The BDSM Book Club Discussion Thread

[FurryFury]

Sorry for the delay - I am finally finished and more than ready to discuss! Where to start? Neon

Well . . . what did you think of the book? Was it BDSM in your book and so on!

*smiles*

 

[neonflux]

Well . . . what did you think of the book? Was it BDSM in your book and so on!

*smiles*

Well, clearly not BDSM and I'm sorry that I so misremembered that. I am very, very curious as to your response to the novel, your take on the major themes, particularly those of writing and identity in addition to the exploration of sexual/racial/class tropes... Despite my mistake, I love this book, as I love most of Delany's work.

What is interesting to me about Dhalgren is that in this mainstream novel, written between 1969 and 1973, Delany had the courage to write so openly about homosexuality, free love, the intersection of race, class and sexuality. There are intimations of BDSM - Tak, the gay engineer, is clearly into SM (what it would have been called at that time, of course, not BDSM), George's supposed "rape" of the 16 year-old June plays out a Dom/sub dynamic - one which I think Delany exhibited great bravery in writing about considering the race of both - braver still because Delany doesn't completely deconstruct the Mandingo/Miss Anne sexual mythology that is so much engrained in American culture, but allows the reader to question it based on what we learn about George much later.

I was most fascinated by Kidd's response to the blood of the boy whose body he retrieves from the elevator shaft. He begins to feel sexual stirrings in response to handling the boy's bloody and broken body. Digging a little deeper, and frightened by what he finds, he stuffs all feelings of arousal back down to a place of near inaccessibility. This moment spoke so truly to me.

I have written on Lit that since reaching adulthood, I have never had guilt about my sexuality, that I have always been comfortable with my own sadism. That is not completely true - there are some very, very dark corners of my own nature that I am only now beginning to peek at, and they sometimes terrify me. I always included discussion of blood sports (when appropriate) in my work as a sexuality educator and trainer but until I began my formal exploration of BDSM was always afraid of my attraction to same - I was sure that once I started exploring this aspect of my own desire, I might not be able to "stop."

Darker still, ~D and I saw "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" this past weekend, a film about two Irish brothers who fight together against the British in the 1920s. I was more than discomfitted by the fact that I was turned on during a torture scene in which the fingernails of one of the protagonists were ripped out one by one. I wasn't uncomfortable with my enjoyment of the CBT scene in the last James Bond flick. I suspect that the difference in part was due to the fact that "Wind" is based on real events, and Bond is pure fiction. Then again, CBT I like and play with, LOL. I do not believe that I would ever take out someone's teeth or finger nails, even if they were game - but the fact that I find the idea exciting, particularly within a torture scenario, is deeply disturbing to me at some level.

I initially read Dhalgren when I was 18 or 19 and, along with Lawrence Durell's "I]Alexandria Quartet[/I] (which I read for the first time when I was 12), it had a profound impact on my sexuality, as well as my complete acceptance of the sexuality of others. One of the scenes that most stands out for me is Risa's gang bang, and her response to Kidd later when he questions her about it and she tells him,

"That was mine," and opened and closed her mouth to say something else, but ended up repeating: "That was all mine. You just can't have any part of that. That's all. It was . . . mine!"

Women are always expected to explain our sexual choices, to justify them. That Risa insists on so completely claiming something for her own that by society's standards (particularly those of the time) are clearly submissive and "slutty" is an absolutely magnificent act!

Short digression: Delaney writes of BDSM a great deal in other works, the two that immediately come to mind: Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand and the Neveryon series. "Stars..." an anthology of short stories, features two that center around BDSM relationships (in one, a sub leaves his Master and also boss/ship captain).

Neveryon, was the first fictional work in the U.S. about the AIDS epidemic (although fictional is a loosely used term as he interweaves the fictional tale with personal essay and deconstruction of his own story). Neveryon takes place in a world which faces a sexually transmitted plague that is similar to AIDS but where blond-haired, light-skinned folks are the "barbarians," sexuality and homosexuality are broadly accepted, and a pre-AIDS a "liberator" roams about the primary country inciting people to revolution against a progressive Princess-ruler. The Liberator is also heavily involved with BDSM - when the protagonist of the first novella (a wagon driver / smuggler) meets the Liberator, it is in a cave that has also been turned into a dungeon (shades of Plato also, I think) - the liberator has a "bodyguard" who is also his life partner - one is not sure, ultimately which of the two is "liberator" and which is the bodyguard, nor which of the two is truly sub and which Master. The sadist and masochist are clear - their real roles are not and this isn't laid out within the context of "topping from the bottom."

Hogg, which I've mentioned in the "reading books for pleasure" thread goes further, in exploring individuals who engage in heinous, utterly non-consensual sexual acts (it also includes lots of scat play) while still allowing us to experience their humanity, to ultimately care about them despite ourselves...

It is interesting to reread Dhalgren over 30 years after I first read it, and after having had the benefit of reading a great many of his other works, and to see him in this novel, lay out themes that he so fully explores as his work matures...

BTW, what do you think of the fact that Kidd only wears one shoe? (Shades of Jason in search of a father and an identity, or is that stretching???)

Now to you, Fury! *smiles back*

Neon

P.S., Interesting side note - my sis, the academic, whose office was opposite Delany's when he did a guest professorship at SUNY Buffalo, only teaches two sci fi authors in her American Lit survey courses. One is Delany, the other is Octavia Butler...

 

[FurryFury]

Neon,

That was an excellent review!

You did quite a scholarly and passionate job. It may be the best review on this thread ever!

It's also clear how much you admire Delany as well. I can understand why.

*hug*

I've struggled over writing my thoughts because I don't want to hurt your feelings but I am pretty up front and honest all the time. That's just the way I am. So, I'm going to be me here as well. It doesn't mean I don't respect you and Delany. I really do! I want to state that up front.

