Today I am going to talk about BDSM (Bondage, Dominance, Submission, Masochism).. sort of. I listened to an NRP review this morning of 50 Shades of Gray the book versus the movie. Basically NPR gave top billing to the movie. Huh. I do not plan on viewing the movie nor reading the book. The subject has been covered extremely well by other authors who just did not hit the movie jackpot as follows.
Women's romance literature contains all sorts of subgenre regarding not only time travel, sci-fi, alien slavery/abduction, shape shifters of all flavors and the sexual preferences of the many amongst this list. I have read these stories in the past and just didn't get it. What the hell is so wonderful about being tied up, blind folded and beaten with paddles, whips, chains, ropes etc.
Now I understand that there is some sort of sexual titillation involved but I did not understand the relationship dynamics until I read a shape shifter story set in the Northwest. In the Cascadia Wolves series, Lauren Dane writes about a very strong wolf pack/family group. The alpha, beta, etc ranking of the wolves and their fairly high libidos. Okay. This was all normal sexy writing until I read the book Wolf Unbound. This was my well defined introduction into the world of dominance and submission. I only actually got it when I realized that the female wolf, Tegan, was a sub who could literally rip off anyone's head by strength along and her willing submission to a human male who dominated her to the point that she went easily into subspace.
Her Dom, had the power to bind and pleasure her through masterful and carefully administered pain. She allowed him to dominate her without wanting to literally kill him once the blindfold and hand cuffs came off. It is not a life style that I would choose. I cannot imagine the level of trust that would be needed to involve oneself in such a vulnerable undertaking. AND the stories have the added benefit of actually having a story line that involves a take over of the entire Wolf shifter nation by a Mafia style rogue wolf and an outright war while trying to keep the human nation from being overly involved. The whole series is an excellent read that may leave you scratching your head or even having an "Ah Hah" moment as in "I never knew THAT!?"
I Facebook and have friended a few of my favorite authors. Some of the discussion that has come up involved writing sex scenes. The general consensus seems to be that sex scenes are a necessary evil, so just write 'em. And how many ways can you describe the sex between your characters without actually repeating yourself. One of my favorite authors, Viola Grace, blogged tongue firmly in cheek that when she writes her sex scenes she often envisions herself as she is typing, holding her fingers in her ears chanting "I can't hear youuuuuuuuuu.". The image cracked me up and I would have snorted milk out of my nose if I had had milk in hand.
Now on to something slightly different. There are now some of my favorite books being offered on audible books, so I have listened to a sample and thank goodness for the ability to listen to a sample. Because the female narrator was swishing along so fast that she was out of breath by the end of the sentence. Not good. Redo. May I suggest David Green (see picture below) of NPR Morning Edition. He has a great voice and I would listen to him and pay for the privilege. Or maybe Audible Books would let us pick the narrator, that might be more fun and um relaxing....yeah that's right RELAXING......snort.
