, I would like to catch your attention on a few things. Not sure I'll manage since people often don't read forewords, but I'll still try.

The Black Moon Series is... a saga. A saga is a series of books in which an author not only uses recurrent themes and characters, but also defines a general plot (or several plots) that unfolds throughout several books in a certain order. Hence the importance of reading each book in the order that the author set up. So, if you accidentally came upon that book or were led by your curiosity while reading one of my previous books, I strongly recommend you shut this book and read the first four installments of the series or finish them before you walk into Aaron's life.

When I started the series in January 2016, I had only planned the first three books and wasn't even sure I'd ever write Aaron's story. The fact that he gets three books of his own says how much of an important character he has become, but in a way, it was only logical. Aaron is at the center of the entire series, the one with whom everything started, and at the heart of mysteries. Giving him three books sounded fair because I couldn't cover more than 15 years into just a few chapters, it would have meant slacking on many important aspects of his story.

Speaking of slacking, this is something I have honestly strived to avoid, and this explains why it has taken me so long to write these three books. I have always loved making research while writing because I'm no genius and certainly not a know-it-all. Religion, geography of the US, the school system, everyday-life aspects specific to the US, hitch-hiking, prostitution, drugs, homelessness, HIV/AIDS (in the 90s, 2000s and 2010s), hardcore kinks and men's sensations on both receiving and giving ends, specific diseases and illnesses, the history of BDSM, ... the list is long and full of less significant aspects.

All these are themes I spent countless hours researching, and yet, I'll never say that I hold the truth on everything I wrote in Aaron's books. Although I want this book to be as realistic as possible, there might be mistakes or inaccurate details because... well, you find different statements on different websites, but in a way, it gave me a wider freedom to interpret things as I needed. However, if you notice things that really sound impossible (as well as typos or missing words) feel free to point them out!

So, what should you expect in this book?

Hmm... quite a few things. The guys are 16 when it begins so you'll get to see a bit of their teenage life, which includes the much-touted devirginization and on a less-happy note the events that Mark, Josh and Cam have been hiding from you in their books (their fault, not mine!). You'll also meet characters you've met or heard of (like Tony, Liz, Sony, Mark's parents, etc...), just younger than they were in 2015.

And then as you know, Aaron fled to the West Coast, so you'll see him burn his wings before a certain Ivan rescues him. Of course, I couldn't cover every single day of Aaron's life over 4 or 5 years he spent in L.A. and had to make choices. In the very initial draft plan of the book, only a few chapters were dedicated to his submission phase because I didn't want to insist too much on the image of our Master Dom's "weaker" personality, but in the end, my choice was to precisely focus on this submission phase.

One reason was that we will get to see enough of Aaron's dominance in the next two books and it was important to show the way his character developed throughout this whole year of submission. This was also to match what I'd call Ivan's "archaic methods" that you will discover in the second part of this book. So be ready to discover a BDSM club that is not much like the Black Diamond as you know it (except for the sex in public, right...), different practices and different training programs.

Also, several readers asked if they'd get Ivan's POV in this book, and the answer is no, do not expect to get Ivan's thoughts. Writing in his POV would have spoil too much on the story and it adds a little mystery as to his sometimes-weird behavior and his ultimate purposes. If I manage to get this far, you will get them in the ninth book of the series.

Thank you's usually come at the end of a book, but I'd still like to thank all the readers who participated in the book A Call To Readers – without you, it would have been a lot more difficult to get those first chapters coherent enough! – as well as all those who suggested appropriate neighborhoods in Los Angeles on my wall. And then Fhanth , JaneyJordan , Galagoogoo and DragonFlames32 , my beta readers, for their advice and suggestions, and a huge thank you to @Avaloyuru for sharing what the lifestyle was in the late 70s and throughout the 80s and 90s because this was so inspiring regarding Ivan's methods! Another huge thank you goes to @EsraaElKhashab who's helping me to design new covers!

Now, this is enough of a foreword, I guess, so I just hope you will enjoy this first installment of Aaron's story. I shall see you soon in the comments as usual!

Nath

Published on 14 January 2019

Here you go with the foreword and a little information on this first book dedicated to Aaron. The characters chapter will be up shortly and the very first chapter will be published on January 28th.

For those who still have I Was Shooting For The Moon, I Hit Two Stars fresh in their heads, there was this chapter where Aaron mentioned he knew a throuple from Los Angeles with two Doms and one Sub (just before Mark, Shannon and Alex became a throuple themselves). Although you will meet these characters in Eclipse Of The Moon, I have handed over these three guys to seasaltstories who is writing their story in the Hell Fire Trilogy. She is currently reworking some of her published chapters and the remaining ones, but this is another series you might look forward to if you wish ;)