I thought the writing was interesting both what Delany did and the poetry the lead character did. To me that's not poetry exactly but it was cool. The words in both were absolutely beautiful at times. This was my first Delany book btw.

I thought it was cool that he was so open sexually. It's funny that people laud the book so much sense it is so open that way and people claim not to understand it.

Wikipedia said...William Gibson calls Dhalgren "A riddle that was never meant to be solved."

Critical reaction to Dhalgren has ranged from high praise (both inside and outside the science fiction community) to extreme dislike (mostly within the community). Its lack of a linear plot, or even a discernible chronological narrative, its graphically-described homo-, hetero-, and bisexuality, Delany's "modernist" verbal pyrotechnics, and use of stream of consciousness writing has given it a reputation as a difficult novel.

Theodore Sturgeon called Dhalgren "the very best ever to come out of the science fiction field ... a literary landmark." By contrast, fellow writers such as Philip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison hated the novel. Said the latter: "When Dhalgren came out, I thought it was awful, still do.... I was supposed to review it for the L.A. Times, got 200 pages into it and threw it against a wall."

I thought walking around with one shoe was damned strange.

Did you like the book overall or not?

Overall I didn't like the book. I found parts of it compelling like a dream that I'd fell in. I liked the sex and most of the characters. I thought it was interesting but I also felt I was back in college and supposed to analyze it, find the deeper meanings and so on. That's not what I enjoy in a book. It makes me feel somewhat shallow but the whole time I felt I was missing out on some key things. Indeed I was because it's written that way.

Do you feel it portrays BDSM in a real way, a positive way and/or your way?

No. There was very little BDSM in it. That was only hinted at. However there were a lot of sex scenes of various sorts that were quite interesting. For it's time, the book seems remarkably forward thinking about sex in general and edgy for the times issues at well.

Did you like the sex scenes in the book?

I did. I like most sex scenes that aren't too flowery. I really like group sex scenes too. I found myself liking the male on male action best though which surprised me and isn't my normal thang.

Did you like the rest of the book, the story in it?

I liked parts of the story in it. I was incredibly frustrated that the main issue of the book was left a mystery. I also absolutely hated the last part's formatting which made it extremely hard to read. I had to skip some of that. But the word combinations were really fantastic at times. The characters were mostly good and compelling except for the rape "victim." I didn't understand her. The story was compelling. I wanted to know what happened next and have the mystery solved.

Would you be interested in reading another book by this author?

Maybe if it were more like a straight forward sci fi story.

What did you like best about this selection?

The imagery, dreamlike quality, characterization and sex!

What did you like the least?

I don't know what caused the city to be the way it was. WHY??? Also the formatting of the last part which was so hard for me to read. The fact that I then felt lost and had to look for cliff notes and research the book only to find out that "no one knows" what it means or whatever. I feel sooooo stupid!

How would you have changed the story?

I don't think I would have made it circular where it begins mid sentence and finishes mid sentence. I mean that was clever but it didn't work for me. I felt tricked.

The use of the N word. I'm sorry. I know I'm white and from the South but it hurt me to see that constantly and used the way it was. I would have mostly yanked that out and/or not used it at all.

I would have clearly stated what the heck caused the city to be like that!

‘Altogether,’ Kafka wrote in 1904 to his friend Oskar Pollak, ‘I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us.

If the book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow on the skull, why bother reading it in the first place? So that it can make us happy, as you put it?

Good God, we’d be just as happy if we had no books at all; books that make us happy we could, at a pinch, also write ourselves.

What we need are books that hit us like a most painful misfortune, like the death of someone we loved more than we love ourselves, that make us feel as though we had been banished to the woods, far from any human presence, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is what I believe.’

In a letter to his fiancee ..., Kafka wrote, "I am reminded of a teacher who, on reading [Homer's] Iliad to us, often used to say:

'Too bad one has to read this with the likes of you. You cannot possibly understand it, and even when you think you do, you don't understand a thing. One has to have lived a great deal in order to understand even a tiny snippet.'"

Throughout his life, Kafka read with the feeling that he lacked the experience and knowledge necessary to achieve even the beginning of an understanding. [page 89]

(Those paragraphs are from Alberto Manguel's A History of Reading.)

I like to read mostly for fun. I am not a scholarly reader though I do often research things. I don't agree with Kafka. I didn't enjoy reading him in Super natural Lit 101. (Sadly, that course sounded MUCH cooler than it turned out to be.) However that's me. If people enjoy being challenged like that? Good on them! I'm simply not that smart or intellectual I think. I'm a lightweight and happy that way.

PS The sister office tie in is very cool!

 

[neonflux]

I thought walking around with one shoe was damned strange.

He plays a lot with Greek/Roman mythology. He actually has written a pornographic novel that takes place in ancient Rome and has passages which he wrote in Greek/Latin then translated back into English (it's footnoted, too, LOL). The character with one shoe is a recurring theme in his books. The only one-footed figure I could find in Greek Mythology was Jason. From Wiki:

Pelias (Aeson's half-brother) was power-hungry, and he wished to gain dominion over all of Thessaly. Pelias was the product of a union between their shared mother Tyro ("high born Tyro") daughter of Salmoneus, and the sea god Poseidon. In a bitter feud, he overthrew Aeson (the rightful king), killing all the descendants of Aeson that he could. He spared his half-brother for unknown reasons. Alcimede (wife of Aeson) already had an infant son named Jason who she saved from being killed by Pelias, by having women cluster around the newborn and cry as if he were still-born. Alcimede sent her son to the centaur (half man, half horse) Chiron for education, for fear that Pelias would kill him - she claimed that she had been having an affair with him all along. Pelias, still paranoid that he would one day be overthrown, consulted an oracle which warned him to beware of a man coming forth from the people with only one sandal.

