25+ Best BDSM Fiction Books: Kinky Erotica and Novels

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Need some bedtime reading with a bit more bite?

Despite the bad reputation that some feel Fifty Shades of Grey gave the kink community, BDSM novels don’t have to be as badly written.

You don’t have to agree with us on the literary merits of E.L. James’s erotic novel to understand the power that books can have in a community.

Selling over 125 million copies and reaching even the most vanilla of audiences, she proved something undeniable… people love reading about BDSM in fiction.

Some of the best BDSM fiction includes the intelligent erotic thriller Red by Kate Kinsey, and the erotic BDSM novels in the Master of the Shadowlands series. For a lighter introduction to the community, try The Inside Out Series by Lisa Renee Jones. If you want to delve in to some BDSM classics, we’d recommend the legendary Belle de Jour (first released in 1928), or the thrilling memoir Nine and a Half Weeks.

In this BDSM book guide, we’ll be sharing a whole host of fiction titles featuring bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism, domination and submission. Prepare for a very kinky reading list indeed!

The Rise of BDSM in Fiction

The importance of art cannot be underestimated as a means of exploring sexuality, identity and morality in society.

The novel itself is unlimited in its capacity to do this and can reflect on anything from fantasies, taboos and satire to true-life memoirs and social criticism. Using the power of language, these depictions can be explicit and obscene or more obscure and indefinite.

Though censorship has often made the publication of titles featuring BDSM difficult to distribute, erotic novels with themes of this kind of fetish have been in print since the first presses were invented.

Over the last century, works of this nature have slowly become less clandestine and far more widely available….and accepted. However you feel about it, the novel Fifty Shades of Grey was the bestselling book of the last decade (2011-2020).

The fact that E.L. James was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people (2012) just goes to show that not only does sex sell but BDSM is now a hugely popular sub-genre of erotic fiction.

Of course, there are hundreds of great titles published every year that feature, focus or explore the themes of BDSM and many of which that do so more authentically, even if they aren’t as commercially appreciated.

You’ll also find several popular fetish erotica sites full of kinky sex stories and short fiction.

We’ve focused this feature on fiction titles only but there are some amazing books out there that cover a more ‘instructional’ approach to BDSM – including some ‘How To’ guides for beginners through to advanced techniques for more experienced kinksters.

Best BDSM Fiction

Best BDSM Fiction and Erotica Books

We’ve come up with a diverse range of BDSM book choices from classic to contemporary fiction covering a wide selection of sub-genres including thrillers and romance to murder-mysteries and even some with a comic touch.

Have we missed your favorite BDSM novel? Why not drop us a comment below and share our recommended reads.

Best 5 Classic BDSM Novels

Okay, so everyone’s definition of a ‘classic’ novel will vary but all of these titles are widely known, both inside and outside of the community, for their BDSM content.

Almost all of these particular novels have been written pre-1990s with many having been published a few generations (even, centuries) ago.

As a collected body of works they prove that bondage, S/M and the themes of domination and submission have always been a powerful turn-on throughout history.

120 Days of Sodom (1785)

by Marquis de Sade

best bdsm fiction books 120 days of sodom
Image via Wikimedia/Amazon.

“If it is the dirty element that gives pleasure to the act of lust, then the dirtier it is, the more pleasurable it is bound to be.”

We kick off with, perhaps, one of the most famous of all BDSM novels written by one half of the literary duo from with the term ‘sadomasochism’ is derived.

Unpublished until the 20th century, 120 Days of Sodom is a highly controversial book and features extreme violence and cruelty. Banned in many countries, it isn’t a novel that many people will enjoy reading even those with a love of the explicit but it does remain a novel of historical importance.

Written over a period of 37 days when the Marquis de Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille, it explores the depraved journey of ultimate sexual gratification for four wealthy libertines in the 18th century.

