Feb 232013
 

I’ve officially agreed to edit a collection of essays on the history of Master-slave relationships, commissioned by the Master Taino’s Training Academy.

I’m very excited about this project, as I will help create a contribution to the scholarship of the history of this field, and also get to work with people who have been involved in this subculture from its earliest days. My hope is that this book will have a place on shelves next to classics like Leatherfolk and Different Loving.

This project should run into 2014, at which point I will present the finished manuscript to MTTA for them to either publish themselves or present to a publisher.

Apr 102012
 

In the unlikely event I ever become a martial arts master with lightning reflexes, hands of steel and situational awareness so acute I can tell how many fillings my opponent has, I promise that I will use my formidable abilities with all due ethical restraint and honor.

There is, however, one exception. There is one particular type of person in one particular situation I would beat the crap out of on general principle, without hesitation or mercy.

I am speaking, of course, of night club doormen.

I fantasize that I walk up to a nightclub in some downtown in some city, stride up to some oversize, shaven-headed guy with a black t-shirt, a headset and clipboard, being told, “Back of the line,” and do my full Shaolin Temple-Muay Thai-Savate-hybrid  spinning-drop-roundhouse-coup de pied kick to deliver my size ten-and-a-half straight into his temple. The guy goes down –just temporarily, no brain damage or anything– and I just stroll into the nightclub. If a few attractive women in the now liberated line ask, “Who was that guy?”, so much the better.

I don’t even like nightclubs, but I resent the institution of the doorman on general principle. He is the modern example of the concept that you can always pay half the poor to keep the other half in line, a traitor to his class. His authority sole derives from his employer, and that tiny sliver of power goes straight to his head. The nightclub doorman exists solely to drive up demand, to create an artificial barrier, to con the rest of us into standing outside in the cold and rain for hours and then pay for the privilege of paying for overpriced drinks and chicken wings that manage to be both dry and greasy. He is the embodiment, the willing executioner, the face of this system of inequality and exploitation. He is DRM in human form, the instrument of socio-economic privilege, powered by Red Bull and creatine.

I’m not going to bother this guy at home or anywhere else. But put him in a black t-shirt next to a velvet rope and a glass door, and he’ll be spitting out teeth. This is my own act of asymmetrical warfare against the system the doorman represents. Bring down the doorman, breach the arbitrary border that he enforces, and the whole system crumbles. What might seem to be a petty fantasy of revenge or taking out frustrations on some minor functionary is, in fact, a revolutionary act, a blow for justice.

I will look the doorman square in the collarbone, say, “Sorry, bruh, nothing personal,” dispatch him, and proceed on my mission of liberation.

 Posted by at 23:32
Mar 312012
 

It ain’t pretty, but it’s done. I completed a first, rough, provisional, tentative, preliminary draft of chapter one, about 6,000 words that runs from Roman mystery cults to the banning of flagellant companies in the 14th century. It’s far from complete, but it is something I’m ready to show somebody else.

One of the thing I realized was that I had big gaps in my narrative. I spent the last week on a crash study on medieval Christianity, the founding of the great monastic orders and the debates over flagellation and other forms of discipline. The church has never been entirely comfortable with flagellation and other forms of asceticism, perhaps because it makes possible a connection with Christ through the body, and not through established hierarchy of intermediaries.

What’s next is Chapter 2, roughly 1500 (Pico della Mirandola’s discussion of flagellation) to 1700 (the Abbe Boileu’s discussion), the disagreement over how the human body is to be viewed. The starting point is the disagreement over the St. Theresa of Avila and her “transverberation”, her eroticised encounter with an angel that repeatedly stabbed her with a spear. In another time, St. Theresa’s experience, and art depicting it, would have been sacred, but in this time, it could be seen as profane, the result of sexuality perverted by the unnaturalness of convent life.

I may extend it to the trial of Father Girard over his affair with Catherine Cadiere around 1730, but that may be saved for the chapter on sensibility.

I’m not sure that even with a good work habit I can make my deadline of a completed manuscript by the end of October. On the other hand, I have a lot of stuff already done and researched, I just need to put it together and fill in the gaps.

 Posted by at 20:35

Vancouver BC BDSM Conference Westward Bound

 History of BDSM, meta  Comments Off on Vancouver BC BDSM Conference Westward Bound
Jan 082012
 

While I missed the opportunity to present at this event, I will be attending Vancouver’s Westward Bound BDSM conference on February 3-5, presented by Metro Vancouver Kink. This promises a great weekend of educational events and play parties in Vancouver’s Maritime Labour Centre.

I’m a co-founder and former board member of Metro Vancouver Kink, and I’m always pleased to support the organization.

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Author chat on "Whispers in Darkness"

 Erotica, History of BDSM, meta  Comments Off on Author chat on "Whispers in Darkness"
Nov 022011
 

Now that Whispers in Darkness is officially on sale, I did a series of posts on the Circlet Press LJ group to promote it. While the chat is over, you can still read and comment.

HP Lovecraft, erotica and why they actually do go together
Author commentary for “Koenigsberg’s Model”
Miss Lovecraft’s students learn about their bodies
HP Lovecraft, erotica and why they don’t necessarily go together
A guided tour of the book, part 1, 2 and 3
Wrap up

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"Koenigsberg’s Model" in the Lovecraftian erotica collection, Whispers in Darkness

 Erotica, History of BDSM, meta  Comments Off on "Koenigsberg’s Model" in the Lovecraftian erotica collection, Whispers in Darkness
Oct 262011
 

We interrupt your regular blog to mention another fiction publication, my short story “Koenigsberg’s Model” in Circlet Press’ collection of HP Lovecraft-themed erotica, Whispers in Darkness. You can get it from Amazon at the above link, or from All Romance Ebooks.

I’m also giving an author chat on Circlet Press’ Livejournal group until Friday.

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