Illustrated Sexual Classic

As a former college instructor, I learned through pedagogical courses and experience that people learn in different ways. While models may suggest that you can be a physical learner or a visual learner or one of several other types what I observed when teaching and from myself is that generally we learn best in multiple ways. The newest edition of Janet W. Hardy's The Sexually Dominant Woman: an illustrated guide for nervous beginners is a mixture of the visual and the verbal with the options of solitary or social tossed into the mix. I think this makes the book very inviting and useful to newcomers to the concept of women in the sexual lead. I've also taught numerous classes about BDSM and femdom relationships and I know that kinky folks still hunger for information particularly if they are not living in a big city where organizations may exist who can provide hands-on and mentorship. Other people simply don't to explore outside of a committed relationship or they may be shy. A book like this can provide a good resources for all of these folks who are curious about female top dynamics. I was sent a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have three versions of this book.

The first was a gift from my husband when we still did kink together before we figured out that our interests didn't overlap enough to really make it enjoyable.

The second I got because I had women (and some men) approaching me to be a mentor and I wanted to read the newer version before recommending it.

This 25th anniversary edition has made the text more inclusive and the images are some of the most diverse and reflective of the kink community that I have seen in any book about BDSM. I took a photo of a two-page section just to give you an example; I picked randomly.

I love the fact that multiple first scenarios are presented instead of the starter scene from the first edition. I also love that other books that you might find useful are highlight both in the text and at the end of the book. I will admit I was disappointed not to see my own book, At Her Feet, mentioned since it is from the same publisher, but currently it is only available as an ebook and an audiobook.

Some people might complain that the book is too focused on safety but I did not feel that way. This is a book directed toward newbies not experienced people. You know what? some of us folks who have been doing this for decades still take safety quite seriously and am grateful we had those cautious drilled into us years back. I think this is a great introductory book and I hope if you are looking for last minute gifts for the holidays or for Valentine's Day in 2019, you will consider this book.

Cecilia Tan Gives Us the Hard Rhythm to Play With

Book three in Cecilia Tan's The Secrets of a Rock Star Series is out and she may have saved the best for last.  Hard Rhythm (Secrets of a Rock Star)spends a bit of time on the previous couples of Ricki and Axel along with Gwen and Mal but the focus is really on one of the employees of the exclusive private sex club that the Hamilton sisters run, Madison, and the drummer from The Rough, Chino.

Madison and Chino are a bit older than the previous characters and their internal dialogues as well as their actions show more maturity. They are still young by my standards, just approaching 30. Both of them have something that bothers them about their past and those pasts are something that many readers will be able to relate to. Chino's is a patriarchal conservative stepfather whom he is estranged from because of the stepfather's abusive attitude and behavior. Sadly that is something that many people in all roles of kink can relate to personally.

Cecilia Tan uses Chino's past to deal with some real life problems that aren't about kink at all: domestic abuse. Her afterword confirms that the information she has Madison give out to Chino's mother and sister are real, they can be used if you, the reader, or someone you know needs help. While that subject is a sizable part of the second half of the book it flows pretty naturally as Madison and Chino's relationship develops.

Madison's issue seem to be more about the negative feedback she's gotten in past relationships where she's bottomed or subbed.This can happen because too many folks can't separate fantasy from reality, the ideal from a real person. Couple that with her secret need to be approved of and the terms they decide to use in their relationship make sense but I'm not going to spoil the book by telling you what those are.

Without spoiling the plot I do want to make you all aware of some kinks that happen in this books because they might turn you on or off. The SM parts of the book are middle of the road, between what we got in  Taking the Lead (Secrets of a Rock Star)and in Taking the Lead (Secrets of a Rock Star). There is more exhibition in this book but it primarily confined to a private party setting. Lots of sex toys because Madison takes a job reviewing them. Gay and lesbian couples just not our main characters who become monogamous. This book also deals with a lot more kink relationships styles than the first two books did including pet/owner, child/parent, slave/owner, and competitive switches. Of course the sex is explicit and hot.

Even though the books can be read solo, the order does continue an overarching plot. The Hamiltons have inherited a secret sex club but as with many secret, eventually they come out particularly when power and wealth a factor. Madison tips off the Hamilton sisters and they address a threat to their club in smart and calculated ways emphasizing that even if each woman in this series feels best on her knees before a hot man, she is still a powerful force to be reckoned with. The trio of bandmates also come together during this novel to help out the sisters but also Chino as he struggles to be supportive of his abused mother and sister while not striping them of their power to determine their own lives.

The emotional complexity of all of the relationships and situations in this novel feel real, feel engaging. I was pulled far more into Chino and Madison life than I was with the main characters of the other two books of this series. I think Cecilia Tan saved the best for last in the series.

Book Review: Wild Licks by Cecilia Tan

Since I reviewed my publisher's last book in her "The Secrets of a Rock Star" series it seemed appropriate to look at book two in that series as well. Wild Licks (Secrets of a Rock Star) follows two characters we met in "Taking the Lead" -- Gwen Hamilton, the sister of Ricki, and Mal Kennealy, the guitarist for The Rough, the rock band at the center of the series. Yes, we do get a bit more of Ricki and Axel but they are minor yet important characters in this novel. And I do use the word novel on purpose because this isn't soft porn, this isn't an one-handed masterbation toy.  This is a fully developed story with a lot of very intense sex. It also can be read without reading book one in the series though I think you'll get more from it if you have read the first book.

The Hamilton sisters are from a powerful Hollywood family, the type of power that is behind the scenes not in front of the camera most of the time. While I liked Ricki okay in the first book, Gwen is much more what I want a sexy, female character to be. Sure there are moments of self reflection and doubt, but right from the start it seems clear that Gwen has a greater understanding of what turns her on and acceptance of the full range of her desires. In a break with her family's traditional power, Gwen wants to become an actress but based on her talent (or lack thereof) not her family name. Using her acting skills and her access to costumes and makeup, she easily plays roles in the joint fantasies that Mal and her create. These fantasies are both sexually and emotionally described making this a not-safe-for-work read. Gwen stands up for herself when things fall apart as they always do in the romance genre. Ricki didn't cry over her man either but Gwen seemed more self-reliant to me, able to adapt and make changes with less displayed sorrow. However, Gwen isn't perfect. She misrepresents herself the first time she meets Mal and continues to do so even after she starts "dating" him as a publicity stunt. Lying, deceiving, those are not qualities of a good submissive or masochist, let alone of a good partner. However, we can sort of understand why she does it and continues to do it. Fulfilling fantasies can be intoxicating and unfortunately can also lead to misjudgements and miscommunications.