Sealing themselves off in a castle deep in the Black Forest with a harem of 36 (mostly) young men and women, they embark on lustful and brutal abuse of their victims. Featuring scenes of torture and an ever-increasing intensity that culminates in a slaughter, Sade himself described 120 Days of Sodom as “the most impure tale that has ever been told since the world began”. And, we couldn’t disagree!

Not one for the fainthearted, the novel is considered by some to be a satirical tale to counter the Enlightenment theory of man’s innate goodness whilst others simply regard it as perverse. The French Government, however, has recognized the manuscript to be a National Treasure.

Venus In Furs (1870)

by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

best bdsm fiction books venus in furs
Image via Goodreads/Biblio.

“I take a cruel joy in seeing you tremble and writhe beneath my whip, and in hearing your groans and wails; I want to go on whipping without pity until you beg for mercy, until you lose your senses.”

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch is the second half of the literary duo from which we now have the term ‘sadomasochism’ and it is Venus in Furs which portrays masochistic tendencies.

Regarded by many as the first literary statement on control and submission as part of psycho-sexual development, the book explores the obsessions of its central character, Severin von Kusiemski.

A European nobleman, Von Kusiemski becomes so obsessed with a woman, Wanda von Dunajew, that he desires to become her slave. As the novel progresses, his infatuation with von Dunajew increases as he progressively submits to more degrading treatment.

In a series of reflections, framed as in a dream, von Kusiemski’s journey into masochism extends as Wanda von Dunajew employs the help of torturous African women and a Russian servant to further subject him to more brutal humiliation.

The end of the novella explores the way in which power dynamics can shift as Wanda switches when she finds a man (Alexis Papadopolis) to whom she wants to submit.

Leopold von-Sacher-Masoch (hence ‘masochistic’) wrote Venus in Furs as part of an epic series of works for which this title was the first volume. As a result, the book is considered a novella rather than a novel and is only around 39,000 words long. The average reader can finish it in about three hours.

Despite now being 150 years old, Venus in Furs remains an artful depiction of S/M that is both entertaining and though-provoking. Naturally the book was hugely controversial at the time and still has the power to shock some, even today.

Well-written and foundational, the book has been adapted for various stage plays (an excellent adaptation was produced by David Ives in 2010) and was even made into a film in 2013, directed by the equally controversial Roman Polanski.

Belle de Jour (1928)

by Joseph Kessel

best bdsm fiction books belle du jour
Image via Goodreads/Amazon.

“The elegance, the education, the desire to please, went against something in her that required to be broken, submissive, tamed without appeal, in order for her flesh to flourish.”

A play on words with the French term for a prostitute ‘belle de nuit’ (or, ‘lady of the night’), this 1928 novel by French author, Joseph Kessel follows the daily life of a middle-class housewife who begins working in a local brothel.

Curious about the life of a whore and bored of her vanilla sex life, she subjects herself to the whims of customers of the bordello whilst her husband is at work. Enacting her vivid sadomasochistic fantasies by day, the novel isn’t explicit in its depictions of BDSM but it does expertly explore the female psyche as well as themes of class, chastity and cuckoldry.

Another classic title that was highly controversial when it was originally released, Belle de Jour was ground-breaking at the time and continues to be a startlingly good read in modern times.

The book was adapted for film in 1967 in a movie directed by the Spaniard, Luis Buñuel and starring Catherine Deneuve.

The Story of O (1954)

by Pauline Reage

best bdsm fiction books story of O
Image via Goodreads.

“As a matter of fact,” the other voice went on, “if you do tie her up from time to time, or whip her just a little, and she begins to like it, that’s no good either. You have to get past the pleasure stage, until you reach the stage of tears.”

Written as a series of love letters by the writer Anne Desclos (under the pen name Pauline Reage) to her lover Jean Paulhan, The Story of O is a classic tale of female submission.

Desclos’ lover, Paulhan, is thought to have been an admirer of the Marquis de Sade’s work (see above) and claimed that no woman could write in the same fashion. Taking this as a challenge, Anne Desclos produced The Story of O to prove otherwise.