Many years later, Pelias was holding games in honour of the sea god and his alleged father, Poseidon, when Jason arrived in Iolcus and lost one of his sandals in the river Anauros ("wintry Anauros"), while helping an old woman (Goddess Hera in disguise) cross. She blessed him for she knew, as goddesses do, what Pelias had up his sleeve. When Jason entered Iolcus (modern-day city of Volos), he was announced as a man wearing one sandal. Paranoid, Pelias asked him what he (Jason) would do if confronted with the man who would be his downfall. Jason responded that he would send that man after the Golden Fleece. Pelias took that advice and sent Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece as he thought it an impossible mission for this young lad that stood before him. (Jason was supposed to have been in his late teens or early twenties at the time.)

In every Delany story that I have read featuring a one-shoed character, there is a sort of "quest" motiff - I know that Dhalgren has been compared to Pinchon's V in scope, but to me it's much more similar to James Joyce's Ulysses. Kidd is searching for his name, his identity, as well as searching for a way out of his (very real) madness.

Did you like the book overall or not?

Overall I didn't like the book. I found parts of it compelling like a dream that I'd fell in. I liked the sex and most of the characters. I thought it was interesting but I also felt I was back in college and supposed to analyze it, find the deeper meanings and so on. That's not what I enjoy in a book. It makes me feel somewhat shallow but the whole time I felt I was missing out on some key things. Indeed I was because it's written that way.

Do you feel it portrays BDSM in a real way, a positive way and/or your way?

No. There was very little BDSM in it. That was only hinted at. However there were a lot of sex scenes of various sorts that were quite interesting. For it's time, the book seems remarkably forward thinking about sex in general and edgy for the times issues at well.

Yes, it makes you search. One of the reasons it took me so long to re-read is that I needed to read several sections several times. I understand not liking it, actually. Not because it's a hard read but because, as you say, he refuses ultimately to give answers. A quote from an Amazon.com review about another of his books:

This is a guy who generally evokes two kinds of response. One venerable reviewer stated, and I quote, that his books were well beloved by academics ever in search of "grist for the mills of exegesis." Interpretation: I don't think he likes him. Others are excited by his ideas about language, science, human sexuality, and how these are/were interweaving to create original novels that expand the human consciousness.

Again, while I don't think that there's any bdsm in the way we think of it today, I do think that there were intimations - see my comment on the rape character, below. Those intimations I think were, if not positive, then neutral, certainly not negative. And any book that can get me to delve into my own sadistic psyche has some truth in it - when I watched "The Wind..." this weekend, I forced myself to the make same self-examination Kidd does when he rescues the mangled boy's body.

Did you like the sex scenes in the book?

I did. I like most sex scenes that aren't too flowery. I really like group sex scenes too. I found myself liking the male on male action best though which surprised me and isn't my normal thang.

Rape scene - need I say more

Did you like the rest of the book, the story in it?

I liked parts of the story in it. I was incredibly frustrated that the main issue of the book was left a mystery. I also absolutely hated the last part's formatting which made it extremely hard to read. I had to skip some of that. But the word combinations were really fantastic at times. The characters were mostly good and compelling except for the rape "victim." I didn't understand her. The story was compelling. I wanted to know what happened next and have the mystery solved.

This is interesting because I think that I read the book very differently, and I suspect that part of this is generational (I am old enough to have wanted to run away to Woodstock). It's important, I think, to read it within the context of the times (although particularly towards the end, I began to think of what life must be like in places like Iraq, Darfour, and Afghanistan currently). He started writing it during the time when the "dream" of the 60's counterculture movement had died - the death's of King and Malcom (and Bobby) were followed by riots in the inner city, Woodstock was followed by Altamont, students had been gunned down at Kent State (there was also the whole-scale slaughter of student activists in Mexico City). At the same time, you had the rise of the Black Power movement which sought to exclude white participation, which often brought with it an unconscious priveledge and unacknowledged racism. The whole world seemed divided and "mad." I think that in many ways the novel is an examination of those dynamics, but in a much broader context, one that has implications beyond that moment, and that also includes a look at issues such as sexual orientation (it WAS NOT ok to be "queer" in any progressive circles, white or otherwise, at the time), and historical precedents, cultural mythology (George and his "rape" victim), etc. I also think it's a book designed to make white folks of a particular progressive variety examine our own prejudices...

Would you be interested in reading another book by this author?

Maybe if it were more like a straight forward sci fi story.

You know my answer here. There are some stories that are more straight-forward. Actually Neveryon is difficult but it also will wrench at your heart. You might like Babel-17, Equinox, and Stars in my pocket like grains of sand... I haven't read his Fall of the Towers series.

What did you like best about this selection?

The imagery, dreamlike quality, characterization and sex!

I agree!

What did you like the least?

I don't know what caused the city to be the way it was. WHY??? Also the formatting of the last part which was so hard for me to read. The fact that I then felt lost and had to look for cliff notes and research the book only to find out that "no one knows" what it means or whatever. I feel sooooo stupid!

I do too, LOL, feel stupid. I think it behooves one to remember that Delany has a fierce intellect and that he was also very young when he wrote this (and I assume at some level very pretentious, as most very talented young people are - no offense to anyone reading this who is in their early 20s, really ) Re: the city - I am not sure we really know what starts any riot, inevitably, and I see this story as indicative of that - a society falling apart - the fact that the rest of the world quickly forgets of Bellona's existence - is also so typical of our modern short attention spans for real, ongoing tragedy. The thing that did strike me this time - was it in fact all a part of Kidd's madness?

