tc_mill's review
4.0
I'm a Storm Moon Press author reviewing this story in exchange for a free copy. If I hadn't been able to take advantage of SMP's author reviews policy, I'd likely have bought this book anyway, because the subject matter is very much of interest to me--as both a reader and writer of slash and femdom, and a lover of gender-role f*ckery.
My one concern is that I can't ( at least I don't want to) view pegging as an inherently dominant act because I don't think the penetrating partner is automatically dominant. See: my interest in femdom. Although a pegging femsub would hit so many of my gender-role f*ckery kinks that I might spontaneously explode into sparkles. While Turning the Tables didn't supply me with that last, it did give me plenty of play with role-reversal, femdom, and even a bit of implied M/M with the menage and crossdressing elements. Yet--perhaps I'm just picky in my smut--few of the stories completely satisfied me.
Double Dealing- Angelia Sparrow: [3.5 stars]
This is not the story I would have chosen as the lead-in to the anthology. Not that it's bad, only...complex. It's cyberpunk, mixing alternate reality games with some real-world mindscrews in a gritty, grim distopian setting of warring corporations. This story is a sequel to a novel by Sparrow, so there's a lot of backstory.
I didn't find either of the central male characters appealing. From the beginning when they're described as "owning" the women they date I tasted maledom/femsub peanut butter in my femdom chocolate, and I'm allergic to peanuts. The dynamic of the opening conflict was very interesting, though, with Zara's lover David being a dangerous sort of character who needs to be kept in subspace to be controlled--which is he is, at least at first by his brother (also Zara's lover), Ariel. Who put David into subspace without his consent, which I admit I'm not a fan of.
I'm also not enthusiastic about the twincest vibe coming off that interaction. Probably because I'm a twin, and people with that kink have seen fit to joke about it to my face. It's turned me off to the entire thing (not that I'd ever be turned on to it). Nor am I thrilled to hear the twins are "one soul in two bodies". Maybe someone out there really loves that line and wants to hear it again and again, but I am not that person. Zara appears to have suffered actual incestual abuse at the hands of her brother--as I said, this a grim setting.
On the whole, with Ariel and David and Zara there's a lot of abuse-tinged backstory (and story story) that upset me more than it interested me. Zara clearly cares for David and is trying to do the right thing, but I'm much less certain of anybody else's motives and frankly, I don't see why she cares about them. The twist on the twin's identities, which I won't go into further to avoid spoilers, was very clever but only made me dislike each of them more because it revealed nasty actions done by both of them. There was, unfortunately, more maledom (rape fantasy flavored) as Zara tries to distract Ariel while hurrying to bring an old programmer friend (protagonist of the first novel, I believe, and genuinely sympathetic) to help. Now, if it was just not my cup of tea, that's one thing. But the way the maledom element was handled, plus the noncon elements, and the overall gritty and grim vibe of this story left me wondering how much I was supposed to root for the central relationship at all. Of the three people in it, Zara was the only one who behaved with any decency, and her decency was just enabling her lovers to continue being nasty people to each other, to her (it appears consensually, but with a real element of risk that made me question how much Zara really wanted it), and probably to many others as well. They're less nasty than the villains in the backstory, but I need more than "less nasty" to root for someone.
I have the feeling a full novel set in this richly developed world would be more satisfying to readers who liked this piece, but I just can't be enthusiastic about it. I can acknowledge the worldbuilding, the writing, and excellent use of technology with some hot sex, but I can't love it.
Permanency- Devin Wood [4 stars]
Because this was a slice-of-life contemporary, not usually my thing, I went in prepared to be bored. I was wrong. The menage/poly relationship of the main characters was adorable, and though thin on plot, this make for a lovely and fluffy first-timer story. Upon reflection, I think this would have made a much better lead than Double Dealing, simply because it's much easier to get into.
The backstory of the triad--Jenny, her husband Alex, and their mutual lover Will--is hinted at rather than dropped in. The action flows very naturally, as the three have clearly come to know each other well. Jenny decides to buy some new toys and test them out with both her lovers. The sex was more vanilla than femdom, which worked excellently with these particular characters. Also, Jenny's use of double-ended toys was both incredibly hot and satisfied my point that it's not all about the penetrating partner's power. Gender egalitarian role-reversal! Awesome!
