Customer Reviews

Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Spanked is a compilation about the naughty, thrilling, blissful act of giving and receiving a paddling on the hind quarters. The stories are all so authentic in tone and delve so deep into the characters that one can't help but experience the anticipation, and release, along with them. Spanked allows an intimate peek into the pleasures of bottom-flogging from various perspectives, but all equally intense and riveting, whether bottoms and palms are covered in flour, enveloped by typewriter ribbon or simply tingling with desire. While different fantasies are described in these pages, they are all connected by a string of emotion, a factor vital to the act of spanking which elevates it from purely sexual to the fiercely personal and urgent need that it is. All the stories are smart, candid and provocative without being indulgent. Spanked is both an exploration of physical pleasure as well as the mysterious and exciting bonds that form between the participants of such a union.

If soundtrack albums help you discover new artists, then Rachel Kramer Bussel's newest foray into the anthology ring, Spanked! is the very thing that will make you want to pick up a riding crop (or your hand) and leaving a mark on someone special.

By picking through and giving us the very best (and I do mean the very BEST) stories that feature spanking (and other things, of course, but we're here for the spanking, aren't we?), Rachel Kramer Bussel has not only saved us time but she's weeded out the funny bits that we really didn't want to read anyway. Like the proverbial cream rising from the bucket, the stories in Spanked! are the crème of red cheeked erotica.

Sure, we've all got those kinks, dirty little secrets that we don't want people to know. But for those of you that think `spanking' is the most tame of kinks, I challenge you to read `Betty Crocker Gone Bad' a story that made me blush and want to bake at the same time!

Starting us of slowly with Rick Roberts' `Spanking You', Rachel Kramer Bussel brings us to all different levels of the spanking spectrum--all the way up to her own `The Depths of Despair'. I love to see anthology collectors do double duty and write a story for their collections, but rarely is it done so well. Kudos to her!

This book was very interesting and I liked reading it. The physical size of it is small enough to be tucked into a purse to be read at various locations, or even a backpack. And the stories themselves pack a lot of punch--they aren't empty. Pick this up, and I guarantee you'll be hooked.

This review was originally posted on August 1, 2008. Reposted Feb 13, 2009.

It would be easy to write a book about spanking that comes off "over the top" or simply paints the authors as hyped up freakshows with bizarre fetishes and/or unresolved childhood issues. "Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica" is a collection of diverse, interesting, funny and sexy pieces of erotica that provide readers' preying eyes a peak into the complex world of erotic spanking.

Just finished reading this excellent spanking anthology assembled by Rachel Kramer Bussel. 22 stories guaranteed to make you sit uncomfortably as you read them. The stories run the gamut from playful to downright mean and each of them are well written, engaging and difficult to put down until the end. I especially enjoyed Daddy's Girl by Teresa Noelle Roberts where the characters broke their role-playing in a manner that many of us experience, brief giggles at the silliness of it all, then manage to resume their roles to drive to an intense climax. Like many of the stories contained herein, it touched enough on real life to give it a richness sometimes lacking in erotica.

Rachel obviously put a lot of time and effort into this collection. Not only are they all highly readable and entertaining in their own right, but the progression of the stories seems so natural. It's almost as if they were all written by the same author and always intended to be part of a book. And that's amazing, considering that the stories are diverse and written by 19 different authors, including Rachel herself.

The first story, "Spanking You" by Rick Roberts, struck me as the most vanilla and easily accessible by someone new to this genre. So it was a brilliant way to lead off the series. Each succeeding story seemed to be more intense, explicit, and unconventional. I don't know if this organization was conscious or unconscious. I don't know even know whether other readers would agree with my assessment. But it was definitely my perception - and I thought it worked.

My favorite lead paragraph was provided by Madeline Glass in "Laser Tag":

"The first time he spanked me, I thought he was a pervert. The second time he did it, I wondered if I was. By the third time, I was certain that we both were."

Readers of this book might undergo a similar progression:

"After the first story, I thought Rachel was a pervert. Reading the second story, I wondered if I was. By the third story, I was certain that we both were."

Incidentally, I was a little concerned that this book would "only" be about spanking. But rest assured, there are many other forms of sensuality and eroticism displayed in the stories (all of which are enhanced by spanking), and there are orgasms aplenty.

Finally, I'd say one key reason why these stories work is that they are almost all set in familiar places - bookstores, concerts, kitchens, etc. That made it much easier for me to imagine myself participating in the scenes - which I did for almost all of these stories.

When I got a package with three of Rachel's books in it, I knew which one I was going to read last. This one. Why? I've never been into reading about people giving spankings. When I read an erotic anthology I usually skip the stories that deal with this. However, I certainly don't mind trying new things so I jumped in feet first. Now I feel stupid! How I wish that I would have started with this one! This is easily one of the most erotic books that Rachel has edited! Easily! I have no self control to speak of so I read this book in two days (something I DO NOT recommend unless you have a ready and willing partner to help you out) and was amazed at the eroticism that was in these pages.