The result is an astounding tale of a woman, ‘O’, who is trained in the arts of submission by degrees. Routinely stripped, whipped and dominated by members of a secret society she is increasingly inducted into an extreme, and elite BDSM club.

Explicit in its depictions of her training, this novel was also the subject of controversy at the time of its publication and the publishers attracted several charges of obscenity from the French authorities in the 1950s.

The novel has been heavily criticized over the years including claims that its glorification of violence is akin to ‘bringing the Gestapo into the boudoir’ as well as detractors from feminists who believe it glorifies the abuse of women.

In the BDSM community, Desclos’s work has been adopted in many forms including the eponymous ‘Ring of O’. The first lesbian BDSM group in the United States took its name (Samois) from the novel’s fictional location Samois-sur-Seine.

The Story of O has been adapted for, and inspired, many films and the novel’s author was posthumously inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame in 2020.

Nine and a Half Weeks (1978)

by Ingeborg Day/Elizabeth McNeill

best bdsm fiction books nine and a half weeks
Images via Amazon/Goodreads.

“There was no mistaking the power this man had over me. Like a well-made windup toy, whenever he set me in motion I came.”

Written in 1978 by Ingeborg Day using a nom de plume (Elizabeth McNeill), this classic novel is best remembered by many people as being the basis of the 1986 erotic film starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger.

Whilst the film is a good adaptation, the novel itself is a fantastic read and thoroughly deserves a place on this list.

Written as a memoir, an art gallery owner embarks on a passionate but brutal and sadomasochistic affair with a brutish wall-street broker. The sexual content is, at times, violent and even criminal with the protagonist suffering both physical and emotional abuse during the course of the book.

As the relationship evolves into ever more depraved acts, she is all to aware of the fact that she has been manipulated into loving this man although he shows he is not capable of loving her in return.

The final sequence of the book leaves the reader with a scene of abandonment as she is left in a mental hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown and her lover walks away from her.

The book is believed to be based on Day’s own experiences when she encountered a dominant, sadistic and controlling man when she was working for a large corporation in the 1970s.

Despite the personal account she is telling, the memoir has a cool detachment which adds to the intensity of the narrative. It is a powerful book that deftly highlights some of the psychology of attraction within this fetish as well as the damage that can be caused.

Best 5 Contemporary BDSM Novels

Moving to some more modern depictions of BDSM in literature, we have a selection of novels that have been written more recently.

It’s worth pointing out at this point that some publishers have a very dire understanding of what kinds of book cover appeals to audiences and this genre suffers a lot from some terrible dust jacket designs; just try not to judge a book by its cover!

The Killer Wore Leather

by Laura Antoniou

“Mr. Global Leather lies dead on the floor of his suite, wearing only very frilly, bright yellow panties. Cormac “Mack” Steel made a lot of enemies in his year wearing the studded leather sash…”

Best known for the Marketplace series (see below), Laura Antoniou is a well known author on the BDSM circuits and has been attending and delivering at alt-sex lectures and conventions for over twenty years.

The Killer Wore Leather is a darkly comic murder mystery that is set at the annual ball of the fetish/BDSM/leather community.

The victim, Cormac Steel, is the holder of last year’s Mr Global crown and has amassed plenty of enemies among the 3,000 strong event. This means there are a lot of suspects for Detective Rebecca Feldblum to rule out.

Feldblum is one of the NYCPD’s only lesbian detectives which gives her a sense of ‘affinity’ with this community yet she is both stunned and amused by the world she encounters.

At times, laugh out loud funny yet offering an engaging and well-written murder mystery this book explores the vast range of groups and personalities that will be familiar to anyone who is involved in the alt-sex scene.

It could only have been written by someone who knows the community well in order to create, not stereotypes but, caricatures for this diverse ensemble cast.