The sex was tinged with just enough, if not awkwardness, uncertainty, to feel real. The talk wasn't pronographic "dirty talking" or ridiculous sappiness, it was genuine communication between two people (at a time, though all three characters get some action) discovering something they liked.
Perhaps distracted by all the adorable sex, I missed the resolution of the plot, such as there was. It's a happy ending, but the change in their relationship is very slight and hardly a surprise. There are some incidents in Will's past, apparently traumatic, that are obliquely referred to but never discussed. I checked to see if this story was also a sequel, but it doesn't appear so. Well, I'll keep an eye out for more stories about these characters in the future!
Phallusy by V.K. Foxe [3 stars]
This story isn't bad taken on its own merits, but perhaps I just object to those merits. From the start I was leery because of the punny title, which, yes, fits with the tone of the story: jaunty, less Terry Pratchett and more Piers Anthony. The central romance is between a Queen and her strong, submissive guardsman, which is one of my favorite types--yet it still feels like a prolonged dirty joke.
A society of oppressive male domination put more peanut butter into my femdom nutella, and made the (genuinely hot) female domination appear to be in revenge rather than fun. I wasn't surprised to see penetration made equivalent to domination, but the thing is, given how horrible sexual slavery is for the women in this story, why am I supposed to be happy to see it happen to anyone else? Especially because the slave men weren't responsible for the oppressive society the women have escaped from. I don't need this much guilt in my guilty pleasures!
Phallusy is a "nature of magic" story as much as a "nature of sexuality" story, given how the two are entwined. It's also a deconstruction-via-role-reversal, as you might tell from the title. Deconstruction with hot sex should be a surefire kink of mine, but I don't feel like this story did enough deconstructing. Instead it was a paint by numbers role reversal. Phalluses are still equated with power, it's just some people wield theirs through the power of technology instead of genetics. Also, if semen is still equated with magical powers--hardly a feminist revolution--what about lesbian couples? Do they not matter? I don't think I'm overthinking this, given the story's intentions of playing with the logic of sexual roles (it's right there in the title!).
When I squinted and excused the dubious consent elements (because this is fiction, after all, and some of those boy slaves were definitely enjoying it), the sex was definitely hot--despite the puns--but this story never rose above a guilty pleasure.
Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant-Julian Griffith 5 Stars
I loved the first draft of this, which Julian kindly let me sneak a peek at, and I loved the revised and expanded version even more. It's a historical tale about a British naval officer who is captured along with his crew by corsairs. But along with a capture, it's also a rescue, as the British ship has been crippled in a storm. Our corsairs are very helpful and Captain Wilmington finds Captain Faiza very accommodating.
The two Captains hit it off very quickly, especially considering the story starts with a perceived threat of dub-con. Still, I like that they get along so well and that they show genuine respect along with mutual desire. Wilmington is willing to submit to captain "Faizal" if it would save his crew (and, it's implied, for the enjoyment he'd get from submitting), but with Faiza he's even happier. Yet the fact that he was willing to sleep with a man is what prompts Faiza to make an interesting proposal...
I love submissive men, but I especially love men who are strong in their submission. And I adore dominant women who are tender, not disdainful, of their lovers. Faiza appreciates Wilmington as a person with agency and thoughts, not just a walking dildo (refreshing after the poor taste Phallusy left in my mouth). After all, he's a fellow captain. But his future is up in the air--losing his ship puts him at risk of court martial--and Faiza is happy to comfort him and help him out. Faiza herself is an Arabic woman, but this story is far from some tawdry Arabian Nights knockoff. Clearly research has gone into the setting--there are elements of travelogue, but nicely balanced to that they don't detract from the plot or relationship arc--and Faiza herself is a fully-realized character. Her crew is more of a mass, but at least they aren't caricatures.
I love rescue romances, and my id loves capture romances, and converting the capture into a rescue is a surefire way to give me a guilt-free kinky good time. Happy as I am that this story was expanded from the original draft I devoured, I'd love to see an even longer version of it. The ending is satisfying but has some open-endedness to it. Still, I trust everything will work out with the characters, because they've lived a perfect wish-fulfillment story up to this point.