How would you have changed the story?

I don't think I would have made it circular where it begins mid sentence and finishes mid sentence. I mean that was clever but it didn't work for me. I felt tricked.

The use of the N word. I'm sorry. I know I'm white and from the South but it hurt me to see that constantly and used the way it was. I would have mostly yanked that out and/or not used it at all.

I would have clearly stated what the heck caused the city to be like that!

For me, while I liked it at age 19, the book's beginning and ending I now find pretentious. Re: your hurt at the use of the N-word. I agree, it was diffult and hurtful for me to read so consistently, as well. He is black, I think he meant it to hurt - I also think that he reflects how people of a particular class talk, and that class is as important a theme in this book as is race. Paul Fenster and Madam Brown are two of the only middle class black folk left - they never use the word... even worse for me were words like spade, because at least I know youth that - while I wish they didn't - use nigga - spade is something exclusively used by white folk in the book when folks of color aren't around - Kidd, who one assumes passes for white, is an interesting character because the white folk in the book don't censor themselves around him as they might around Fenster or Ms. Brown.

I like to read mostly for fun. I am not a scholarly reader though I do often research things. I don't agree with Kafka. I didn't enjoy reading him in Super natural Lit 101. (Sadly, that course sounded MUCH cooler than it turned out to be.) However that's me. If people enjoy being challenged like that? Good on them! I'm simply not that smart or intellectual I think. I'm a lightweight and happy that way.

PS The sister office tie in is very cool!

If you read to escape, then I would imagine that this book was, in many ways, hellish, LOL! I laugh but I also mean it - thank you for reading it with me even considering! I like to think when I read - but let me veg out with TV (I do so VERY often)!!! And much of what I look at online!

OK, i read it and now can't find it. Re: the "rape" victim - I very much believe that she is a sub, that she was instantly attracted to George because he was a Dom and she knew he would give her rough sex, that at 17 from a very conservative (and perpetually deluded as to the realities of their world) family couldn't stand what she'd done but that she wanted very much to experience it again, and much more, thus her continuing very ambiguous search to meet the guy again...

Thank you again for reading the novel with me! And for the discussion.


Neon

 

[FurryFury]

Oh I forgot to mention I also found the turn on to the broken, dead, bloody body of the interesting!

I'm glad to see the reasoning behind the one shoe thing. That had eluded me until you told me!

I agree there were many allusions to BDSM in the book. That was one of the things I most enjoyed. Also, for the most part he didn't color the sex the way so many do as coming from a place of abuse or anger. That's so laudable and so rare in BDSM flavored fiction. So is there not being a deranged killer involved in kink although the "rape victim" could be considered a killer I suppose.

I didn't want to run away to Woodstock because my parent kept me out of the world almost completely, cloistered except for the shit they did. I didn't know about the latest music or much of anything in the news.

Heart wrenching is almost never what I'm seeking. Maybe if I need to cry, I'll watch something that will facilitate that but otherwise, nope, I do not look for that. My heart has been broken and abused, it's just not my thing.

That's why I read for fun and to escape. I don't need to escape anything now but it's still nice to visit in other worlds so to speak.

;quote neonflux]For me, while I liked it at age 19, the book's beginning and ending I now find pretentious. Re: your hurt at the use of the N-word. I agree, it was diffult and hurtful for me to read so consistently, as well. He is black, I think he meant it to hurt - I also think that he reflects how people of a particular class talk, and that class is as important a theme in this book as is race. Paul Fenster and Madam Brown are two of the only middle class black folk left - they never use the word... even worse for me were words like spade, because at least I know youth that - while I wish they didn't - use nigga - spade is something exclusively used by white folk in the book when folks of color aren't around - Kidd, who one assumes passes for white, is an interesting character because the white folk in the book don't censor themselves around him as they might around Fenster or Ms. Brown.[quote/]

You are so right about the different classes and how they did or do not use those words. I'd not thought of that before either.

If you read to escape, then I would imagine that this book was, in many ways, hellish, LOL! I laugh but I also mean it - thank you for reading it with me even considering! I like to think when I read - but let me veg out with TV (I do so VERY often)!!! And much of what I look at online!

OK, i read it and now can't find it. Re: the "rape" victim - I very much believe that she is a sub, that she was instantly attracted to George because he was a Dom and she knew he would give her rough sex, that at 17 from a very conservative (and perpetually deluded as to the realities of their world) family couldn't stand what she'd done but that she wanted very much to experience it again, and much more, thus her continuing very ambiguous search to meet the guy again...

Thank you again for reading the novel with me! And for the discussion.


Neon

LOL!.

No it wasn't hellish, as I said I found it compelling and dreamlike.

The "rape" victim may be a sub and George might have been a Dom but if so they certainly flubbed it up for each other. Further, she might be a murderer. Her family was messed up but I still, couldn't relate to her and didn't like her. Her very ambiguity really irritated the crap out of me.

George OTOH, I did like! This may sound funny for ME to say, given the givens, but I related to his, "this is me, deal with it or don't" attitude. I really liked him for that. More and more I find I'm adopting that attitude myself. I like that I am.

 

[FurryFury]

I have officially finished this month's selection. How is everyone else doing with it?

 

[graceanne]

I have officially finished this month's selection. How is everyone else doing with it?

I'm done. I think I said that in the other book discussion thread. Or was it here?

 

[FurryFury]

I'm done. I think I said that in the other book discussion thread. Or was it here?

I'm not sure but yes, I know you wrote that somewhere. That makes two of us!

Who else is reading along?

 

[graceanne]

I'm not sure but yes, I know you wrote that somewhere. That makes two of us!

Who else is reading along?

Dunno, but by the ominious silence here I'd say it's just us.

