shadowland [Paperback]

Radclyffe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004

In a world on the far edge of desire, two women are drawn together by power, passion, and dark pleasures. When Kyle Kirk embarks on a daring exploration of her most secret fantasies, she finds that Dane, the stranger who guides her on the journey of self-discovery, awakens something far more dangerous than her senses. In the dark hours of the night, when passions rule and the barriers of convention are stripped away, both Dane and Kyle are forced to confront the true nature of what has long lain buried within their hearts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: BookEnds Press (February 2004)
• ISBN-10: 1932667067
• ISBN-13: 978-1932667066
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,322,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Radclyffe, a retired surgeon and full time author-publisher, has published over thirty-five novels as well as dozens of short stories, has edited numerous anthologies, and, writing as L. L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters. She is a eight time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery and erotica--winning in both romance (Distant Shores, Silent Thunder) and erotica (Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments edited with Stacia Seaman and In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip written with Karin Kallmaker). A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also a 2010 RWA/FF&P Prism Award Winner for Secrets in the Stone, an Independent Publisher's award winner (IPPY), an Alice B. Readers' award Winner, and a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin award, the ForeWord Review Book of the Year award, and the 2010 Heart of Excellence Readers' Choice award. She is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world's largest independent LGBT publishing companies.

She states, "I began reading lesbian fiction at the age of twelve when I found a copy of Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker. That book and others like it convinced me that I was not alone, that there were other women who felt like I did. Our literature provides support and validation and very often, a lifeline, for members of our community throughout the world. I am proud and honored to be able to publish the many fine authors at Bold Strokes Books and to contribute in some small way to the words that the celebrate LGBTQ experience."

You can visit Radclyffe at http://www.facebook.com/Radclyffe.BSB?ref=ts

Or buy her books direct from the publisher at www.boldstrokesbooks.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Daring, Original. A Must Read, March 10, 2004

By 

K. Isserman "Kisserman" (Columbia, MD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: shadowland (Paperback)

Readers will be pleasantly surprised by this unusual love story by Radclyffe. With shadowland she uses dominance and submission, the appeal of it as well as the abuse of it, to tell an erotic romance- one that is exceptional, powerful, and hopeful.

Kyle Kirk is restless and bored with her life so one night while driving her motorcycle, she decides to visit the bar "Leathers". While she had read about the world of s/m she had never experienced it first hand. There she meets the mysterious Dane. After a night together of passion and pleasure, Kyle is intrigued. She wants more, but Dane is only interested in one night stands with no emotional attachments. So as Kyle delves deeper into the world of dominance and submission, unsure as to where this might take her, she learns about a kind of power she never knew existed.

Radclyffe uses power, pain, and passion magnificently in shadowland. She illustrates to the reader through "scenes" how the exchange of power with trust can empower us and therefore give us pleasure, and how the anticipation of "pain", however we as individuals define that, can be erotic. shadowland also reveals the dark side of power where domination without consent and physical pain used as punishment can work to destroy us.

shadowland, through strong character development, throws away our preconceived notions about the world of dominance and submission. Radclyffe demonstrates through the individuality of each character and how they respond physically as well as emotionally to each other, that there is not a singular definition.

Radclyffe, the author of best-selling traditional lesbian romances and fast-paced mysteries, took a risk with shadowland. With intelligence and respect for the reader, Radclyffe and shadowland do not offer a simple formula for a love story, but through the depths of despair and powerlessness, shadowland shows that love and mutual trust can redeem us. Radclyffe had the courage to go outside the box and create a love story that exposes the dark side of human beings, and through this shadow emerges the promise of hope. Maybe the power of love can heal us after all.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By Your Leave -- a review of shadowland, March 21, 2004

By 

Hiraeth (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: shadowland (Paperback)

What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy....no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books-from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series-explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her-to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days- where we work, how we live-shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure-physical and emotional-is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion-anguish, joy, love, fear-is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power-how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed-is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By Your Leave -- a review of shadowland, March 21, 2004

By 

Hiraeth (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: shadowland (Paperback)

What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy...no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books - from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series - explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her - to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days - where we work, how we live - shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure - physical and emotional - is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion - anguish, joy, love, fear - is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power - how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed - is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.