There is sex included within the novel but it’s all plot-driven and not just thrown in to make this an erotic and kinky read.

Push The Button

by Feminista Jones

best bdsm fiction books push the button
Image via Goodreads.

“I want to be trained in complete surrender and submission. I want you to guide me in that journey and provide me with the help and tools I need mentally, physically, and emotionally to do so.”

A lot of books about BDSM offer an insight into abusive relationships with violence being an inherent part of daily life. Yet, anyone who lives the life will know that normalcy is often just as important in the routine of a couple, even ones who identify as part of the fetish community.

This 2014 novel by social worker, Feminista Jones, shows exactly that and has created two central characters that are believable and authentic. She also aptly demonstrates that subs do not always conform to the simplistic stereotype that they are abused and broken people with mental health issues. In Push The Button, sub Nicole is an intelligent and accomplished woman who has made a choice to submit entirely to her partner.

As far as plot goes, this is a character driven journey of self-discovery and love with a few obstacles thrown in to test their devotion. David and Nicole indulge themselves in a life of fantasy despite their outward normality but this is all threatened when a secret from their past comes back to challenge their devotion to each other.

It’s a book that is not without its detractors and one recurring criticism is the inclusion of breath play in the book which some members of the community find offensively presented as safe. There is no sense that any of the kinks indulged in here are non-consensual and just as my kink is not your kink etc, not everyone will enjoy the same approach to fiction…but that’s also OK.

Safe Word: An Erotic S/M Novel

by Molly Weatherfield.

best bdsm fiction books safe word
Images via Goodreads.

Carrie leaves behind her life with Jonathan, the S/M master who initiated her into a life of slave auctions, training regimes, and human “ponies” preening for dressage competitions. Whisked away to Greece by the demanding gentleman who has chosen her as his own, she learns new, more rigorous methods of sexual pleasure.

A pair of books, the first being entitled Carrie’s Story: An Erotic S/M Novel, we’ve chosen the second as a good read. However, in order to appreciate the character a bit better you will need to read the first installment.

Carrie’s Story is fairly pedestrian as a BDSM novel and features a submissive woman who is curious about the life and turns to an older dominant man to induct her into the ways of this fetish world.

Of course, it follows that the Dom is part of an underground and secret BDSM society. To be honest, the book is nothing special and not an offensively bad read but is, ultimately, forgettable.

With the follow up Safe Word, Molly Weatherfield brings her audiences a very skilled and kinky novel that is far more revealing than the original title.

Each chapter switches viewpoints between the Dom and sub after they meet up a year after the first novel ends, and after she is sent off for some intensive training in Greece with her new master. They reconnect in their D/s relationship but due to the dual narrative you get a much greater sense of who these characters are and what drives them as well as learn more about the inner workings of that secret society.

There are also plenty of kinks explored along the way including pony and puppy play as well as some good, old-fashioned, BDSM scenes; all of which are smoothly written.

Overall, it’s a decent and artfully written book that delivers some memorable moments even if some people were dissatisfied by the ending…no spoilers!

Red

by Kate Kinsey

“Now I understand why some guys pay you to spank them.” Griggs snickered. “If it means they get to look at you dressed like this.”

Gina brought out a dog collar and buckled it around Griggs’s throat.

“Hey,” he said, fingering the collar as she snapped a leash to it. “Does this mean I’m your bitch?”

Herself a sub and collared to her own Dom for over fourteen years, Kate Kinsey knows a thing or two about the BDSM community in the bible belt. She was raised a Southern Baptist and brings all of her own knowledge and experience to bear in this plot-twisting, murder thriller of a book.

Red is an intelligent and fast paced read with strong and complex lead characters that make this much more than a stereotyped kink novel. Okay, there are some plot lines that stretch authenticity but you do get carried away because the writing is so tight and the momentum so expertly crafted.