On the other hand, I'm not as big of a fan of Mal as I was of Axel. As lead singer of The Rough, Axel always had a public persona to think of but his time with Ricki seemed to free him in very positive ways, ways that frightened him at times but he was always relatable. Mal just seems angry and cold, I'm not sure I'd trust a submissive or masochistic friend or relative of mine with him. If Gwen had asked me, I'd have told her to run not walk away from that mess. Mal seems to just go with his desires and fantasies first and foremost without thinking every possibility through which leads to some danger. Then he beats himself up, talks himself down, and labels what he wants and desires in the most negative terms. That can only lead to problems which Cecilia Tan knows full well. She shows this repeatedly but most shockingly when Mal refuse to take Gwen and himself to a hospital as he should. Mal isn't a good top in my book but, sadly, it is a reflection of much of what can happen in kink or vanilla sex when you don't slow down and think a bit. I did feel some sympathy for Mal because we learn more about his previous serious kinky relationship. I had a partner who pushed me too far and wouldn't accept my limits as the dominant/top but that pales in comparison to what Mal went through. However, I didn't torture myself by saying "never again" and locking my heart up, I didn't refuse to provide aftercare for my partners, and I sure as heck didn't accept any damn description of myself as a monster. My sympathy ended for Mal when he repeatedly refuses to see himself for a messed up man in need of help and continued to cling to his monster identity.

From book one, the kinky sex scenes are intense and they are not for the weak hearted nor are they models you should follow unless you've had some real-life mentoring and experience. If you know a bit about BDSM, then you'll understand when I say that this novel has a ton of edge play in it and if you are not comfortable reading that sort of thing, this book will be a challenge for you. If you don't know much about edge play, let me clarify and say there is intense roleplaying that lasts days and nights, knives, odd object insertions, and fire. The intensity isn't only in the sex scenes. Mal is messed up from his childhood, his past relationships, and he admits he is trying to be emotionally distant. He says, thinks, and does a few things that made me want to put him over my knee and beat his ass and not in a consensual way.

I know that in romances there is this duty for the woman to help the man come to terms with his emotions but in "Taking the Lead" I didn't feel that was the case. While there was some miscommunications and misunderstandings, I never felt like Axel was emotionally stunted. Mal is not only emotionally stunted but frankly a crap communicator who hides behind the title "sadist" instead of accepting responsibility as a top. He is also self loathing and that was a big turn off to me. Frankly I think Mal needs therapy and a lot of it.

I don't know if this is a problem with word counts and publisher but the story jumps suddenly from Gwen and Mal realizing they will continue to be drawn to each other to everything being great. No mention of therapy, no mention of continued struggles that would be happening, just BOOM things are great. For Ricki and Axel I could believe that, they didn't have any major emotional traumas but that isn't true for Mal and by extension it won't be true for Gwen. Even a couple of sentences in the epilogue acknowledging the weight of the struggle that couple will face would have made a world of difference to the story and not spoiled the happy ending all these romances demand.

If you read "Taking the Lead" and loved it, you'll want to get the second book in the series, too. If you follow this link you'll be able to do that. If you like, please a review of it because as an author myself, I can tell you that doing so, means a great deal to the author and to the publisher. If you want quality romance, quality kink, then you need to show us that you want by buying and speaking out about it

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Book Review: Taking the Lead by Cecilia Tan

For folks who know me, I am not attracted in any fashion to the stereotypical romance or even the common man-in-charge idea. In fact, most romances leave me cold, so for any author who writes romance or any work of fiction with the maledom/femalesub orientation to keep me interested, that author has to have serious storytelling skills. Does Cecilia Tan have those skills in her new book, "Taking the Lead?" Let's find out. I will try not to include too many spoilers but just give you enough information to help you make a decision about whether or not to buy this novel. Note, though, that I will discuss some events and activities that might be considered edgy for some people – edgy beyond just BDSM, that is.

WARNING: There may be spoilers in my review so don't read further if you can't handle a few details being revealed.

"Taking the Lead" is book one in a three-book series called "The Secrets of a Rock Star." These are contemporary BDSM romances, written by an award-winning romance and BDSM author and publisher; that alone might make you want to check out the book, but my reasons are more personal. Cecilia Tan bought my first for-pay piece of fiction, and more recently she took a chance and published my "Beyond the Softness of His Fur" trilogy. I've met her in person a few times and even shared a hotel room with her at Frolicon several years back. I want to assure you all, though, that I'll treat this book as I would any I'm sent to review; I play no favorites.

Frolicon 2010

This book is told in first-person, from two viewpoints. Ricki Hamilton is the daughter and heir of a powerful Hollywood family. They aren't famous actors; they're the movers and shakers, the wealthy elite who actually run the industry and the social circles of Hollywood. After her grandfather's death, Ricki and her sister Gwen must fulfill several conditions of his will in order to inherit. The one that Ricki dislikes the most is running the secret sex club that her grandfather hosted in his basement. The letters "BDSM" are tossed around at the club, but there are some issues of consent and secrecy that may seem very unusual for folks into the Scene today. The world of kinky sex used to be secretive like this, and probably still is in some locations or for some people; it was also a world where consent wasn't as widely championed either. I'll get back to that issue later. Ricki agrees to the terms of the will because she wants to make movies, and she wants to be a force in popular media, but to do that, she'll need the family money.

The other main character is Axel Hawke, the lead singer for a band called "The Rough." He seems to be a confusing man at first, less in control of his life than many "alpha male" characters in current romances. I can say firsthand that people who are dominant in the bedroom – heck, even just in their personality – often just have to follow the lead of those with positions of authority above them. Unless you are old and have a ton of experience, you have to work your way up, regardless of personality or sexual orientation. Axel follows the lead of their band manager and publicist because it gets him what he wants: fame, and the possibility of more fame. For Axel, his dominance really seems to be 1) sexual in nature and 2) something I'd call "service topping." While he certainly can be aggressive and in-charge, it's also very clear that he cares right from the first moment we meet him. Given that alpha males are not my type, this made him more interesting to me, as well as more realistic.

One of the old tropes of romance is "hate at first sight," but Tan rejects this cliché. When Ricki and Axel meet in a limo on the way to the Grammys, they're both immediately attracted to one another, even though they both have other dates and are both cognizant of this fact. Even at the lowest point in their later relationship, hate, fear of the other, and anger toward the other, never really arise. Ricki has her own past and her own conflicted feelings about enjoying a more bottom role in the bedroom, but I never got that old "hate turns to love" or "fear turns to desire" vibe from this book. Because of this, their developing love feels both honest and possible, not just because you want to buy into the fantasy but because it makes sense.

There are several actions in the book that might offend some readers or simply turn them off. Without giving away too much plot, let me discuss these. Fairly early in the book there is a shaving scene that seemed a bit fast to me, but I can understand that in romance issues of negotiation can seem tedious to the reader. It is written in a very sensitive and sexy fashion, so unless sharps are a limit, I think most readers should be able to appreciate it.