This review is cross-posted from my website.
My one concern is that I can't ( at least I don't want to) view pegging as an inherently dominant act because I don't think the penetrating partner is automatically dominant. See: my interest in femdom. Although a pegging femsub would hit so many of my gender-role f*ckery kinks that I might spontaneously explode into sparkles. While Turning the Tables didn't supply me with that last, it did give me plenty of play with role-reversal, femdom, and even a bit of implied M/M with the menage and crossdressing elements. Yet--perhaps I'm just picky in my smut--few of the stories completely satisfied me.
Double Dealing- Angelia Sparrow: [3.5 stars]
This is not the story I would have chosen as the lead-in to the anthology. Not that it's bad, only...complex. It's cyberpunk, mixing alternate reality games with some real-world mindscrews in a gritty, grim distopian setting of warring corporations. This story is a sequel to a novel by Sparrow, so there's a lot of backstory.
I didn't find either of the central male characters appealing. From the beginning when they're described as "owning" the women they date I tasted maledom/femsub peanut butter in my femdom chocolate, and I'm allergic to peanuts. The dynamic of the opening conflict was very interesting, though, with Zara's lover David being a dangerous sort of character who needs to be kept in subspace to be controlled--which is he is, at least at first by his brother (also Zara's lover), Ariel. Who put David into subspace without his consent, which I admit I'm not a fan of.
I'm also not enthusiastic about the twincest vibe coming off that interaction. Probably because I'm a twin, and people with that kink have seen fit to joke about it to my face. It's turned me off to the entire thing (not that I'd ever be turned on to it). Nor am I thrilled to hear the twins are "one soul in two bodies". Maybe someone out there really loves that line and wants to hear it again and again, but I am not that person. Zara appears to have suffered actual incestual abuse at the hands of her brother--as I said, this a grim setting.
On the whole, with Ariel and David and Zara there's a lot of abuse-tinged backstory (and story story) that upset me more than it interested me. Zara clearly cares for David and is trying to do the right thing, but I'm much less certain of anybody else's motives and frankly, I don't see why she cares about them. The twist on the twin's identities, which I won't go into further to avoid spoilers, was very clever but only made me dislike each of them more because it revealed nasty actions done by both of them. There was, unfortunately, more maledom (rape fantasy flavored) as Zara tries to distract Ariel while hurrying to bring an old programmer friend (protagonist of the first novel, I believe, and genuinely sympathetic) to help. Now, if it was just not my cup of tea, that's one thing. But the way the maledom element was handled, plus the noncon elements, and the overall gritty and grim vibe of this story left me wondering how much I was supposed to root for the central relationship at all. Of the three people in it, Zara was the only one who behaved with any decency, and her decency was just enabling her lovers to continue being nasty people to each other, to her (it appears consensually, but with a real element of risk that made me question how much Zara really wanted it), and probably to many others as well. They're less nasty than the villains in the backstory, but I need more than "less nasty" to root for someone.
I have the feeling a full novel set in this richly developed world would be more satisfying to readers who liked this piece, but I just can't be enthusiastic about it. I can acknowledge the worldbuilding, the writing, and excellent use of technology with some hot sex, but I can't love it.
Permanency- Devin Wood [4 stars]
Because this was a slice-of-life contemporary, not usually my thing, I went in prepared to be bored. I was wrong. The menage/poly relationship of the main characters was adorable, and though thin on plot, this make for a lovely and fluffy first-timer story. Upon reflection, I think this would have made a much better lead than Double Dealing, simply because it's much easier to get into.
The backstory of the triad--Jenny, her husband Alex, and their mutual lover Will--is hinted at rather than dropped in. The action flows very naturally, as the three have clearly come to know each other well. Jenny decides to buy some new toys and test them out with both her lovers. The sex was more vanilla than femdom, which worked excellently with these particular characters. Also, Jenny's use of double-ended toys was both incredibly hot and satisfied my point that it's not all about the penetrating partner's power. Gender egalitarian role-reversal! Awesome!
