The Bottoming Book: How to Get Terrible Things Done to You by Wonderful People
by Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt

This book is a great introduction to the world of bottoming, with sections on the choices you have as a bottom, negotiating scenes with a Top, finding a Top, doing scenes and role play, and aftercare. Mz Easton & Listz's writing style is very easy-going and easy to follow. Any sub and for that matter any Dominants can learn a lot from this book.

The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities
by Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt

In this groundbreaking volume, therapist Dossie Easton and sex educator/author Catherine A. Liszt provide a road map for exploring the sometimes difficult, often rewarding territory of non-traditional relationships. Warm, informative details about how to get your needs met, manage your jealousy, make agreements that work for all concerned, talk to your friends and relatives, and build a life full of all the sex and love you want.

Read The BRC's Editor Review

The Topping Book: Or, Getting Good at Being Bad
by Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt

This book is the "companion" to The Bottoming Book and it makes a wonderful companion. I always enjoy the author's reasonably succinct and occasionally humorous style. They also use anecdotes to make a point.

The book covers a lot of topics important to Tops, including a Top Bill of Rights, How to get into 'Top space,' and what to do when a scene goes wrong. I think every Top would like to know what to do when that occasionally happens with a partner. If you're a Top (and even if you're not), you should grab a copy of this book.

When Someone You Love Is Kinky
by Dossie Easton, Catherine A. Liszt

Dossie and Catherine have written another great book. If you've read their other books, there's a good chance you're kinky too. What do you do if you want to tell someone you're kinky, into bdsm and whips and chains, or just like to give or get a spanking? What do you do if your kink is exposed to someone? Giving them this book is one good answer. Without being technical or sensational, this book discusses what we do and why, and why we might want someone we love to know about it. It details the meaning of "Safe, Sane and Consensual" and goes into the ways we keep our play safe and sane and consensual. The authors introduce the BDSM scene, what it's like, private and public, who is kinky, what a Pro Domme is. A special section is devoted to discovering your spouse or partner is kinky. Another is for professionals who find their clients or patients are kinky.

Justice: And Other Short Erotic Tales
by Tammy Jo Eckhart

A male captive falls from the grasp of his cruel owner and into kinder clutches - or are they? A restless woman purchases the "perfect slave," a beautiful robot designed to serve her in every way... then discovers that perfection might not work out exactly as she expected. A woman journeys to a planet where fantasies come true... maybe too true...

These unforgettable characters and more are part of the passionate world of Tammy Jo Eckhart, a groundbreaking writer of female-dominant erotica.

The Contract
by Sarah Fisher

Lots of fun! The heroine finds she likes enslavement by an evil multinational corporation, while her lover plays the interntional spy to find, rescue and enslave her for his pleasure! The s/m scenes are fairly lightweight narrative, but the story moves along well.

Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur S. Golden

According to Arthur Golden's absorbing first novel, the word "geisha" does not mean "prostitute," as Westerners ignorantly assume--it means "artisan" or "artist." To capture the geisha experience in the art of fiction, Golden trained as long and hard as any geisha who must master the arts of music, dance, clever conversation, crafty battle with rival beauties, and cunning seduction of wealthy patrons. After earning degrees in Japanese art and history from Harvard and Columbia--and an M.A. in English--he met a man in Tokyo who was the illegitimate offspring of a renowned businessman and a geisha. This meeting inspired Golden to spend 10 years researching every detail of geisha culture, chiefly relying on the geisha Mineko Iwasaki, who spent years charming the very rich and famous.

Very Special Prison
by Erich Von Gotha

In _A Very Special Prison_ Erich von Gotha uses his stunningly beautiful depiction of sexual slavery as an allegory for the manichean worldview of the human condition. Emma Mcalistair is a beautiful blonde who finds the pleasurable aspects of incarnation to be the most interesting aspect of human life, and her delicious body, beautiful face, and unquenchable desire inspire agreement in everyone around her. A highly extra-judicial procedure lands her in a "very special prison", where she gets just about as much as she can handle. Her arrival brings pleasure, and her departure leaves you hungry for more. After some initial qualms, Emma decides that if life consists of sexual pleasure, she'll just have to make the best of it. So she does, in fine style, looking as good as the pen of man has ever rendered the female form. If you only buy one book of philosophy this year, make it _a very special prison_.