There are two kidnappings in the book. The first is a misdirected publicity stunt that allows Axel and Ricki to explore their mutual attraction. It is fun and counts as "kidnapping" only by the loosest definition. At no time did it seem like anyone would cross the line. The partners were going with the flow, trying out new things, and checking in with each other.

The second kidnapping is after Ricki breaks up with Axel; it is an honest-to-goodness kidnapping that immediately turned me off, so much so that for the rest of the book I simply could not get aroused. The kidnapping seems motivated by a sudden, private reaction to being dumped, driven by what seems to be anger. Now, a safeword is clarified, and I believe we are supposed to understand that Ricki believes her use of that safeword will be respected, turning a real kidnapping into a hot scene. In the past I've planned and carried out a kidnapping for a submissive partner of mine. The big difference between that and this, the key difference for me, is that at that time he was my partner, he trusted me, and we had a relationship. That is not the case at this point in this book. Again, I know that issues of consent and negotiation aren't "hot" for a lot of romance readers, but it is a big deal to me personally.

Parental death and alcohol abuse are central to Ricki's background, and that might be uncomfortable for some readers. I think this background made Ricki more understandable, though. I also think the topics were addressed in a careful but not lingering fashion. I didn't get tired of the "downer" past before things were addressed in a way that allowed Ricki and the romance with Axel to develop.

Finally, yes, there is kink here, and there are explicit sexual descriptions. These aren't pornographic: they aren't gratuitous or focused on body parts, even when parts are named or briefly described. The focus of the sex is mental, emotional, physical, and connective. Some romance readers want to go to bed but not see under the covers. If you are one of those readers, don't get this book.

Now that I've mentioned these possible trigger subjects, I can say that the book is very well crafted. Dialogue feels natural, characters are complex, and they and their world change as the story progresses. There are some hints of what might happen in the next book, even though the trilogy novels will be free-standing, meaning the later ones won't require you to read the earlier ones. I felt invested enough in Ricki and Axel that I found myself talking out loud to them at times when I was reading. I even got turned on a few times by the intensity of the sex or the depth of their developing feelings. Good stories and sexy relationships can transcend the reader's orientation if the reader is willing to expand their range and the author is skilled enough.

Cecilia Tan has the storytelling skills to make this contemporary BDSM romance work. This is an intriguing start to her new series that focuses on The Rough (Axel's band) and their sex lives. If this book sounds good to you, follow the link below to get your own copy from Amazon. For other ways to buy it, check out the series page on Cecilia Tan's website.

Meet Author and Publisher Cecilia Tan

My first for-pay story was back in 1995 and the woman who bought my story was named Cecilia Tan. Over the years I've gotten to know her better, even shared a hotel room with her at a convention, and we've continued the relationship of publisher and writer. She, herself, is an accomplished author, one of my favorites. Today I want to introduce you all to her.

Welcome to the Butt-Kicking Women Write About it, Cecilia. Thank you for agreeing to talk with me so I can let the world know more about you.

Cecilia, you've been in publishing and in writing for quite some time now. How did you get into this career?

I always knew I was going to be a writer from a very young age. I was four when I taught myself to write using the alphabet because I wanted to write by own books, not just have my mother read me the ones I already had. I could literally write before I could read. I got a job in book publishing right out of college, thinking that would be the best day job for a writer to have, and voila, here we are more than 20 years later. 

I met you in the 1990s as the publisher of Circlet Press. While I don't want to spend a lot of time on that part of your life, would you share something about Circlet so our readers could check it out?

Sure! I had been working at a regular book publisher for a couple of years when I started writing erotic science fiction. When I realized there was no one out there publishing erotic science fiction I thought, well, I know how publishing works...I'll start a house to do it. So I founded the company and published "Telepaths Don't Need Safewords" in 1992. Since then Circlet has published well over a hundred books, most of them erotic science fiction and fantasy of some stripe. We do anywhere from ten to twenty-five books a year now. 

Do you think there will come a time when you give up the role of publisher to just focus on your own books?

I almost did that in 2007, after 7 years in a row of the company losing money. Then the Kindle store suddenly appeared and I thought, well, I'll teach myself to convert our old books to Kindle format and see what happens. Suddenly, wham, Circlet was busy and making money again. Nowadays I have a staff of a dozen editors and two freelance publicity people so I think Circlet will continue for a while yet. The good thing about having other people working on the company is that I can spend more time on my own writing and I don't have to shut down the company to do it. If someone offered me enough money to sell the company, I probably would, but right now I'm content to have both my writing career and keep the company going. 

Let's focus on your own books. Of all of your books, which one has has the greatest success, however you wish to define that?

The book that has made the biggest splash by far is SLOW SURRENDER. Not only was this the book that had the biggest mainstream commercial reach (it was sold in Target as well as regular bookstores), it also won a couple of the major awards in romance (RT Reviewers Choice, Magnolia Award), got good reviews, and has overall been my best-selling book to date. It was published in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey when fans were both clamoring for more BDSM romance while on the other hand those critical of Fifty Shades were clamoring for something more representative of consensual kink. SLOW SURRENDER managed to satisfy both. 

Have you heard of this new Syfy series called The Magicians? When I first heard about it and saw promos it made me think of your series Magic University. Do you think your series could make a good TV series?

Magic University would make a great TV series except they would never get away with showing all the sex necessary to the plot. When your main character has to masturbate to do his homework assignments and has to have ritual sex to pass his classes and move the plot forward, I just don't see how they could do that on television. 

I think it might work on some cable channels but let's all keep our fingers crossed for that.

Cecilia, you've had success with an online serialized work called Daron's Guitar Chronicles that have turned into books but also continues online as a web series. How did you get the idea to do this particular series?

Daron walked into my head fully formed as a character when I was a teenager. I was about sixteen, I think. He came to me as an adult character in his forties, actually, with a long backstory that I started delving into right away by writing stories about him from the points of view of other characters. Then in my MFA program in 1992 I started writing the current Daron's Guitar Chronicles. When I hit 300,000 words I forced myself to stop, and my agent tried to sell that version (four times the size of a regular novel...) but got no takers other than a few literary houses that would have paid $2,000 if I could cut it down to 80,000 words. 

I tried but could not realistically condense it down that much. I gave up and stuck it in a drawer until 2009, when I realized, hey, I could just publish this as if it were this character's blog. DGC really is a serial, not a novel, where the chapters are very short and not a lot happens in any given one: it's all about the gradual buildup over time of experience and maturity that allows our character to overcome his internalized homophobia, childhood trauma, and become a fully functioning human being. It's still going, two new chapters a week, six years later. 

Did your work on Daron's Guitar Chronicles lead you to your Rock Star series?

Partly? The hero in Slow Surrender is a rock star, too. Having worked in rock radio and the music industry during high school and college, I have a lot of background in the music business. After Slow Surrender was so popular, my editor at Hachette said she wanted more rock stars, but this time wanted a series with a new hero in each book. I told her, "I can write rock stars all day long." And she said, "Bring it." So I did. 

