(no subject)

[oyceter]

Rather annoyed at the reviews of Kinsale's Shadowheart on Amazon, particularly the therapist who was rather touchy about the "deviant behavior," which she didn't agree was "mild S&M." I dunno. From what I've seen of some S&M sites (and just read in fanfic), Shadowheart really does seem rather mild. But then, what do I know?

Ah well. Want LJ people to all read this book so I can read what they think, heh heh.

Also very annoyed because I submitted two resumes to Google to get automated responses that the positions I applied to apparently do not exist. Except they're on the website. I am very confused. Emailed the help people, hopefully something will be explained?

I'm just rather tired and bored -- I go to work and sit at the computer all day, come home, eat, and move things from the old apartment. Then diddle around on the computer and sleep. No time for other things if I want to get moved out. Urk.

And the Snape/Hermione fanfic thing is not working out. I'm so used to reading Jossverse fic solely through recs, of which there were no shortage, that having to wade through all the bad fic on my own is really, really frustrating. And not many of the reccers share this strange kink of mine =(. Doh. Need fic crack!

Comments

[hesychasm]

I commiserate on the Snape/Hermione (and also the job search! wah!), but then I'm assuming you've been to Dark Sarcasm and hit the links for "Most Popular" and "Top Rated"? That's how I found most of the good ones. Don't be scared off by WIPs -- the best story out there, in my opinion, is KazVL's Falling Further In, and that's not finished yet.

Resmiranda's Shadow's Trilogy is also wonderful, but it's...a different kind of Snape/Hermione. Not really all that shippy, but fantastic characterization and even better prose.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Yes, but the Top Rated I tried at Dark S was pretty damned ghastly.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I read the quote by the same therapist, and it gave me the creeps. This woman has a therapy group, and she sees no distinction between abusing children, battering your loved ones, and consensual bedroom play involving bondage and/or S & M.

Not only does she not get the concept that consent makes a difference (if consent didn't matter, either all sex would be rape, or there would be no such thing as rape) or the difference between children and adults, but she doesn't seem to see the difference between a near-fatal injury and a love bite. Or she seems to think that love bites will lead inevitably to mutilation and death.

Her patients are going to end up either sexually frightened and inhibited, or have no sense of what's safe and what isn't, or really pissed off at her at some future date for wasting their time and money.

As for whether the particulars in SHADOW HEART are mild or not as compared to most people's experience with bondage/S & M, I actually don't know. But except for the particular parts being pinched or scratched or whacked, I'd say that it's no more than one might expect from an intense free-sparring class: you might be bruised or scratched the next day, but it's nothing to take notice of.

[oyceter]

I think job searches are way up there as great ways to completely erode any confidence in yourself! Heh...

Dark Sarcasm? Oooo... the only Snape/Hermione site I found (via Googling) was Lord and Lady Snape or something.

I think I actually started Falling Further In and finished the Shadow's Trilogy because of your rec page ^_^. Like them very much, but now need more crack ;).

[oyceter]

Yeah, I know! And I feel if one is going to target romance novels for unhealthy relationship behaviors, there are a lot more -- like, oh the whole philosophy to stay with the man you love even though he treats you like crap, because loving him will make him change for the better.

[oyceter]

No, but that's a good idea, thanks!

It's so disconcerting finding your way around a new fandom...

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Snape/Hermione-wise, if you haven't found it already, my favorite is The Fire and the Rose, a novel-length collaboration that manages to drag new life out of the tired old premise of having its principals switch bodies and which has some of the best and most genderqueer sex I have seen in fanfic. It can be found at www.witchfics.org; I believe the authors are Abby and Domina. I haven't seen this one rec'd anywhere, for some reason. Warning: the sequel is awful.

[oyceter]

I haven't, so thanks for the rec!!

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

So, i got the book from the library because this entry piqued my interest. I really liked the book a lot and then i checked out the Amazon reviews because of what you'd mentioned and sheesh, not only was i really frustrated by people's inability to comprehend BDSM relations, but the fact that it was this huge factor for them. I mean, there are like 3 BDSM scenes in the entire 500 page book. Okay, so you're uncomfortable with the fact that he abducted and raped her and then she fell in love with him? Fine. But it's not like every other romance book out there is full of happy healthy relationships where there is no manipulation or anything, so let's not have a double-standard here, kthx.

I thought the BDSM made a lot of sense given the danger and power dynamics inherent both in their relationship and in Allegreto's entire world. I went into the book knowing there would be BDSM content, obviously. I expected something like the Beauty trilogy where Elena would get initiated into BDSM perhaps at first against her will but would then come to like it, but i expected her to be the sub. Having her being the top in the relationship was really interesting. And i thought it was done really interestingly. It begins when she's fighting off his rape, and we learn that he wants her to hurt him, and at first i thought of how a lot of subs are people who are very powerful and in control in their lives outside of their bedroom, and then we learn about his relationship with his father and how love and pain and power have always been so intertwined for him and that added an additional aspect to his relationship with Elena.

Honestly, it was all the fecking Catholicism that bothered me more than anything. I mean, it was done well, it was just one of those things where you think the characters are so wrong that it pains you to watch them.

Anyway, i read the therapist's Amazon review, and she's definitely had some patients with serious problems ("I have some regulars in my group who have come close to killing or being killed (nearly bleeding out in one case and suffocating in another)" Hi, the key words for BDSM are: safe, sane, consensual.) but it frustrates me that she can't seem to see the difference between that and healthy BDSM. And yes, though the BDSM between Allegreto and Elena also had so much darkness and power play and danger and everything, which might have made it seem more intense than those exact same actions would be in terms of say a modern white bread couple, i would agree with those who called it mild BDSM.

[oyceter]

It's funny because the BDSM scenes are a giant deal on the romance review sites as well, which is really quite frustrating, given all the other tropes that annoy the hell out of me (particularly the "I am a big manly guy and disregard the word no and you will fall for my forcefulness" one).

I'm glad you liked the book ^_^. One of the reasons I liked it so much was because Kinsale didn't do what I thought she would... I had read some comments on the book before, so I thought it would be a BDSM type relationship with Elena as the sub, like you. Plus, I can count on one hand the number of times a romance novel heroine is sexually aggressive. So on the meta level, I adored having the relationship really not conform to most romance novel plots, and I loved the fact that the sex advanced both the plot and the character development for both Allegretto and Elena.

I actually enjoyed the Catholicism in the book, mostly because I liked how the author actually acknowledged that religion was a pretty big factor at the time instead of conveniently ignoring it, like many romances set in the period do.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's definitely a certain integrity in acknowledging the power of Catholicism given the setting, and she made it work doing interesting things with how the characters related to Catholicism, but it's one of those things i would have been happy to have had left out, which i know is tied to the fact that i am so not Catholic.