 

[WriterDom]

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Garden-E...3&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_p=186412201&pf_rd_i=home

Have you looked at this book yet?

 

[graceanne]

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Garden-E...3&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_p=186412201&pf_rd_i=home

Have you looked at this book yet?

No, we haven't. But it sure looks interesting. Want to add it to the nominations?

 

[ecstaticsub]

I have officially finished this month's selection. How is everyone else doing with it?

I haven't started it yet, but I plan on reading it. I did read it once before a couple of years ago and loved it. I'll get it done in time (while I'm waiting for the kid's to finish reading the 7th Harry Potter Book before it's my turn )

 

[FurryFury]

Dunno, but by the ominious silence here I'd say it's just us.

I want MORE!

Please?

 

[FurryFury]

No, we haven't. But it sure looks interesting. Want to add it to the nominations?

Yes!!!

 

[FurryFury]

I haven't started it yet, but I plan on reading it. I did read it once before a couple of years ago and loved it. I'll get it done in time (while I'm waiting for the kid's to finish reading the 7th Harry Potter Book before it's my turn )

Good!

I'm glad beautiful Graceanne and I, have some company!

 

[FurryFury]

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Garden-E...3&pf_rd_t=1501&pf_rd_p=186412201&pf_rd_i=home

Have you looked at this book yet?

Looks interesting!

 

[graceanne]

Yes!!!

That's three - I guess it's added.

 

[neonflux]

Dunno, but by the ominious silence here I'd say it's just us.

Hmmmm... curious. Thought I'd posted - am halfway through. Will be done by next week, probably. ~ Neon

 

[FurryFury]

Hmmmm... curious. Thought I'd posted - am halfway through. Will be done by next week, probably. ~ Neon

My memory sucks eggs but I thought you were reading with us this month!

Yay!

 

[midwestyankee]

I'm not sure but yes, I know you wrote that somewhere. That makes two of us!

Who else is reading along?

I'll re-read enough of it just before the end of the month to be able to discuss it when the time comes.

 

[FurryFury]

I'll re-read enough of it just before the end of the month to be able to discuss it when the time comes.

Cool!

By my count that makes five!

*Group Hug*

(Or should that be chain spanks?)

Hehehe!

 

[midwestyankee]

Cool!

By my count that makes five!

*Group Hug*

(Or should that be chain spanks?)

Hehehe!

Spanks sounds fine to me. I'll just reach over here and get out my crop so we can get started.

 

[Kierae]

I have the book but haven't started yet. I am trying to finish up Kushiel's Justice from the library since it is due back to them on Monday and there is a waiting list for it. Will start the Beauty then!

~kierae

 

[FurryFury]

I have the book but haven't started yet. I am trying to finish up Kushiel's Justice from the library since it is due back to them on Monday and there is a waiting list for it. Will start the Beauty then!

~kierae

Yay! This may turn out to be a banner month for the club!

*smiles*

 

[FurryFury]

Time for Nominations!!!

1.) Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey

Return to Terre d'Ange with Kushiel's Scion, sequel to the Kushiel's Legacy trilogy. This book follows Phedre's adopted son, Imriel, son of the treacherous Melisande and third in line for the D'Angeline throne. Carey does an excellent job of developing Imriel into a complicated, troubled young man without in any way betraying the character he was in Kushiel's Avatar: haunted but with the proverbial heart of gold.

2.) Heir To The Shadows, by Anne Bishop, from The Black Jewels Trilogy which includes-- Heir to the shadows and Queen of the darkness.

In Heir to the Shadows, Jaenelle's vampiric, adoptive father, Saetan, and her foster-family of demons shelter her. To restore her memory and emotional balance, they move to Kaeleer, where Jaenelle befriends the kindred--animals with magical and communicative powers--and gathers a circle of young Queens. She also heals Lucivar, Daemon's half-brother, who offers a brother's love and a warrior's fealty. As she recovers strength and memory, Jaenelle resolves to restore Daemon and cleanse Terreille.

Bishop subverts readers' expectations; the "darkest" powers reside in virtuous characters, demons and vampires are kindly, and Jaenelle's adolescence is more comically normal than horrific. Her vibrant characters and descriptions will keep readers hooked, anxiously awaiting what promises to be a riveting conclusion. --Nona Vero

3.)The Challenge (Mass Market Paperback) by Susan Kearney

Book Description
She was shot protecting the president, and woke up naked, in the arms of a hunk....A hunk named Kahn, who told Secret Service agent Tessa Camen an outlandish story about traveling through time, saving the world, and a Challenge only she can accept. Kahn offers her proof she can't refute: Tessa has been brought forward through time to save Earth by winning an intergalactic challenge. Kahn only has a few weeks to train Tessa to use the psi-abilities he insists she has. He is confident in the success of a time-honored method that uses sexual frustration to bring out her powers, but Tessa is dubious. She's a martial arts expert and can fight her way through anything, but she's never had much luck with emotions.Luckily for Earth, Kahn can be very convincing....

4.) Wild Women : Contemporary Short Stories By Women Celebrating Women. edited by Sue Thomas.

