Who’s on Top?
First of all, my deepest apologies to Rachel Kramer Bussel. When she asked me to be one of the first stops on her “virtual book tour” I was eager to say yes, but bad planning on my part, coupled with poor service on the part of the usually reliable USPS caused me to miss my appointed date April 3rd. With deep regrets I present my essay two days late.
Now then, who’s on top? That’s the question on my mind as I fondle my very own copy of her new book He’s on Top, (Cleis Press, 2007), a compendium of stories of male dominance and female submission.
Switch gears with me for a moment.
I spend a lot of time thinking about the relationship between novelty and eroticism. In my experience new encounters may sometimes be awkward, but they are always urget. New sights, new sounds, new tastes, new smells, all streaming in at once. Uncertainty combines with a fierce need to know what will happen next in a way that produces (for me at least) a heady erotic cocktail.
“How will this night play out, how will this story unfold?” There is an unimpeachable eroticism in that question, and it is through my understanding of the play between familiarity and novelty, certainty and uncertainty that I best understand the mind of the submissive. For me, the top is the story teller and the bottom is a very special audience of one.
Come back with me now to M. Christian’s “In Control”, the sixth story in “He’s on Top”. Our narrator, our story-teller is full of bluster and bravado, brash and cocksure of his cruelty, his victim eager in her submission.
But who serves whom? The story-teller or his audience? Who’s on top?
In all Rachel’s book, “He’s on Top” contains 16 stories that explore this idea, 16 chances to give yourself up to a story-teller, 16 chances let someone else give you what you want, 16 chances for them to crave your approval. Who’s on top?
Rachel’s tour continues tomorrow at Jefferson’s One Life Take Two http://onelifetaketwo.blogspot.com, and from there continues as below:
7 Lust Bites http://lustbites.blogspot.com
8 Bad Bad Girl http://dirtylittlecockslut.blogspot.com/
9 Elexus Exposed http://elexusexposed.blogspot.com/
10 Pretty Dumb Things http://prettydumbthings.typepad.com
11 en(gender) http://www.myhusbandbetty.com
12 Jessica Cutler http://www.jessicacutleronline.com
13 All Things Spanking http://www.allthingsspanking.com
14 Sexual Evolution http://sexualevolution.blogspot.com
15 Sexerati http://www.sexerati.com
16 Tara Tainton http://www.taratainton.com
17 The Tales of a Teacher (and Slut) http://missslut.blogspot.com
18 Brooklyn Rake http://brooklynrake.blogspot.com
19 Red Velvet Rope Burn http://www.redvelvetropeburn.com
20 Susan Wright http://susan-wright.livejournal.com
21 Mistress Matisse http://mistressmatisse.blogspot.com
22 Katie Spades, the Princess of Spanking http://spankingkatiespades.blogspot.com
23 Sex in the City – The Real Version http://selinafire.blogspot.com
24 Urban Gypsy http://nyc-urban-gypsy.blogspot.com/
25 Jessica Gold Haralson http://www.jessicagoldharalson.com
26 Cinekinkster http://www.cinekink.com/blog
27 Always Aroused Girl http://alwaysarousedgirl.blogspot.com
28 Ms. Naughty http://www.msnaughty.com/blog
29 Madeline in the Mirror http://madelininthemirror.blogspot.com
30 Molly Crabapple http://mollycrabapple.livejournal.com