Your latest book, Taking the Lead, is part of a the Rock Star series, the first book in the series. Would you tell us a bit about this book?

This book kicks off a new series that will have a couple of common threads. One of them is that the heroes are all members of the same rock band, The Rough. Taking the Lead's hero is the lead singer, Axel, while Wild Licks (August 2016) will star Mal, the guitarist, and Hard Rhythm (January 2017) will star the drummer, Chino. 

Are Ricki Hamilton (Taking the Lead) and Gwen Hamilton (Wild Licks) related to each other? Is this series the stories of a family?

They are sisters, and the heiresses to a Hollywood mogul's fortune. One of the other threads in the rock star series is that a provision of the will is that they have to keep the secret BDSM club that their grandfather started in the 1950s going. There's a dungeon in their mansion and they each have differing feelings about the family's secret kinky legacy. 

You have two more books coming out in the Rock Stars series. What are your writing plans after that?

I've already turned in the first book of The Vanished Chronicles, a new erotic urban fantasy/paranormal series from Tor Books that I'll have coming out in 2017. It's a bit like your classic "there's an underground world of vampires who walk among us" story, except there are no vampires. Instead there are practitioners of an ancient ritual magic that modern BDSM and blood play can trigger. And with any luck, who knows, maybe both the rock star series and this series might carry beyond three books!

I'll cross my fingers for both series to become more than trilogies. Thank you, Cecilia, for talking with me today.

Book Review: Counsel of the Wicked by Elizabeth A. Schechter

One of the "professions" I've had for many years now is as a book reviewer -- much like many of my "professions" it would be nice if it paid but at least I get free books and a chance to express my opinions. As you may have figured out, all of us butt-kicking women love to share our opinions about anything that pushes our buttons, lightens our lives, or simply stirs our imaginations. When I enjoy a book, having read it and sharing it with others means a great deal; when a book is a struggle, that's when I want to be paid for it. Book One of the new Elizabeth A. Schechter series, Rebel Mage, is a pleasure to bring to your attention. Book 1 is entitled Counsel of the Wicked but don't let the cover fool you; while that is our main character, whether or not he is "wicked" is one of the subjects of the book and I suspect the entire series.

Warning: While I am trying not to spoil the book, the rest of this post may contain information some readers would prefer to discover on their own. To make a more in depth and serious review, I need to touch upon these matters. Do not continue reading of you dislike any type of spoiler.

As you hopefully recall from my interview with Schechter, defining her books is difficult yet Fantastic Fiction Publishing labels this Bisexual Romance and Fantasy on the back cover. It is certainly a fantasy book. This appears to be set post devastating world-wide collapse of civilization; on Earth or another planet is unclear. There is some technology but it is hoarded by Elders in charge of specific towns. At first we think that these towns are all that is safe in the world because it is all our main character, Matthias, has ever known. Except that isn't quite true; he doesn't live in the town, he lives outside of it because his mother, a rape survivor, is condemned by their town for having a child out of wedlock. Sounds like the neo-con religious fanatics have taken over, huh? The "new" powers in charge have counseled the world in a very wicked fashion.

Matthias is undoubtedly our main character, about half the book is spent looking at his experiences as an outcast, his abuse at "The School" the High Elder sends him to, and his life on the run after he is rescued from that nightmarish place. Schechter gets us into his mind and his heart from chapter one and so we can feel great empathy with him even if he has a very limited world view and knowledge. Is he bisexual? He seems more uninterested in sex except to please his partners. He survives sexual assaults in "The School" and yet it felt like he worked through that fairly quickly once he and the rebel group that rescues him were on the run. As a survivor, I could read this two ways -- an attempt to keep the protections of the group by using sex to appease them or forcing himself to reject the abuse and go back to his normal sexual activities. Matthias seems to have no sexual interests and he doesn't seem driven to keep his rescuers happy. He is selective about whom he shares his body with and this demonstrates that no matter his situation, he has maintained his personal power. He can do this because he has been alone and needed to care for himself, having more than one friend, needing help to the degree he does at "The School" those are new experiences for him. I would expect some emotional fallout eventually from everything that has happened to him once the rebel group gets a few days to recover and calm down.

Before "The School" Matthias' only friend was Balthazar, the son of the town's Elder who also happens to be the High Elder on the Council of Elder.  Note the clever word play that Schechter has used here -- "counsel" and "council." But are these true wicked people in this story? There are hints that they are not. Balthazar is naïve because he has had a sheltered life of privilege. Oddly, Matthias attempts to let his friend know what his life has been life seem very recent. Of course, Balthazar wants to be more than friends and his pressuring of Matthias for more left a distaste in my mouth but also foreshadow some truly horrific events later in the book. Balthazar is definitely bisexual; we see him having sex with one woman who is a leader among the rebels who have survived outside the Council controlled towns. Unlike with Matthias, I couldn't manage to feel empathy for Balthazar at any point in the story. When the novel switched to following him around, I just wanted us to get back to Matthias. That's sad because a lot of good world building was revealed through Balthazar's own adventures.

It is primarily after Balthazar leaves the Council towns that we see hints of what has happened to create this dystopian world. Information through the eyes of the High Elder, the other "students" at "The School," and the rebels they encounter suggest this is not Earth but another world which has survived a great war only to be thrown into pockets of civilization. Just how far the authority and influence of the Council of Elder goes is yet to be revealed. Matthias himself has newly discovered talents that are only being nursed by otherworldly allies.



Schechter tackles a lot of difficult subjects in this 290 page paperback. I've mentioned the destruction of civilization, the rule of the corrupt, and even sexual assaults, but there are other topics as well. Religion is the cover for much of the corruption in this book but these are not Earth religion so get into a tizzy about it. Gender roles and control over the female body are also addressed though given that our main character is male with male love interests it may seem larger to me because I am a woman. There is no clean authority in this book when it comes to women; both the Council of Elders and the rebels who are led by women have no problem dictating what women should do in terms of their careers and reproductive lives. I'm curious to see if Matthias will care about this in future books and I hope that he does or his status as "hero" will be lessened in my eyes. All of these subjects are dealt with in a matter-of-fact fashion that is also sensitive just not in a "I'm teaching you a lesson" way that can detract from the story and character development.

There explicit sex in the book though I've seem far more explicit... heck, I've written it! In general the sex flows naturally from the storylines and character development though the scenes between Matthias and Solomon (one of the "students") once they are on the run felt a bit forced; do you really make time for sex when the baddies are on your heels? Maybe folks do this but I can't imagine it myself. That doesn't make this story bad, it just follows in the expected flow of sex in most popular books. If you can't handle explicit sex or complex social ideas and violence, don't buy this book! It is as simple as that.

Council of the Wicked is a good setup for at least one more book, possibly more.