Olivia/Lucy
by Charles Graham, Mark Slade

This is two novels and some bonus excerpts for the price of one. The first novel--Olivia--rates five stars. It is a hardcore bondage, dominance and discipline novel that does a very good job of marrying the erotic with the literary, making it a very engaging read. Olivia is a suffragette in Victorian England who has pissed off the wrong powerful man, who takes it upon himself to teach Olivia that far from being his equal, she is actually suited only to be his pleasure slave. The capture, training, discipline and play scenes are all at a grippingly intense level, that is both hugely erotic and impossible to put down. Olivia's transition and acceptance, her emotional reactions to the experience and her balance between shame and arousal add a dimension to the novel that is both exciting and engaging.

The short excerpt between the two novels is badly written, unerotic, and unnecessary, but takes up very little space so is hardly worth mentioning.

The second novel, Lucy, is even more of a hardcore, heavy bondage and discipline novel than the first. Lucy is a hapless captive taken to be a love slave by ruthlessly cruel captors. Her emotional turmoil is less developed, and her transitions are disappointingly fake and shallow (particularly after the masterful, pun intended, emotional development we were treated to in Olivia). However, this novel makes up for poor writing with inventive scenes of pain, degradation, and creative bondage. If bdsm is what you're into, you'll enjoy this double dose.

Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns:
The Romance and Sexual Sorcery of Sadomasochism
by Philip Miller, Molly Devon, William A. Granzig

Philip Miller and Molly Devon think that S/M is fun, and "that reading about it should be fun, too." Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns is definitely fun, not to mention approachable, chatty, and insightful. What makes it truly special, however, is the sheer weight of loving details. There's clear explanations and detailed tutorials for beginners, as general as "safe, sane, and consensual" and as specific as "you will be swinging the whip with your arm pivoting at the shoulder."

There's also solid advice, safety measures, steamy suggestions, plenty of black-and-white photographs, useful and humorous drawings, an extensive glossary, and over 900 entries of S/M clothing and equipment vendors, publications, computer bulletin boards, and organizations worldwide. As sadomasochism is a practice that's still taboo for many people, the chapter on finding partners and sharing your fantasies with existing partners can be invaluable.

Slave Craft: Roadmaps for Erotic Servitude-Principles, Skills and Tools
by a grateful slave with Guy Baldwin M.S.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Many are wandering around looking for the “way” to begin on their personal journey into erotic slavery. This book in its compilation of various essays can be part of a “travel planning” companion. Those that have walked the way before share both the agony and the ecstasy of their journey.

Is this book “the way”? For some it will help on their journey, for other is may awaken parts of them alerting them that they are on the wrong path, for dominants it give a unique glimpse into slavery from another’s eyes. Seldom are we graced with such articulate, detailed insight into modern, consensual erotic servitude.

Regardless on one’s sexual orientation or personal choices I highly recommend this book for all those that desire to explore and understand the breadth and scope of Master/slave relationships. It is one of those books that you will read, re-read and give as a gift.

Kinkycrafts: 99 Do-It-Yourself S/m Toys for the Kinky Handyperson
by Lady Green (Editor), Jaymes Easton (Contributor)

Kinkycrafts contains 99 "Do it Yourself" S&M projects organized into six major catagories: bondage furniture,... pain toys, flagellation toys, restraints, sexual toys and unclassifiable (items like tongue condoms and tool racks). Each project has instructions, a materials list, cost estimate, time estimate and a picture.

The Compleat Spanker
by Lady Green

Now this book, compared to Screw the Roses give me the Thorns is great. A lot of information for novices and fun-seekers. Screw the Roses was boring and almost like a manual on how to build torture chambers. Definitely not the once in awhile romp into variety. This book is very informative, yet light hearted and humorous at times. I recommend this one for all beginners or just your average open-minded individual who likes some fantasy and fun.

The Sexually Dominant Woman: A Workbook for Nervous Beginners
by Lady Green

For the woman who wants to take charge... ... and the man who wants her to!

This friendly, non-threatening book is the perfect starting point for any woman who has fantasized about erotic power play. The basics of bondage, sensation and control games -- even a script to support her through her first scene!