Kinkorama: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Perversion (Paperback)

by Simon Sheppard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A collection of first-person postcards from the outer edge of sexuality, these candid, insightful essays recount the author's journey into the covert, subterranean world of gay male fetishism. Sheppard, a sex advice columnist and co-editor of the erotic anthologies Rough Stuff and Roughed Up, offers an everyman approach to public sex, fisting, bondage, S&M parties and leather contests-all the usual, predictable suspects for this erotic subgenre. But it's the author's unapologetic moxie when confessing his preferences (on foot play: no athlete's foot, but feet ripe with a "natural tang doesn't hurt") and embarrassing first-times (on verbal abuse: be creative and steer clear of the "cliche-filled highway of homophobia") that makes this collection so winning (for adventurous readers, anyway). More anecdotal than advisory, Sheppard's dispatches are a vivid patchwork of keen observations on human sexuality; perhaps most notable is Sheppard's gentle warning to avoid letting fetishism "substitute the part for the whole." "What should be a broadening of sexual horizons can become a tightening shackle," he warns. Sheppard muses that kink is referred to as "playing" rather than "having sex" or "making love"; it's a reminder, he says, to "have fun with our bodies," and that unlike "mature sexuality," whose goal is to "make something," "play has no aim but itself." Sheppard mixes such cool observations with over-the-top anecdotes about foot fetishists and leather contests (one contestant plays "Peter Pan-sexual, flying with a transgendered Wendy to Leather-Leather Land") in a wild "travelogue" through "Kinkland."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"A highly readable travelogue--novices and seasoned perverts alike should gobble up this book like good little piggies." -- Kirk read, author of How I Learned to Snap.

"Simon Sheppard has something new and smart to say about being kinky, and I am only too glad to listen." -- Susie Bright

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555836348
• ISBN-13: 978-1555836344
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,622,051 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bright, thought-provoking, and sexy, April 15, 2004

By	Jeffrey Mann (BLACKSBURG, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've enjoyed Simon Sheppard's well-written erotica in the past, but with Kinkorama he's proven that he can not only describe hot and kinky man-to-man sex, he can ponder and contemplate its deeper meanings. This book, in other words, appeals to the reader's mind, heart, and groin all at once. A fine combination of readable style, personal reflection, tasty erotic detail, and wide-ranging description of the BDSM world, Kinkorama will give outsiders a vivid view of that world and help those of us who are part of it understand a good bit better why we love what we love, why we find beauty and intensity where we do.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that brings us all under the microscope., May 7, 2004

By	Jeremy P. Johnson "Psykick" (Boone, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this book Sheppard takes you through the looking glass to face each of us with our own ultimate inability to communicate our most basic of human needs to one another. Not only will all sexes and orientations enjoy the book's sardonic tone and delicious ironies, but the social commentary that develops is worth every word. Don't be fooled by the carnal acts the author portrays, this is really a book about each of us and our needs, our need to express those needs, and the impossibility of communicating those needs to another.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, August 26, 2004

By	Stephanie Moore-Fuller "smoorefu" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I heard the author read and perform a piece at a local event for writers about sex, and felt I had to read more of his writing. I'm glad I did. Rarely have I ever read anything that was at the same time as thoughtful and thought-provoking, and as kinky, as this book. If you have any interest in sexuality and thinking about sexuality, don't miss it!