Interview with a "Pervy Fetish Writer"

In a world of self-publishing and decreasing quality of fiction, erotica or erotic romance can be difficult to navigate. I've written about my love of Laura Antoniou's Marketplace series but today I want to introduce you to another published author I've grown to love: Elizabeth A. Schechter.

Thank you, Elizabeth, for agreeing to answer my questions.

Your website, "Memoirs of an Imp of the Perverse," has quite a Bibliography but let's go back to the start. Where you always a writer and a storyteller?

Pretty much always, yes. I wrote terrible fanfiction in grade school, slightly better fanfiction and some really derivative original stuff in high school. I stopped writing for a while because everyone told me
that I'd never make it as a writer, then picked it up again years later with a play-by-email role playing game based on the Jacqueline Carey Kushiel books. I relearned how much I enjoyed writing, and I finally got brave enough to try and sell something. That first sale was a short story, to Circlet Press. Then they bought my second story. And my third.

I just recently had the chance to tell Jacqueline that it's all her
fault. And I still write fanfiction.

When my first book came out, my mother said "That's okay because you're married"... How has your family reacted to your short stories, novellas, and novels?

My sisters both had the same reaction: "I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you! Where's my copy?"

Very few authors can make a good living with only their income from their books. Very few authors can simply write all of the day, day after day. What else is going on in your life that either challenges your ability to write or offers you balance?

I'm a stay-at-home mom, and we homeschool. My son is twice exceptional
-- he's gifted and he is ADHD, and he has a vision defect that effects (sic)
his motor skills. He'd be in fourth grade this year, but he's reading
on a seventh grade level, doing fifth grade math and writing his own
computer code. He also started out the year with the handwriting of a
first grader, and his executive skills are not there, so organizing
his thoughts and keeping on task are harder for him. This means that
one-size-fits-all public school doesn't work for him at all. We made
the decision to pull him and homeschool, which I think was the best
decision we have ever made.  I get a lot of writing done during
various therapy sessions and in the evenings.

I learn a lot along with him, now. We're raising monarch butterflies
right now, for a 4H project. I had no idea how big the caterpillars
get! We had a lot of jokes about kaiju and Mothra. And the chrysalises
are so pretty! They're pearly green, with metallic gold flecks, and
you can see the markings of the wings as they form.

It's a juggling act, really. A friend of mine is a homeschooling mom
of three, and a full-time writer for Harlequin. She told me that in
the homeschooling house, you have a list: clean house, dinner on the
table, homeschool work done. Pick two.

Were there any authors that inspired you to try to get published?

Jacqueline Carey. It's all her fault. If it hadn't been for that role playing game, I'd never have started writing again.

How would you compare your work today to those who inspired you?

That's a loaded question, because when I compare my work to Jacqueline's or to Laura Antoniou's or to Cecelia Tan's, it's me saying "When I grow up, I want to be like HER!" In my own mind, I'm never going to be in the same league. It still tickles me when other people say I'm that good, because I keep wondering if they're really talking about me!

Your website describes you as a "pervy fetish writer." That could mean different things to different people. What do you mean by it?

Initially, it was a joke, a play on the Cassandra Clare fanfiction "The Very Secret Diaries" and her description of Aragorn as a pervy hobbit fancier. Since then, it's become a tagline, a sort of way to identify my own writing -- you can't really pin me down by genre or even sub genre. I'm not a romance writer, like Nora Roberts. I'm not an erotica writer, like Sylvia Day. So what am I? I'm a pervy fetish writer. Like Tigger, I'm the only one!

"Erotica" or "Kink" or even "Romance" seem to be more umbrella terms than genre terms. You can have a kinky historical novel, horror romance, or even an erotic Christian contemporary work. What is your opinion about genre and where your writing fits in?

My opinion on genre is that genre is an artificial construct. I'm paraphrasing Neil Gaiman there, I think -- I think it was he that said that when Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, no one even blinked. No one gave him grief about this respected writer having written a fantasy ghost story. He had just written another novel. Genre distinctions came about with the advent of the mass-market paperback, and bookstores had to find a way to organize their stock.

Personally, most of my writing doesn't pigeonhole at all! It's all cross-genre -- science fiction erotic romance or steampunk erotic romance or historical fantasy erotic romance. About the only thing that's constant about my writing is that most of it contains the required relationship growth and happily ever after ending that define romance, and the explicit sex that defines erotica. Other than that, I write what I would want to read.

Is there a genre or setting that you haven't written in that you'd like to tackle?

I have a YA outline on my to-do list. I'll try it eventually, but I think that will be hard for me. Okay, Liz. Write this entire book and have no explicit sex!

In Erotica, Romance, and Kink literature, orientation of the characters is one main way our work gets categorized. Which orientations have you explored and why?

All of them. I've explored all the orientations. I've written straight characters, gay characters, bisexual characters, pansexual characters, and I've just written a demiromantic asexual. That last one was a surprise -- in the outline for Counsel of the Wicked, Matthias was gay. When the character revealed it (it was totally his idea!), there was a lot of stop-drop-and-research. And I had several ace
beta-readers to make sure I hadn't screwed it up!

I haven't done much with gender identity yet, because I haven't had time to do the research to do it right. I want to, though. It's on the list of projects that I'll get to eventually. I have an idea for a transgender superhero story. It's important to get it right, though. So I need to do the research.

Our work is also often categorized by the sexual activities or dynamics we cover. You have touched upon once taboo topics of rape, bisexuality, and religion just to name a few. Are there subjects that you do not see yourself tackling? Why?

I can't see myself writing incest or anything involving harm to a child.

For our final question, next week I'll be reviewing book 1 of the Rebel Mage
series from Forbidden Fiction. Where did the idea for this series begin?

It's all my sister's fault. She got the flu, badly enough to end up in the hospital. I flew up to North Carolina to help take care of my nieces. Part of this involved driving them to church. This being December, that meant three trips in one day -- once for Mass, once for rehearsals for the Christmas play for the younger niece, and once for religion classes for the older niece. So six times in one day, I drove past the ruins of the Stonewall Jackson School for Boys -- a reform
school with a very lurid history. The last trip, it was raining and there was a heavy fog, and all you could really see from the road was this two-story stone gazebo, looking very dark and Gothic and creepy. That gazebo became the Well-house and that reform school became The School.

Thank you, Elizabeth A. Schechter, for talking with me today. Next Friday I'll review book 1 of the Rebel Mage series.

11 Years in the Waiting Pays Off in "The Inheritor"

If you consider yourself part of the BDSM, SM, Leather, or just Kinky world and have not heard of the Marketplace series from Laura Antoniou I must ask what hole you've been living in.

If you consider yourself of kinky books but haven't read the Marketplace Series from Laura Antoniou I must say that you are deluded in your self-assessment.

