My guest today is Rachel Haimowitz. Rachel is galavanting through cyberspace and giving away prizes to promote her newest story in the Anchored universe, Where He Belongs. We’ll be giving away a copy later, so stick around. You can check out the rest of Rachel’s tour stops here.

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A Nice Place to Visit, But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There

In the world of Belonging—the alternate universe in which Anchored and my new release, Where He Belongs, take place—slavery is still legal all across the world. Slaves are trained to do many things in the Belonging-verse. Many, like Daniel (the protagonist of both Anchored and Where He Belongs), are owned by a corporation or government and are highly trained to meet the needs of that particular organization. Others are owned by individuals. Some—particularly those who are conscripted later in life via legal or financial trouble—remain doctors or lawyers or accountants or whatever they might have been as freemen. Others get stuck digging ditches from the time they’re old enough to hold a shovel. But the one profession I’m asked about the most are the Companions.

Companions are the, er, “sex slaves” of the Belonging-verse, some individually owned, some rented out by the hour. Comparing them to prostitutes is accurate in a way: some are essentially $10 hookers in knee pads, others are $10,000-a-night elite escorts, and the rest fall somewhere in between. But thinking of them that way really does sell them short. Companions—even the cheapest among them—are more like geisha: full-spectrum entertainers possessed of a great many skills, not all of which have to do with pretty faces or talent in bed.

In fact, the narrator of the first two stories in Where He Belongs is a Companion-in-training. We meet him at the tender age of twelve, by which point he was already a talented singer, musician, and conversationalist. He was studying classical literature, current events, even psychology. His corporate owners were grooming him to entertain high-class, highly educated VIPs. Were he to be sold when his training was complete, he’d likely fetch at least half a million dollars, maybe more.

So how does one get a Companion of their own? Well, you could buy one, but if you want the best, be prepared to shell out some mega-bucks. If, however, you’ve recently purchased, let’s say, a strapping young farmhand—smart, sexy, subservient, but rough around the edges and thoroughly uncultured—you can send him to Companion training. Might I recommend Nevada Arts? They’re the best in the country, and 24/7 training (room and board included!) costs a mere $18,000 a quarter. (Or, for those who want to keep their slave close to hand, training on a class-by-class basis is also an option.) Curriculums run from a single quarter to several focused years, but their most popular option is this twelve-month initiation for seasoned slaves:

First Quarter:

• Introduction to Sexual Pleasuring (male-focused, female-focused, or mixed track)
• Introduction to Music Theory
• Introduction to Voice (aptitude-based) -or-
  Introduction to Musical Instrument (master’s choice)
• Movement and Dance 101
• Daily Body Sculpting (yoga, aerobic conditioning, weight training)
• Language 101 (master’s choice of eighteen popular language tracks)
• American History from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries
• Victorian Literature
• Basic Pan-American Cooking, Baking, and Confectionary

Second Quarter:

• Sexual Techniques 102: Working With What God Gave You
• Sensual and Therapeutic Massage 101
• Music or Voice Training 102
• Movement and Dance 102
• Daily Body Sculpting
• Language 102
• America in the 20^th and 21^st Century
• 20^th Century Literature
• Basic Pan-European Cooking, Baking, and Confectionary

Third Quarter:

• Sexual Techniques 201: Toys, Tools, Multiple Partners, Mild Kinks
• Introduction to Acupressure -or-
  Introduction to Cosmetology and Styling
• Music or Voice Training 201
• Movement and Dance 201 -or-
  Introduction to Bodyguarding
• Daily Body Sculpting
• Language 201
• Modern Cultures Across the Globe
• Popular Literature of the 21^st Century
• Basic Pan-Asian Cooking, Baking, and Confectionary

Fourth Quarter:

• Sexual Techniques 301: Topping Like a Pro -or-
  Sexual Techniques 302: Bottoming Like a Pro -or-
  Sexual Techniques 401: Kama Sutra and Beyond
• Music or Voice Training 202
• Psychology of Pleasure 101: Anticipating and Meeting Your Master’s Unspoken Needs
• Movement and Dance 202 -or-
  Intermediate Bodyguarding
• Daily Body Sculpting
• Language 202
• Current Events and Politics
• Shakespeare 101
• Intermediate Cooking, Baking, or Confectionary (master’s choice)

Almost sounds fun enough to try yourself, doesn’t it? You probably wouldn’t much care for their disciplinary and motivational methods, though. On the other hand, that Sex lab meets twice a day, seven days a week, for the entire year. Attending it, or owning someone who’s attended and is eager to show off their skills with you, might almost make living in the Belonging-verse worth it.

Almost.

But I’ll stay here if you don’t mind, and settle for the occasional visit via story. I hope you’ll visit as well, and check out the world of Belonging for yourself.

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The hottest name in network news is Daniel Halstrom. He is a sensation, a rising star. He is also a slave, owned wholly and completely by NewWorld Media.

But before he was a star, he was a frightened child from a bad place with a promising, if limited, future ahead of him. In The New Kid, young Daniel begins his schooling. Then, for a slave, the simple pleasure of a Bathroom Break is sometimes the only pleasure to be had. Later, Daniel doesn’t know it, but A Chance Encounter might be the most important of his life. Next, in Camera Obscura, one of Daniel’s colleagues reflects on the fact that as much as the camera may show, it can hide even more. Finally, when you’re a slave, Independence Day is just another day.

Buy it here.

Learn more about the Belongingverse here, and more about Rachel and her other works here.

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Thanks very much to Rachel for being my guest today. Rachel will be choosing one commenter to receive a signed and numbered limited-edition chapbook of Where He Belongs. Leave a comment below to enter. A winner will be chosen on Friday, July 8th.