Contents The tiger's bride / Angela Carter -- Woman from America / Bessie Head -- The English disease / Nina Fitzpatrick -- The smile of a mountain witch / Ohba Minako -- Two words / Isabel Allende -- The debutante / Leonora Carrington -- Liking men / Margaret Atwood -- Simmering / Margaret Atwood -- In the garden / Darcey Steinke -- The odalisque, extinct / Diana Hartog -- Bloodmantle / Tanith Lee -- Sleeping Beauty, revised / Jill McCorkle -- All strapped in / Sue Thomas -- Orchids to you, dear / Fiona Cooper -- Really, doesn't crime pay? / Alice Walker -- Stone-eating girl / Meena Alexander -- The raw brunettes / Lorraine Schein -- I like to look / Kathy Page -- Planetesimal / Keri Hulme -- Perma red / Debra Earling -- The queen's chamber / A. N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) -- Her thighs / Dorothy Allison -- Four bare legs in a bed / Helen Simpson -- How to save your own life / Erica Jong -- It's bad luck to die / Elizabeth McCracken -- MindMovie / Christine Slater -- A day at the peep show / Veronica Vera -- Roses / Evelyn Lau -- Julia and the bazooka / Anna Kavan -- Silver water / Amy Bloom -- In my next life / Pam Houston -- Many mothers / Beverley Daurio -- Suicide / Mariarosa Sclauzero -- Autobiography / Carol Emshw.

From Library Journal
Capitalizing on the appeal of Clarissa Pinkola Este's popular Women Who Run with the Wolves (LJ 6/15/92), editor Thomas has prepared this volume of short stories that "bring together modern examples of the warrior guises of Wild Woman." Thomas, a novelist and writing instructor whose own "All Strapped In" is included in the volume, divides the works into eight thematic sections-empowerment, sex, and righteous rage, among them-and provides informative introductory remarks to each section. The short stories come from a politically correct mix of contemporary women writers that include Isabel Allende, Margaret Atwood, Pam Houston, Alice Walker, and a number of emerging voices. It's not an essential purchase, but your Wild Women readers will want to check it out.
Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati Technical Coll.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

5.) Topping From Below by Laura Reese.

From Publishers Weekly
The title of this devilishly pornographic?albeit literate?novel is taken from the argot of sadomasochism and refers to a rebellious dynamic in which the dominant partner (the "top") is subtly manipulated by the submissive partner (the "bottom"). After her young sister, Franny, is found murdered?bound, gagged and mutilated?Nora Tibbs, a journalist for the Sacramento Bee, discovers in Franny's computer a diary that details her brief affair with "M.," an arrogant music professor in his late 40s. Cruelly exploiting the overweight, love-starved woman, M. forced Franny to submit to a humiliating gamut of outre sexual practices. Convinced that M. is Franny's murderer, Nora sets out to prove his guilt by pretending to submit to his depraved aberrations. But, to her astonishment, she discovers a dark, pagan side of herself when M. enthralls her with intense, if perilous, sexual pleasure. Graphic descriptions of exotic sexual practices (bondage and discipline, sadomasochism, bestiality, etc.) accumulate, counterpointed by Nora's sweetly romantic relationship with a fellow reporter. The suspense, a bit attenuated by thin secondary characters, also is muted by artless foreshadowing, but the conclusion is satisfying in a savage sort of way and Nora's plunge "down, all the way down" under M.'s manipulations will keep most readers gripped even as they're aware that Reese's shameless pandering is manipulating them in turn. Comparison to Story of O is well earned. 100,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Recommended for adult fiction collections.

6.) 'Scandal' by Amanda Quick

From Publishers Weekly
Under the Quick ( Surrender ) pseudonym, veteran romance novelist Jayne Ann Krentz (see review of Silver Linings below) offers a tale of Regency England that, while deftly handled with touches of humor, is more notable for its darker side: the hero and heroine rescue each other from past injuries while challenging each other for control within their relationship. Emily Faringdon, a 24-year-old spinster, adores a man she has never met: Simon Traherne, her favorite correspondent on her favorite subject, romantic poetry. When Simon attends a meeting of Emily's local literary society, he indeed seems to be "the man of her dreams," a handsome earl apparently willing to overlook the scandal in her past--a thwarted elopement. But Simon is interested in her mostly as an instrument for revenge: he blames Emily's father for his own father's ruin and suicide 23 years before. Since then, Simon has plotted to destroy the Faringdons. A romantic with a strong pragmatic streak,pk Emily persuades Simon that marrying her enhances his possibilities for gaining revenge and she pk then begins her own campaign to win his affection and free him from the past that has poisoned his life.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
From a stately country house in Hampshire to the dazzling drawing rooms of London Society, comes an exquisite tale of an elfin beauty, a vengeful lord, and a sweet love that is sheer poetry.

With her reputation forever tarnished by a youthful indiscretion, lovely Emily Faringdon is resigned to a life of spinsterhood, until she embarks on an unusual correspondence and finds herself falling head over heals in love. Sensitive, intelligent, and high-minded, her noble pen-pal seems to embody everything Emily has ever dreamed of in a man. But the mysterious Earl of Blade is not at all what he seems.

Driven by dark, smoldering passions and a tragic secret buried deep within his soul, Blade has all of London cowering at his feet, but not Emily... never Emily. For even as she surrenders to his seductive charms, she knows the real reason for his amorous wit. And she knows that she must reach the heart of his golden-eyed dragon before the avenging demons of their entwined pasts destroy the only love she has ever known...

7. Top of Her Game by Emma Holly

Style and sensuality. Power and passion...There's something about the Parisian boutique Meilleurs Amis that provokes all who enter to blur the line between business and pleasure. No one knows this better than Beatrix Clouet, the daughter of its infamous and not-so-dearly departed founder, and her best friend-and new management trainee-Lela Turner.

Now, as they try to get their professional and personal lives on track, these best friends will have to weigh the price of love and lust-while making their wildest fantasies come to life... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

8.) One Dark Night by Jaid Black.

One of the hottest, most intense books I''ve ever read. The Hero was literally plucked from my imagination. I cannot stress enough how much I loved this hot, steamy, very sensually arousing book. The best I''ve read in a very very long time...I mean, damn. Seriously The Hero, Thomas, wow... big drooling wow...I want to read more of this author, ASAP! LOL

Finally! A Jaid Black book with a meaningful plot! I was actually engrossed in the mystery of this little who-done-it and not just in the sex scenes. Reading many of Jaid's other stories is a cross between the story line of a cheap porno and the sickeningly sweet endings of a childhood fairy tale. But not this book! Amazing! I hope she keeps it up!