The Marketplace series was first published in 1993 under the penname Sara Adamson by Masquerade Books who published the first three books. The photo is of my copies of the original trilogy; if you buy them today, you should get the latest versions from my links at the end of this review. In my first copy "The Slave," Laura Antoniou signed it "from a fan" meaning that she had read my work by then and liked it.

In fact, Laura published my non-fiction essay, "Be Careful," in her anthology Some Women in 1995. Rereading her notes in "The Slave" earlier this week gave me a thrill still and a hope that she still likes my work if she has time to read with all of her appearances around the world. I hope I have such luck in my career one day! This is my contributing author's copy of the original anthology.

The first three books of the Marketplace series were republished by Mystic Rose Books from 2000 to 2001. Books four and five followed in 2001 and 2002 with "The Inheritor" listed in them for 2003. I don't know exactly what happened, I haven't asked Laura about this. These are my personal copies of these editions. Can you see how much the books grew between #4 and #5? Yup, #6 is bigger still!

And brings us to the actually subject of this post, The Inheritor: Book Six of The Marketplace Series. The photo is of my copy of the book from the Kickstarter campaign that I supported. There will be a different paperback copy from Circlet Press later this year. Didn't know about the Kickstarter? You need to follow Laura Antoniou on Facebook, dears.

Let me be perfectly clear -- if you have not read the other five books in this series do not get this one. You will be lost. Instead go to the bottom of this article and follow the links to the Circlet Press editions of the first five books. Do not just search on Amazon or another site because buying them used will give neither the author nor the publisher anything. If you want to support quality fiction, you need to buy it from the current publisher or author.

The Marketplace series covers the time period of 1993 to 2005 so we have a full ten years of our past for Laura to write in should she desire to continue to do so but given the financial and critical success of her mystery The Killer Wore Leather: A Mystery she may be inclined to start a new series or explore other genres. The Marketplace is a fictional world-wide consortium of people who want beyond the fantasy of consensual slavery into a money-making enterprise that should benefit everyone involved. Joining the secretive world is a long process but one that seems to be helped a great deal by money and connections. We learn more and more about the Marketplace with each book in the series.

The Inheritor: Book Six of The Marketplace Series pulls together several storylines from the previous five books. The two main viewpoint characters are Chris Parker who has been in every book and can rightly be called the series main character and Robin Cassidy who we met in "The Slave" but also again in "The Trainer" and "The Reunion." Both of these are "Slave" characters, yet Chris has never been only a slave but also a Trainer, someone who trains other slaves and even junior trainers. This duality of his role within the Marketplace universe proves to be the main conflict of the sixth book. I'll get back to that in a minute.

The secondary subject of "The Inheritor" is Robin's future. Now on her third contract with a widowed master named Aiden, her life seems ideal. She gets all of the kink fun she wants, has responsibilities reflecting her personality, education, skills, and talents, and may be headed toward a "golden contract," a lifetime contract. While we spend a good deal of time in Robin's head we also spend some time with her master, Aiden, and this gives us a new view in the series -- the Owner's view. Oh, trainers have been owners, too, in the series and we've been in the owner's minds in some of the supplemental short stories, but this is Laura's first time really diving into the life of an owner. I'm probably biased but that interested me as an owner in the "soft world" as those in the Marketplace universe would call my lifestyle today.

We also see the return of two impressive characters of Ken Mandarin (Spotter, Agent, and Owner) and Michael LaGuardia (Owner and former Junior Trainer) who we have seen in other books. Indeed, one could say that Michael is one of the main characters of "The Trainer" and "The Academy" so it was very nice to see how his life has turned out. Both of these characters play an important role in the two main plots. I don't want to spoil these if you haven't read the book so I'll leave Robin's life aside and return to Chris again.

Chris Parker was an amazing Trainer, earning the title of Master Trainer and a respected place in the Marketplace. But in the "The Academy" we learn that he has also not merely longed to be a Slave but has been one to the Head of the Training House he is part of for many, many years. Imala Anderson heads the most prestigious American Training House and yet she has refused to publicly acknowledge Chris's true status. By the end of "The Academy" and in "The Reunion" we believe that Chris has finally found the life he wants and needs in contract with Sakai Tetsuo from Japan. You cheer for Chris because unless you are a true sadist, you'd like the main character of most series to find that happy ending.

Some readers have accused Laura Antoniou of being a sadist on Facebook... I can't say that I agree because "The Inheritor" pulls together the previous threads, conflicts, and personality of the first five books so well, that Chris's latest challenge felt foreshadowed to me as well as logical if not desireable. His challenge? Imala has died and threatened to have their entire Training House and its history destroyed unless Chris stops being a Slave and takes over as Trainer of Trainers for their house in the eyes of The Marketplace. For a man like Chris who places tradition, honor, and service above all others, this is a challenge that sets his own happiness against the entire world he has been dedicated to for more than half of his life.

The turmoil this causes in Chris and within the rest of The Marketplace is described in rich details yet not so many that we feel distracted from the action and the characters. There were a few rough areas that I hope a Circlet Press Editor can help discover but nothing that prevented me from enjoying the book. While others might cry must later in the book, I found myself most emotionally pulled in chapters 10-12 when we see Imala at the very end of her life still manipulating Chris in her machiavellian fashion. If there is one character I can say that I would hit in this series, it would be Imala Anderson and yet I understood her motivation and her assessment of Chris.

Chris is not just a Slave and that is true of our lives. I am not just a Wife or a Daughter, I don't stop being one, I simply add to the roles I play. This is true for most people's lives. This is a reality that is starkest in "The Inheritor" out of the sixth books so far. Only the most dickish Owners are one role and we are shown how shallow they are in the series. Even if you have a single Marketplace role the depth of that role variety from character to character and over the course of their lifetimes. I'm sure many of us might fantasize about being wealthy enough to be in the Marketplace but emotionally and in terms of roles, we can identify with these characters. It is these characters and our ability to identify with them that makes Laura Antoniou one of the masters of kinky fiction for well over a decade now.

While the Big Five publishers have eskewed fiction published by real kinky folks in favor of the romances or the poorly written paranormal series from those who "research it", Laura Antoniou has generated a loyal readership that will not be disappointed. Just keep some facial tissue near you when you read book six.

If you'd like to read the books in this series, please follow the below links to find them in their last printing form via Amazon.com.

The Marketplace (The Marketplace Series) (Volume 1)

  The Slave

  The Trainer (The Marketplace Series Book 3)

  The Academy (The Marketplace Series Book 4)

  The Reunion (The Marketplace Series Book 5)

Only in ebook or audible at the moment... The Inheritor: Book Six of The Marketplace Series

Book Review: As Kinky as You Wanna Be

BDSM... perhaps you didn't know anything about that until the entire "Fifty Shades" phenomenon? Personally I don't know how anyone in America, at least, hasn't heard about kink, bondage, S/M, or BDSM since the late 1970s, but let's say it's new to you and you're looking for an introduction. There are many books I could recommend, but a new book from Cleis Press (Shanna Germain's As Kinky as You Wanna Be: Your Guide to Safe, Sane, and Smart BDSM) arrived for my review just last week.



