About the Author My Ascent Into Submission is Nick Williams' first erotic novel. His stories have been published in Manifest Reader, Manhood Rituals, and Afterwords: Real Sex from Gay Men's Diaries. Nick Williams is a pen name. His political essays and columns have been published in The Desert Sun, The Desert Times, The Bottom Line, IN LA Magazine, The Bay Area Reporter, The Press Democrat, We The People, and West County Times. For the past seven years, Nick has lived in the land of never ending sunshine, Palm Springs; after ten years under the shade of towering redwoods along the Russian River. He moved to San Francisco in 1976, still a teenager at 19. The first bar he snuck into was The Bolt. In those more carefree days of the 70's, there was never a doorman and the older leather crowd greeted the handsome sailor-looking, under age boy, with open arms. Nick was hooked from the start and never looked back. For you newcomers, the more modern name for The Bolt is The Powerhouse. Soon after, a friend gave him a leather vest. To keep warm on those cold San Francisco summer nights he bought a Leather Motorcycle Jacket at Hard On Leather on Polk Street. He still treasures the jacket though after many years of working out, it no longer fits. His first, and still-fitting chaps, were from Leather Forever on 18th Street near Castro. Nick Williams is currently working on several projects: the story of rescuing his Golden Retriever, who came to him in poor shape; the story of taking care of his former partner in the early 80's; putting together a collection of his columns and essays, and a collection of his erotic stories and tributes to the men who taught him and touched his life.