The submission, the sexuality, the carnality, the thought of having that much power over a person was enough to take me over the edge more than a few times. The authors whose work was chosen did an amazing job painting one hell of a sexual portrait. I usually list the stories that I enjoyed, however, if I did that this time it would almost be the entire book. If spankings aren't something that you usually read about or indulge in, might I suggest that you check it out. To use an over clichéd phrase... "Try it, you might like it".

Let me count the ways...
In the kitchen, against the wall, bent over a desk, a chair
and yes, over the knee.
For fun, as a challenge, for sport, as revenge, as part of a 'scene', as punishment and
yes, as a prelude to hot sex.
With a hand, a paddle, a belt, a cane, and a skateboard (but alas, no riding crop).
On a naked ass, trousers dropped, skirt lifted to reveal white panties and on naked bottoms turning red and warm, victims squirming but enjoying most every
Smack, slap, and whack.

If you think that spankings are an acceptable (probably the most acceptable) fetish - because they push the boundaries of relationship power structures then you will enjoy this racy collection. Rachel brilliantly has chosen a series of stories that might even surprise you with their twists and turns.

[...]

I have several of Rachel Kramer Bussel's anthologies, and I swear they keep getting better. She has a way of picking stories that feel like confessionals rather than cliched fantasy plots. Her story 'The Depths of Despair' and another story, 'Daddy's Girl,' illustrate this perfectly. I really appreciate the quality of erotic writing I know I'll be getting when I order one of her books, and this one is no different.

Were you in a playful mood the last time you had sex with someone?

I'm not talking about "playful" as in "kittenish," much less "monkeying" or "horsing" around. (Save your human/animal roleplay jokes for now, m'kay?)

I'm talking about the state of mind that has to do with gleeful improvisation, glistening wetness and gleaming smiles, glowing pleasure in the moment and getting a grip (or getting gripped) by a willing partner.

The latest book to remind me of that delightful state, that pleasant periphery in which ludic languor lives, is Rachel Kramer Bussel's anthology of short shories. (Full disclosure: I received a review copy in exchange for a promise to write a review and post it to the book's Amazon.com listing.)

Each story is not just a rude and randy recitation of body-part motion-capture that one might plot on a graph with as little difficulty as one might play buzzword bingo with nearly any politician's boilerplate address.

It's also not just a collection of completely unlikely or implausible scenarios (airplane bathrooms, department-store dressing rooms, college classrooms, graveyards, etc.). It's called wishful thinking, not fantastic (in that other sense of the word) thinking. Maybe it's just my own imagination, but situations where a few words gone awry result in a gauntlet thrown down and then taken up sound not just likely, but like good ideas (as in Thomas S. Roche's "Pre-Party" and Kramer Bussel's own "The Depths of Despair").

It's why I'm willing to go along with Shanna Germain's "Perfect Bound" with its library-look protagonist, bookstore-cum-flytrap setting and delightfully unexpected uses for certain old-school office supplies, or Alison Tyler's "Betty Crocker Gone Bad," which turns a domestic quirk into the kind of escapade that might get left on a cable-cooking-show cutting-room floor, or Madeline Glass' "Laser Tag," which makes the best out of bad behavior at a concert and the resulting cute-meat meet-cute.

By the time you've dropped in on the grownups-go-back-to-high-school scenario of Madlyn March's "Reunion," the barn settings (yes, if you must, perhaps now's the time for your roleplay jokes) of Thomas Christopher's "Riding the Storm" and L. Elise Bland's "The Breeding Barn," you're probably several turns of the screw into certain physical symptoms that result from the consumption of well-written erotica. You probably won't even mind the workplace-turnabout triptych of Fiona Locke's "Pink Cheeks," Laura Bacchi's "Page By Page" and Simon Sheppard's "Fiscal Discipline."

Make a point of checking this book out wherever you get your hands on it, and you'll soon concur that the only thing better than bending over a well-told tale is, well, bending over a well-toiled-over tail.

The tantalizing variety of stories in this spanking-themed anthology are like rich chocolates, with each delectable morsel leaving the reader wanting just one more bite. Rachel Kramer Bussel has put together a fabulous collection of stories in Spanked. She proves-- once again-- that she is not only an outstanding author, but a shrewd editor with a keen sense of pacing that leaves the reader eagerly anticipating the next story.

Among my favorite stories in this collection are Shanna Germain's shiveringly good "Perfect Bound," Alison Tyler's naughty-but-oh-so-nice "Betty Crocker Gone Bad" and Donna George Storey's teasing confessional "A Rare Find." Speaking of rare finds, I was also pleased to discover some new-to-me authors in the lineup, including Rick Roberts. Roberts' delightful "Spanking You" opens the anthology and sets the tone for a variety of delicious intimacies.

Spanked is one of those books you will want to share with the one you love... or the ones you know love spankings!