In certain circles I'm respected as a book reviewer, and I do between four and eight book reviews every month. At first I figured this would be a nice little intro book for which I'd just do reviews on several online book sites, and that would be that. But as I read it, I realized that I had some problems (and pleasures) with the book that really could use more time and attention. Oh, I'm still writing the smaller reviews, but this will be the detailed one.

Shanna Germain is a well-known erotica author who has a lot of publications, far more than me, in fact. This book includes one of her short stories, The Sun is an Ordinary Star, that is the best fiction piece of the 10 in this book. Yes, there are 10 stories in this book, generally after every chapter, though after Chapters 3 and 8 there are two stories. This format reminds me of John Warren's Safe, Sane, Consensual, and Fun, a book of annotated short stories that came out many years ago. Oddly, Germain mentions neither this Warren book nor his book The Loving Dominant in the resource guide at the end of As Kinky as You Wanna Be.



Like Warren, the short stories seem to highlight basic information for the kinky newbie. For Warren this was through the annotations; for Germain it is in the chapters, which look at several relevant topics relating to BDSM such as finding communities, figuring out what you like, and safety in various regards. However, not all of the stories really fit with the chapters they come after.  For example, Stella Harris' The Only Real Girl on the Internet seems more related to Chapter 1 than the chapter it follows, Chapter 7, which is about safety in terms of mental and physical concerns.

All of the short stories chosen for the book are well-written, but they do show an editor's bias toward female bottoms and male tops. Of the ten stories, five are firmly maledom/femsub, one is lesbian, one is femdom/malesub, and the other three are a bit more complicated than those mere categories – categories which are not explained in this guidebook to kink, by the way. There are no gay male stories at all. Perhaps the thought is that gay men have their own way of learning about these things, but since the book does not market itself toward a specific scene orientation, shouldn't it be more inclusive?

That's just my feedback on the short stories; let's turn to the chapters themselves, one at a time.  Please note that my praise and criticisms come from 25 years in the Scene, a good chunk of that as a writer, educator, and activist. I've been asked to introduce many people over the years to BDSM, so there is nothing in this book that I haven't had to tackle myself or help others look into. As I read I marked areas that really pushed me with sticky notes as well as marking passages that really pleased me. This is going to get long, so please stick with me.

Chapter 1, "Discovering Your Kinky Landscape" tries to do two things – introduce the basic terms and ideas of BDSM, and offer advice on how to figure out what you might be interested in. I had two problems with this chapter.  The first is the promotion of "power exchange," as though that is always what is going on. As we argued in our own book, At Her Feet, power may not be what you are giving each other, especially not if you think this means that one person has less power than another. I know it is still a commonly used expression in the Scene, so this is more of a personal disagreement; just know that if you are trying out BDSM, you don't lose your power at any time; you always have the right to say "no" or leave kink altogether, contrary to what Fifty Shades or some online top might have you believe.



The second and more problematic issue I had with this first chapter is this statement: "Here's the important thing about words and their definitions: no one else is more of an expert on yourself than you are. If you say you are [fill in the blank], then you are." Actually, no. While people in the Scene may argue about the meanings of terms, there are commonly accepted definitions out there. If you call yourself a submissive yet do not like to give up control in a scene, do not like serving others, and definitely want to be the one doing the activity, you are going to have a very rough time finding a partner, because everyone will be confused by you. This claim also makes little sense given the fact that the book has a glossary of terms, so clearly Germain believes that words have value. I hope this was just a clarity problem that might be cleared up in later editions. Yes, you are the best person to determine what works best for you, but you have to be able to communicate clearly with others or you simply won't be able to negotiate, assuming you can even find a partner.

There is an interview with Cecilia Tan, my own publisher, that I think really touched upon the topics of discovering what you like and who you are in terms of the Scene. The chapter ends with four well-crafted pieces of advice to help the reader learn more. Remittance Girl's story Amanda, Agnus Dei was an odd piece to find right at the start of this book, since it really pushes several hard edges for many folks, both inside and outside the Scene, by tackling religious and psychological elements of great importance to the characters.

Chapter 2, Talking the Talk, is about communicating before you start playing and after you've played. This may be the one thing, more than any other, that sets apart BDSM from vanilla sex – our focus on communicating before, during, and after and not buying into the "natural" myth that drives much of human sexual relationships and probably causes a fair number of miscommunication problems. The brief discussion is spot on, and the five suggestions on how to work on your communication are well thought out. The interview with Shanna Katz and the short story, Jump or Fall? (Excerpt) by Janine Ashbless fit right into the topic of the chapter.

Chapter 3, "Yes, No and Maybe: Consent and More," is the most important topic in BDSM, because to be blunt, what we often like to do may resemble abuse to those not involved, and this can be very confusing to newbies as well as misused by abusers who prowl our Scene. Germain says there are two elements that "stay the same" when it comes to consent, yet I have a big problem with the second of these: "There is no single right way to get and give consent or to create boundaries." On the surface this is true: there are many ways to learn enough that you can determine whether or not you want to consent to any given action, encounter, or individual. However, there are definitely wrong ways to approach consent, and I know that Germain understands this, because later in the chapter she says that consent must be explicit and informed. Given the popularity of Fifty Shades and other romance books that are kinking it up, this is an important topic. No, sorry, folks, but handing your potential partner a contract with a this-way-or-the-highway approach is not a valid way to get consent. I really liked that Germain does highlight what consent needs to include and that it is ongoing, but I really wish she'd spent more time on the examples of situations without valid consent.

The four suggestions for learning more about consent in Chapter 3 are good, but they overlook the fact that the top (or dom, or whatever) also needs to be able to give consent, to feel free to be asked questions, and to give honest answers. The submissive bias is clear in this chapter because of this lack of inclusion of tops as consent givers. Being a new top is scary, and it is all too easy to think you have to say "yes" to everything just so you aren't wimping out. Safewords, limits, desires, needs – all of that needs to be clarified on the top side of the kink equation, too. A good bottom needs to learn to ask questions, be honest, and listen as well, so the top can also choose to consent or not.

There is no interview in this chapter. The only lesbian piece in the book follows it, Knit One and Tie Me Up, Two by Kristina Wright, which looks at hint dropping and pre-prep, which I've had bottoms do for me and which worked okay as starters for negotiations. Bearers by Nikki Magennis looks at ongoing consent as something sexy and does a fine job of showing the fine line once the hot play has begun.

