$14.95
ISBN 1573443093
available through
Amazon
Reviewed by Julian Robinson
(4/23/08)
Pain, humiliation, exhibitionism, oral worship, cuckolding, cyber domination, group domination, teasing, tying, cock and ball torture, orgasm denial, dildos, cross dressing...
In Yes, Ma'am, veteran kink/fetish specializing erotica scribe and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel has gathered 18 fast-paced dives into the depths of heterosexual male submission that'll leave you breathing hard and begging for more. Many of her selections might be better described as situations or scenarios than full-blown stories -- consider them literary quickies of the most memorable type, the type that has you hog-tied and sucking on a strap-on before you know what hit you. Just the thing for a pick-me-up when you have a minute or two to spare and mistress is busy.
As the above paragraph suggests, Yes, Ma'am is addressed to a male submissive readership. The point of view is nearly universally from the bottom and seldom from the female dominant topside. Indeed, two-thirds of the tales are in first-person, facilitating total fantasy immersion for men dreaming of being controlled by women who always know exactly what they want and always get it.
Bussel's contributors boast a wide range of both literary and lifestyle credentials. There's a pro domme and a 24/7 slave to an "extremely severe" mistress among authors and editors who frequently appear in the highest echelons of kink lit. Lowly male, prepare to have all your triggers pulled and buttons pushed, including some you may have never even realized you had.
One of the least elaborate stories, in terms of specific D/S activities, is one of the most effective. Ellen Tevault's "Secret Desires" realizes that the first step is often the hardest. How do you tell your partner what you want when it isn't "normal"? This obstacle has relegated more all-consuming needs to perpetual frustration than any other.
Stephen Elliott's bittersweet "It's Cold Outside" describes a forlorn soul on tour with a sex workers' collective and a stolen interlude with an old friend's girlfriend. He muses, "I'm not sure why people so often assume they can do anything they want to me." A gag, some clothesline, a latex glove, some Vaseline, and that's just the beginning. "Eventually Serena took her hand out of me and then began to torture me." Mood is one of the rarest literary pleasures and Elliott shows how it's done.
Convincing dialog, depth of character, and graceful prose redeem A. D. R. Forte's "Rope Burn" from its "football star meets someone creative in the VIP suite" opening. Turns out that graphic design isn't her only outlet. "I saw the dark purple coils of rope shining in the afternoon sunlight." Soon, he's in her web, transformed by the relentless strands and cruel knots. "I couldn't breathe; panic and anger ran through my veins instead of blood...She was making me. Creating me. I didn't know myself anymore." Forte demonstrates that bondage is far from mere static restraint.
A minor quibble might be made of the number of female dominants here who allow their submissives conventional penetration, which is uncommon in practice, especially early in a D/S relationship. And some of the men are capable of almost instant rehardening. One nonsensical porn trope, however, is so venerable that its inclusion verges on knowing kitsch. It arises in Kristina Wright's well-developed "Connection," a tale of how two lovers resolve an episode of female infidelity through a graphic long-distance phone call that reveals their true natures: "I kept swallowing and swallowing. His balls were so full." Male chastity cages, a highly popular fantasy and reality item, judging by Internet fiction and the number of models offered by vendors, seem to be missing, but one can't blame the editor if such a story never arrived.
Nearly every other form and format imaginable is well-portrayed, from a reality show in which a male contestant agrees to instantly satisfy the demands of female viewers to domination by text messages to a drunken husband forced to watch his new bride take on a substitute cock in Dominic Santi's rousing tale of revenge "Wedding Night."
Yes, Ma'am is as devastating as a woman who's taken a paddle to your poor, burning bottom until you're barely able to hold still when she gives a little chuckle that tells you two things: she really likes it and she's only getting warmed up. You know you want it. But can you take it? Time to find out.