9.) Gordon by Edith Templeton.

Originally written under a pseudonym, this thrilling novel of passion in post-World War II London was banned upon its publication in the late 1960s, and is only now being republished under the author’s real name. Edith Templeton creates an indelible character in the smartly dressed Louisa, a savvy young woman in the midst of a divorce who meets a charismatic man in a pub and within an hour has been sexually conquered by him on a garden bench. Thus begins her baffling but magnetic love affair with, and virtual enslavement to, Richard Gordon.

10.) Slave Trade (Mass Market Paperback) by Susan Wright

Human slaves can never defy their alien masters -- or can they?

Rose Rico never believed the rumors, that the government was secretly selling human beings to the Alphas in exchange for advanced alien technology. The idea that human sex slaves were a luxury item throughout the galaxy was just too ridiculous to take seriously -- until Rose found herself, along with hundreds of other human captives, bound for the far reaches of space, and compelled to cater to the depraved desires of her new alien masters.

As a rule, pleasure slaves don't live very long, especially the stubborn ones. But Rose refuses to give up. Someday, somehow, she'll win back her freedom -- or die trying!

The beginning of a provocative new saga of slavery and rebellion.

11) The Dark Garden by Eden Bradley
A deliciously potent tale of one woman’s quest for self-discovery

Rowan Cassidy likes to be in charge—especially in her personal life. As a mistress at Club Privé, the most exclusive bondage/S & M club on the West Coast, Rowan can live out her dominant fantasies safely, and with complete control—until the night Christian Thorne walks in. Self-confident and sophisticated, he’s a natural dominant if Rowan’s ever seen one. Yet she can’t stop thinking about him and imagining his touch.

Christian has returned home, hoping to break free from his dissatisfaction and malaise—and discovers the cure in Rowan. He’s dying to get his skilled hands on her and watch her surrender, to unlock the mystery of her that captivates him. Determined to be her master, he makes Rowan a daring proposition: give herself over to him for thirty days.

Rowan finds Christian’s offer terrifying—and impossible to resist. But abandoning herself to Christian’s power might be more than she can handle…. Or it might be the realization of her true nature and the dark garden within her. There will be only one way to find out. And once the game has begun, there’s no turning back.

12.) Death Row The Trilogy by Jaid Black, includes The Fugitive, The Hunter and The Avenger. Should this book be THREE picks?

"One vision of the future"
It is now 2249 on Earth and women have become rare. There's a terrifying disorder that is affecting certain parts of the population. When one is infected, they become an inhuman monster without a conscience. They'll kill anyone around them, even loved ones.

After 15 years, death row inmate Kerick Riley has finally managed to escape. He's spent every second of his time in prison plotting his escape. He needs to get some answers to questions that have been haunting him all of these years.

Dr. Nellie Kan is a scientist who's working on a serum for the mysterious disorder. It's become her life's work since her mother contracted the disorder and died. One night while she's leaving work Kerick kidnaps her. He brings her back to the Outside and tries to make her his woman.

This is the first book in the Death Row trilogy. This story is a good start to the trilogy. I found this to be a quick read and I finished it in one sitting.

Sexual Content: NC-17, masturbation, and public sex.

Reviewed by Emily Anne
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted January 1, 2003
The United Americas of Earth: 2249 A.D.

On the eve of his execution, Death Row inmate Kerick Riley overpowers the guard and escapes the violent penal colony that has been his prison for over fifteen years. On the run to find the answers he seeks, the grim-faced, grey-eyed Kerick has two things on his mind: revenge and woman...

Scientist Nellie Kan has spent the last several years researching a frightening disorder that has developed in certain populations of humans. On the verge of developing a serum, Dr. Kan is kidnapped by an escaped Death Row inmate and claimed as his personal sexual property. Is her captor the key to the answer she seeks, or a lunatic who will destroy them both?

Publisher's Note: DEATH ROW is a three-part erotic suspense serial consisting of the following titles: The Fugitive, The Hunter, and The Avenger.

Sexual Content: Rated NC-17. Genre: Futuristic.

13.) Warrior's Woman by Johanna Lindsey.

Book Description
In the year 2139, fearless Tedra De Arr sets out to rescue her beleaguered planet Kystran from the savage rule of the evil Crad Ce Moerr. Experienced in combat but not in love, the beautiful, untouched Amazon flies with Martha, her wise-cracking, free-thinking computer, to a world where warriors reigns supreme--and into the arms of the one man she can never hope to vanquish: the bronzed barbarian Challen Ly-San-Ter. A magnificent creature of raw yet disciplined desires, the muscle-bound primitive succeeds where no puny Kystran male had before--igniting a raging fire within Tedra that must be extinguished before she can even think of saving her enslaved world. . .

14. Submission: A Novel by Marthe Blau

Description

You'll want to scream, but you'll be gagged. You'll want to cry, but you'll be blindfolded. You'll want to run away, but you'll be tied up. You'll have no way of begging me, I'll do what I want with you.

Now American readers can be riveted by the controversial novel that, according to The Sunday Times (London), "sent tremours through the French establishment." Sexual obsession, domination, and extreme desire drive the story of Elodie, a young married Parisian lawyer who finds herself swept up in a cycle of sadomasochistic lust.