The sex was tinged with just enough, if not awkwardness, uncertainty, to feel real. The talk wasn't pronographic "dirty talking" or ridiculous sappiness, it was genuine communication between two people (at a time, though all three characters get some action) discovering something they liked.
Perhaps distracted by all the adorable sex, I missed the resolution of the plot, such as there was. It's a happy ending, but the change in their relationship is very slight and hardly a surprise. There are some incidents in Will's past, apparently traumatic, that are obliquely referred to but never discussed. I checked to see if this story was also a sequel, but it doesn't appear so. Well, I'll keep an eye out for more stories about these characters in the future!
Phallusy by V.K. Foxe [3 stars]
This story isn't bad taken on its own merits, but perhaps I just object to those merits. From the start I was leery because of the punny title, which, yes, fits with the tone of the story: jaunty, less Terry Pratchett and more Piers Anthony. The central romance is between a Queen and her strong, submissive guardsman, which is one of my favorite types--yet it still feels like a prolonged dirty joke.
A society of oppressive male domination put more peanut butter into my femdom nutella, and made the (genuinely hot) female domination appear to be in revenge rather than fun. I wasn't surprised to see penetration made equivalent to domination, but the thing is, given how horrible sexual slavery is for the women in this story, why am I supposed to be happy to see it happen to anyone else? Especially because the slave men weren't responsible for the oppressive society the women have escaped from. I don't need this much guilt in my guilty pleasures!
Phallusy is a "nature of magic" story as much as a "nature of sexuality" story, given how the two are entwined. It's also a deconstruction-via-role-reversal, as you might tell from the title. Deconstruction with hot sex should be a surefire kink of mine, but I don't feel like this story did enough deconstructing. Instead it was a paint by numbers role reversal. Phalluses are still equated with power, it's just some people wield theirs through the power of technology instead of genetics. Also, if semen is still equated with magical powers--hardly a feminist revolution--what about lesbian couples? Do they not matter? I don't think I'm overthinking this, given the story's intentions of playing with the logic of sexual roles (it's right there in the title!).
When I squinted and excused the dubious consent elements (because this is fiction, after all, and some of those boy slaves were definitely enjoying it), the sex was definitely hot--despite the puns--but this story never rose above a guilty pleasure.
Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant-Julian Griffith 5 Stars
I loved the first draft of this, which Julian kindly let me sneak a peek at, and I loved the revised and expanded version even more. It's a historical tale about a British naval officer who is captured along with his crew by corsairs. But along with a capture, it's also a rescue, as the British ship has been crippled in a storm. Our corsairs are very helpful and Captain Wilmington finds Captain Faiza very accommodating.
The two Captains hit it off very quickly, especially considering the story starts with a perceived threat of dub-con. Still, I like that they get along so well and that they show genuine respect along with mutual desire. Wilmington is willing to submit to captain "Faizal" if it would save his crew (and, it's implied, for the enjoyment he'd get from submitting), but with Faiza he's even happier. Yet the fact that he was willing to sleep with a man is what prompts Faiza to make an interesting proposal...
I love submissive men, but I especially love men who are strong in their submission. And I adore dominant women who are tender, not disdainful, of their lovers. Faiza appreciates Wilmington as a person with agency and thoughts, not just a walking dildo (refreshing after the poor taste Phallusy left in my mouth). After all, he's a fellow captain. But his future is up in the air--losing his ship puts him at risk of court martial--and Faiza is happy to comfort him and help him out. Faiza herself is an Arabic woman, but this story is far from some tawdry Arabian Nights knockoff. Clearly research has gone into the setting--there are elements of travelogue, but nicely balanced to that they don't detract from the plot or relationship arc--and Faiza herself is a fully-realized character. Her crew is more of a mass, but at least they aren't caricatures.
I love rescue romances, and my id loves capture romances, and converting the capture into a rescue is a surefire way to give me a guilt-free kinky good time. Happy as I am that this story was expanded from the original draft I devoured, I'd love to see an even longer version of it. The ending is satisfying but has some open-endedness to it. Still, I trust everything will work out with the characters, because they've lived a perfect wish-fulfillment story up to this point.
This review is cross-posted from my website.
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