The story goes a little something like this…

A series of mutilated bodies end up on the stomping ground of Detective Tom Hanson and the only thing that links them is the fact they were all members of an underground sex club. The goings on at the club are alien to Hanson but remind him of an ex-lover (a fiery redhead called Gina Larsen) who introduced him to the world of kinks.

Reaching out to her to help him navigate this underworld, he is drawn back into her seductive fantasies and soon he finds himself unable to maintain control. But does this new hunger for the dark fringes of eroticism jeopardize his investigations?

A dark and erotic thriller that is a romping good read, Red will entertain fans of serial killer fiction as well as those who want a novel with some great BDSM scenes.

The Leather Daddy and the Femme

by Carol Queen

best bdsm fiction books the leather daddy and the femme
Image via Goodreads.

“Today, for me, her gender seemed a null, a promise, a projection screen; neither masculine nor feminine, or perhaps both at once⁠—but no less erotically powerful or compelling for the confusion I felt when I looked at her.”

Though not a novel that centers around BDSM, The Leather Daddy and the Femme by Carol Queen certainly has enough content of this kind to warrant its inclusion on our list.

Set in San Francisco in the 1990s, the book follows a diverse cast of queer and alternative characters who are hell bent on exploring their gender and sexual orientation by any means possible. From femme vamps and gay queens to butch dykes and macho men there is every stereotype you can imagine.

The main plot focuses on a gay leather daddy who is seduced by a young boy, Randy, who turns out to be a woman in drag, Miranda. It’s a bit of surprise when she emerges from the bathroom during their liaison as an elegant woman! There follows an exchange of interrelated stories of encounters with pro-dommes, male to female and female to male transsexuals as well as ex-wives, diesel girlfriends and feminist disapprovers.

The Leather Daddy and the Femme occupies an important space in the history of the alternative sex scene and BDSM/leather community and faithfully depicts a San Francisco that will be familiar to those who experienced the scene in its heyday.

Queen’s book is well loved by many as a novel that describes gender fluidity well before it became a buzzword. It is an inventive and erotic book that is easy to read in one sitting but you’ll wish you devoured it for longer.

Other Contemporary BDSM Books

Some other great contemporary fiction titles that are well worth adding to your reading list include

  • Wicked Ties by Shayla Black
  • Bared To You by Sylvia Day
  • The D/s Blog by Discerning Dom
  • Haven by Rebekah Witherspoon
  • Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters

Best 5 BDSM Series

Some authors are more prolific than others and some authors don’t know when to quit! Yes, there are lots of bad, bad series of books out there, many of which are churned out in a shameless effort to cash in on the success of this genre following the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon.

However, not all series of BDSM fiction are awful and if a writer is good at their work then who are we to stop them?

Again, fiction is very much horses for courses so not all of these suggestions will resonate with everyone but there is certainly a good selection to choose from. The beauty of finding a good author from this collection is that there is plenty more titles to choose from; no more feeling bereft when you finish that final chapter.

Masters of the Shadowlands

by Cherise Sinclair

best bdsm fiction book series masters of the shadowlands
Images via Cherise Sinclair (Official Website).

“He’d seen when she began to panic, but he hadn’t offered comfort like other Doms or changed his plans. He’d just waited her out. She could hate him a little for that.”

With 14 titles, Masters of the Shadowlands is an epic series of books written over a decade with the original being published in 2009 and the last in 2018.

The sage begins when Jessica, a professional accountant, breaks down in her care during a tropical storm and, seeking shelter, she discovers a private bondage club (Club Shadowlands) run by Master Z. Intrigued by the interactions between Doms and subs, Jessica soon finds herself aroused by, and drawn into, this new and exciting world.

Don’t be disheartened by the slightly ‘pedestrian’ blurb for the opening book; it does get a lot better as the series progresses and Sinclair herself grows into the role courier of tales. Fortunately, it is not Jessica or Master Z that are the stars of the series, it is the club itself (Shadowlands) and all of its subs and Masters.