A handsome stranger she meets in court issues her a series of instructions that she feels compelled to follow. He introduces her to sex clubs hidden in dark alleys, toys that enhance physical pleasure as well as pain, and couples whose appetites are as voracious as his. What at first seems out of character for Élodie quickly begins to shape her self-identity. As the violence of their encounters escalates, these acts become a dangerous addiction she can't break. But how far can she go and how much of her life will she risk in the process?

Based on the author's own experience, this sophisticated and captivating novel exudes the sensuality that only the French know how to deliver.

15. Slaves of the Empire by Aaron Travis.
Steven Saylor in disguise, his hot porn still includes marvelous details of Rome at its dirtiest, wealthiest, and most kinky.

16. Two Moons: Worthy of a Master Book One (Paperback) by Chelsea Shepard

On Earth, MeganÂ’s sex life was never satisfying. But when she allows herself to be abducted by visitors from a planet where sadomasochism is regarded as a healthy social activity, she wonders if she got more than she bargained for.

MeganÂ’s adjustment to the erotically liberated Khyrians becomes even more difficult when she falls for one of the starshipÂ’s pilots, a professional Master with a troubled past. Struggling with fears and doubts, but spurred by her overwhelming passion, Megan will do whatever it takes to earn his love.

Two Moons: Worthy of a Master is a dazzling delight for fans of romantic bondage. With deftly rendered characters, captivating scenarios and surprising twists, Chelsea Shepard charts the course of a woman challenged by her deepest desires, a journey that will take her literally out of this world!


17. Carrie's Story: An Erotic S/M Novel (Paperback) by Molly Weatherfield

At the outset, I should say that once you have read Carrie's Story you will probably want to read the sequel "Safe Word". This book is outstanding as an exploration of BDSM. Told from the submissive's viewpoint (ie as a first person narrative) it affords us a marvellous insight into the mind of someone who would place themselves at the mercy of another person, fully understanding of the pain and suffering that might result. But of course it also provides the answering motivation, the intensity of experience, the absolution from decision, the pleasure obtained from subordinating one's own desires to those of another.

It is the self-critical (what other reviewers have termed sassy) self-awareness of the central character that carries throughout this novel that makes it so special. This is delivered in a light-hearted, but brutally honest manner.

No question it is highly erotic. But there are many other novels that achieve that. This one transcends the mere erotic and captivates the reader. The author generates a tension that draws the reader on and enfolds you in the story. I have not found that in an erotic novel since reading The Story Of O - and I can give Carrie's Story no better praise than that comparison.

18. The Marketplace (The Marketplace Series, 1) by Laura Antoniou

The Marketplace series by Laura Antoniou is erotic literature of the highest quality and it will encapture your mind and heart as well as turn you on. This reissue is very welcomed and the new short story at the end covers a gap between this and the second book of the series, "The Slave" very well -- this short story alone is worth the cost of the book for any Marketplace fan. You'll meet all the important and reoccuring characters from Antoniou's series; you'll develop strong opinions about each too that may surprise some of you. This isn't soft and romantic BDSM though so if you can't handle DS without limits, serious punishment, and even sexual use to the extreme, you'll want to skip this series. It appeals across the board to all seuxal orientaions within the BDSM category -- in fact it plays around with the orientations in wonderfully engaging ways. I highly recommend this book.

19. Breaking the Girl by Kim Corum
See what all the fuss is about. "I wasn't a slave. I was a willing participant." "His name was Frank. Just Frank. His last name really doesn't matter. It was Smith or Jones or Gallagher or... Hell. Just pick one. They're really all the same. I didn't know that much about him." "Maybe Frank classified me as a whore." "I stopped talking, begging, pleading. Plotting. I wasn't going to win him over. It was his way or no way. And I knew that. So it was his way." "I just wasn't that kind of tie me up, tie me down, beat me, switch me, hold me tight, love me forever' kind of girl. Frank was that kind of guy. Which made me that kind of girl." "And when it was over, we fell away from each other gasping for air." ".he brought the money-in fifties and hundreds-to me, delivering it in a bank bag. Delivering it to me with a big smile on his face, as if he were happy to deliver it, glad he could accommodate me. Who was the real slave here?" Breaking the Girl-a story of white hot sex and submission.


20. The Love Slave by Bertrice Small

From the classic Skye O'Malley series to Love, Remember Me, Bertrice Small's enchanting, exotic, and erotic tales have won her a multitude of fans. Her latest passionate adventure tells the tale of a fiery Celtic beauty and an Arabian master of erotic arts.

From the Publisher
It is no act of love that Regan experiences the night she takes her sister's place in the marriage bed, a counterfeit bride to sate the lust of her twin's new husband. Come morning, her sister, carrying another man's child, resumes her place and Regan is spirited away to a nunnery.
But a more exotic fate awaits the fiery Celtic beauty: Regan is sold to a slave trader. It will be her destiny to come under the tutelage of Karim al Malina, master of the erotic arts, who will mold Regan — now renamed Zaynab, the beautiful one — into a Love Slave fit for a Moorish king, though the pair break the first rule of teacher and pupil . . . they fall in love.
But Zaynab is not Karim's to keep. She is given to the Caliph of Cordoba, who vows to love her . . . and pleasure her as no younger man can. Yet Regan still longs for her one true love, Karim al Malina, and vows that, somehow, their fates must be reunited . . .

Online Stories:

22.) Tales From Subspace by NIGHTQUEEN1963. http://english.literotica.com/stori...ry.php?id=84817

23.) Night Prowler by Paddymellon http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/stories/...php?storyid=334

In addition I have another book thread for reads that do not have to do with BDSM. It's called reading books for pleasure and it is here:

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=410377

Any book you consider to have been pleasurable, and somewhat BDSM please share!

Selection of August 2007's Novel will be announced Tuesday July 31. There is still time to make nominations!

Discussion of July 2007's selection can begin at midnight your time on July31~

Fury