Chapter 4, "Packing Your Toybox," contains more than the title suggests. While Germain does talk about her experiences as a sex toy reviewer, she also mentions safer sex equipment you'll need to include. In general, I think the chapter needed to be a bit longer, but she jumps right into suggestions for how to add more "toys" to your collection of possible scene tools.  The first one suggests pervertables around your home, and this is both fun and dangerous. What might look innocent, like a tie or a scarf, can quickly become a trip to the clinic. Role playing as a toy you can use is interesting, but that suggestion comes out of the blue, so it needs more introduction, and some would argue an entire chapter to itself, and probably not in an introductory survey. Finally the chapter advises taking care of toys, but in a very general way that really doesn't do much toward educating the reader.  Plus, where is the guide to finding safe toys? Perhaps the idea was that the interview with Sunny Megatron about sex toys would cover everything, but I think in a guidebook you also need to be a bit repetitive, especially about safety concerns. The short story here, Anthropology by Donna George Storey, is sort of about toys and sort of about consent or getting starting in exploring BDSM.

Chapter 5 finally gets to the Scene in Culture and Etiquette. We get a little information about clubs and organizations, but really not much. I know that so much of the newbie exposure comes from online these days, and I may be old-fashioned, but getting involved so you can learn hands-on is still a very good way to learn and explore. I really think this chapter needed to be the second or third chapter of the guidebook, since so many folks are flocking to munches and public dungeons in light of contemporary fiction and films. Germain begins with her first play party experience, and I really appreciate her sharing her firsts, because I think it really makes a connection with the reader. Her five pieces of etiquette advice for play parties is spot on and needs to be re-iterated over and over before such gatherings.

But are play parties really the first public venture that most newbies have? Her suggestions to venture into the public kinky sphere are okay, but not great. She does not mention that there are currently two basic types of munches – the traditional sort is just getting together to meet other kinky folks, while the other is a more formal get-together where there is a topic for discussion or even a guest speaker. The etiquette differs for each type.  Online experiences are very common now, so I'm glad she included this as a viable introduction. Her final bit of advice in this chapter is to go with a friend or a buddy, which is great if you have a kinky or kink-open friend, but that isn't true for many people, so what should they do? I was really surprised that she didn't advise people to contact the organization or host for any public meeting to ask questions and discuss etiquette and rules. That's been my number one piece of advice to newbies to the Scene community for years. Lee Harrington's interview touches a few of these concerns, but again they are more focused on play parties, which may not be available or common in many areas for newbies. Likewise the only femdom story in the book, Petting Zoo, by Rachel Kramer Bussel, focuses on a play party event, not on something more common and mundane like a munch.

Chapter 6, Health and Well-Being, really needed to be closer to Chapter 4, I think, since that touched upon safety and toys. The focus of Chapter 6 is on mental and physical health. Germain is completely correct in her assessment that "taking care of yourself all the time, in your everyday life outside of your sexual self is a vital and often overlooked element of BDSM health and safety." I wish there was a bit more meat to this chapter, because it is so very important. The interview with Dr. Lynk was a good inclusion to this chapter. However, when I look at the resource list, I'm surprised not to see Race Bannon or Trevor Jacques mentioned, since their guidebooks included a good deal of information about safety and were some of the first in the Scene to do so.


Getting it Right by Teresa Noelle Roberts is a sweet story about trying out a new toy that looks at the nervousness this can create for both bottom and top, though, like most stories in this genre, it focuses more on the bottom's viewpoint. I do that myself when I write, so I don't see a huge problem with it. My only question about this story is its placement at the end of this chapter instead of Chapter 4.

Chapter 7, Staying Safe, is about making decisions concerning revealing yourself and learning about potential partners. It is safety on the wider level beyond toys or your body/mind. Overall the chapter is good, except for the very out-of-place first and second suggestions for further explorations: building a first aid kit and learning more about your nearby hospitals and clinics might fit better into Chapter 4 or even Chapter 6. The part about vetting your potential partners could use expansion as well, since not everyone is going to want to use phone apps. What we who've been doing this for a while might consider common-sense questions to ask won't necessary make sense to a newbie turned on by their fantasies. Jay Wiseman is the perfect interviewee for this chapter, but it would be great if both he and the chapter had more concrete safety tips for beginners, such as leaving enough room between restraints and the limbs you are restraining or the risks of being unable to move for longer stretches of time.

Likewise Stella Harris's The Only Real Girl on the Internet is a very intriguing story that tosses out the idea of who is really in control, but I don't really get how it connects to the themes of safety in this chapter. It seems more in line with other chapters that mention online exploration (Chapter 5) or simply figuring out what turns you on (Chapter 1).

Finally, chapter 8, Handling Rough Terrain, includes Germain's own struggles with Lyme disease, and frankly I wish more authors would be honest about similar health issues that have a real impact on their kinky interests and activities. Perhaps that is a more advanced topic for someone who has been into BDSM for a while, but it can also reassure newbies who may worry about whether or not their own health may prevent them from trying out kink. But why wasn't this story and the discussion of these health issues part of Chapter 6? I ask because it feels like it really should have been included early and because this chapter then goes on to look at some very intense topics, like feminism (by the way, this is something that dominant/top women struggle with, too) and rape fantasies. One huge problem in this chapter is the advice to protect yourself with a written agreement if you decide to enact your darker fantasies; there is little legal protection in such a document, as several trials around the world have demonstrated over the past two decades – better to do these fantasies with very trusted partners than rely upon an emailed or printed agreement. This hodgepodge of topics then results in three disconnected suggestions for activities, two of which, again, might be better suited to Chapter 6, and one that connects very directly with the darker side of kink.

The two stories also show the split personality of this chapter. The Wrong Woman by Kristina Lloyd is sure to touch off some triggers for some readers, but I thought it was a very clever and complex exploration of the what-if of professional BDSM, miscommunication, and the taboo subject of rape fantasies. Serious illness is the topic of Germain's own contribution, The Sun is an Ordinary Star, which as I said is the best in the collection, yet might be better positioned after Chapter 6.

This is a decent introductory book, but ultimately there are many things that are just rushed through in this guidebook that I really think need to be further explored especially for newbies. I'm not saying to write 300 more pages, but how about a sentence or two, and also, how about listing a few of the resources where they might fill in the gaps? Also, I think some rearranging of the chapters, suggested activities, and stories might be useful, like moving safety closer to the toys and exploring communities more toward the start of the book, since that might be the first step someone wants to take in exploring kink. Clarity is important, and if someone who has been doing BDSM for a quarter of a century is confused by the organization and information, imagine what a newbie might feel. Finally, there is a very strong female-bottom bent to this book, and that would be fine, except that it is spun as a guide to BDSM for everyone, not just female bottoms. Little attention is given to F/m, F/f, and multiple partners, and M/m dynamics are entirely missing. That is not cool, and it is not an honest reflection of the Scene.

If you want other non-fiction and fiction choices, please consult the Beyond 50 Project.