A List of the Best BDSM Fiction – a Guide for New Submissives and Dominants

Since I had written quite a few articles on the books available for people in the BDSM lifestyle, I kept on thinking whether I should include fiction as well, since fiction is such a personal thing. There is such a subjective feel about this and I really do not want to say that the books that follow are the best books for all. The non-fiction book is far easier to recommend as I could look at the purpose of the book and whether it achieved it. I did look at the writing style, but in that case I could normally distinguish between textbook style writing and humor that works so well when someone is delivering a message at a convention. With fiction I am lost, so I will try to not shoot down some of the elements of the following books too much.

I also have a problem with BDSM fiction in general, because in some ways it causes people to look at BDSM in exactly the way we do not want them to. It focuses on the fantasy, not the reality and it leads to a lot of people feeling let down when they enter real time BDSM. Maybe that is what books are supposed to be all about and maybe I should just let you decide for yourself. So without further ado let’s get to it then:

1. The Story of O by Pauline Reage

This book tells the story of a fashion photographer who falls for a Parisian, called Rene. She is deeply submissive and she agrees to submit to several extreme psychologically, sexual and physical tests at a facility for slave training. She then becomes the slave of others’ too and her story unfolds with a deepening sense of darkness and despair. She is marked and pierced quite heavily and becomes the model of slavery in that community. The book is extremely erotic and does raise the heat a few times. It is also devoid of emotion in many instances. My reaction was that it was cold and loveless. Indeed, love has no place in her slavery and the book ends in one of two ways. You can choose which way serves your purposes or fantasy better.

This book only shows the harsh side of BDSM, even though it shows some of the need to show Rene how much she loves him. It shows her need to be pleasing and it shows a lot of the things that are done with slaves physically and sexually. It is great for fantasy, but it does not happen like this in real life. The book is a must read since few actually manage to stir up emotions like this and it did not follow any kind of formula like so many of the books written today. I own the book but I do not feel the need to read it again like so many of the other books on my shelf.

2. The Beauty Series – The Claiming of sleeping, Beauty, Beauty’s Punishment, Beauty’s Release – by Anne Rice, written under the pen name of A.N. Roquelaire

What can I say about this? Well, if you enjoy Anne Rice, you know she has a lovely style of writing that almost sounds like poetry sometimes. It is for this reason that I keep on reading her vampire books. She uses language and serves it up as dessert. I love reading her, which is why I chose to read the “Beauty” books after finding out that she wrote them. I have to say that I am disappointed because this is not the Anne Rice I have grown to love. These books fall far short of the rest of her work, but since that is not the point here, it doesn’t really matter.

The Beauty Series has at the heart of it a princess called Beauty, who is woken up by a prince after an enchanted sleep. She is taken into slavery and used in every way imaginable by the prince and the court. Beauty though is not happy with this. She feels that she needs even more and she disobeys to be able to face the worst punishment ever – being sent to the village where slaves aren’t pampered at all. While at the village there is a raid and she is abducted along with the best looking princes and princesses and taken to a far off land where they all become pleasure slaves. She is eventually released. That, in broad strokes is the story over the entire trilogy.

The characters in these books never really come to life. They are beaten and used sexually, but they do not become vital characters like the Vampire LeStat. It is merely a series of erotic scenes strung together for the pleasure of the BDSM community who delight in such fantasy. Yes, of course I was hot and bothered, but other than that my world did not move. Still, compared to other books in the BDSM genre, these stand out as must reads. There is a definite need for great fiction when it comes to this lifestyle, so we have to make do with what we have.

3. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

This book is part of a series of books. Kushiel’s Legacy series in order: Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen, Kushiel’s Avatar, Kushiel’s Scion, Kushiel’s Justice, Kushiel’s Mercy. Can I start getting excited now? Well, this is the first series of books that I recommend to anyone who is interested in the lifestyle or good fantast for that matter. The characters jump right out of the books and live with you in your daydreams and your sleeping dreams. Phedre No Delauny and her consort Joscelin become friends. Phedre is born with a red mark in her eye and this is the mark of Kushiel, the one who delivers pleasure and pain, who only gives absolution through pain.

There are several pleasure houses and Phedre becomes a slave to the passion of those into inflicting pain and torment. She needs to pay back her costs of training and housing at the pleasure house to the person who takes charge of her life and turns her into a crafty spy. He is killed etc etc etc. The story is magnificent and I would read it over and over again. BDSM becomes more than just the whips and chains in these books. The need to feel the pain is so clearly shown and one feels pity for her when it happens. She is you in a fantasy, but it is also more than just fantasy. This author understands the dynamic between dominant and submissive on a very deep level. I have not really experienced anything like this in fiction and yet I believe that if she can do it, others’ can too. This submissive woman becomes a hero in her country, a courtesan who moves above her station of love slave to embrace nobility. Her strength almost made me want to find this author and than k her for portraying a submissive person in this realistic way at last.

Even if you are not into BDSM, this book and those following are sweeping epics that you will find hard to put down. PLEASE go out and buy them immediately.

4. The Marketplace Series by Laura Antoniou

There are five books in this series:

The Marketplace, The Slave, The Trainer, The Academy, The Reunion.

It describes the experiences of the participants in a secret BDSM society. It is focused as much on character development, erotica and the pansexual nature of the setting. The main thread through the books is the fact that Masters and slaves dedicate themselves by way of contracts to live in the strict confines of real M/s relationships. The slaves have no rights or any power after signing the contracts and become obedient chattel and the Masters take control and responsibility for those slaves as they are supposed to.

In the books Antoniou describes the need and gratitude to be able to serve, consent, support structures, sadomasochism, the difference between couples choosing to be a M/s couple and being “sold” to someone on the auction block and also the basic principles of dominance and submission. She understands these concepts and she takes her characters and makes them come to life. The only difference between the Kushiel books and this is that Kushiel is fantasy with some BDSM elements while this is strictly about BDSM.

If I had to choose, I would read the Marketplace series as well as Kushiel and give the Beauty Series a miss.