Each novel takes a different story of the club’s various members and you will find yourself revisiting bit-part characters in later books as their own stories unfold.

Everybody is different and each has their own favorite title but the most enduringly popular seems to be Book 3, Breaking Free. In it, a woman (scarred by an abusive marriage) is assigned a brutal but experienced Dom to tackle her submission issues.

Pushed to the limit, she learns the pleasure of relinquishing total control but the lies she has told to her Dom threaten to destroy the balance of their relationship. Ultimately a love story, Breaking Free has a crossover appeal to vanilla audiences that some of the other titles don’t.

For the most part, the books are all really well-written but do have a tendency towards romance with BDSM erotica but, at least Sinclair does have a good understanding of the scene with a decent amount of authenticity….even if it is a little ‘picturesque’ in places.

Well loved by legions of fans, both BDSM kinksters and otherwise, the series is widely available through online stores like Amazon, AbeBooks and Book Depository.

The Inside Out Series

by Lisa Renee Jones

best bdsm fiction book series inside out
Image via Lisa Renee Jones (Official Website).

“The rush of fear is far better than the defeat of boredom. The high of not knowing what comes next, so much better than always knowing one day will be like the last.”

Cut from the same cloth as Fifty Shades of Grey, the Inside Out series is a collection of 15 books which follow the life of central character Sara McMillan. An English teacher who happens to come into possession of a mysterious journal that vividly recounts all the details of a scintillating but dark affair.

When the entries in the journal reach an abrupt end, Sara is compelled to find out what happened to the unknown writer and she embarks on a voyage of discovery, retracing the woman’s footsteps and, by doing so, unwittingly being drawn into the same seductive life.

Not to everyone’s tastes, the Inside Out books are very much a gateway book to the world of BDSM and will suit those who are curious about the magnetic appeal of this fetish. They are cleverly written with a strong and authentic voice with some suspenseful storytelling that will draw you in.

Award-winning author Lisa Renee Jones is a prolific writer and has more than 40 fiction titles to her name across several other series including Tall, Dark and Deadly, The Secret Life of Amy Bensen and a spin-off of the Inside Out series, Careless Whispers.

Finding Anna Series

by Sherri Hayes

best bdsm fiction book series finding anna
Image via Amazon.

“With Brianna it was different. I’d never played with someone so damaged. Of course, we weren’t playing. No matter how much I waited and watched, Brianna’s personality showed no signs of emerging during the long weekend. The only real emotion I saw in four days was fear.”

Though ostensibly a series of books about the relationship of a dominant man who purchases his own slave, the Finding Anna collection of books by Sherri Hayes is actually a very tender but passionate, albeit alternative, love story.

Well written and with great attention to detail, the characters have depth and authentic emotions that will resonate with most people who have ever been involved in a relationship built on power dynamics.

The series runs to four titles (Slave, Need, Trust and Truth) with a simple premise at its heart; Brianna a serial ‘slave’ to several masters understands that she has nothing and is nothing. After trying numerous times to escape she is sold on to a new master, Stephan.

A full-time commitment a fearful Brianna has no will of her own and relies on her Dominant 24/7. What follows is a tender ‘re-training’ of a submissive who has been abused and neglected and leads to some beautifully poignant internal conflicts for both the lead characters.

As well as exploring the psychology of BDSM, the novels touch on themes like patience, faith, loyalty and truth in a way that you won’t expect. A very unique series that are well worth a read.

The Marketplace Series

by Laura Antoniou

best bdsm fiction book series the marketplace
Images via Goodreads.

“I want to feel that I can’t stop it. I want to be really mastered, taken over by someone who isn’t going to stop doing things because I’m not getting off on it. Someone who knows enough not to endanger me, unless that was what was intended………”

Author of The Killer Wore Leather (see above), Laura Antoniou has written many books on the subjects of BDSM, leather and other fetishes and is widely acknowledged as a pioneer in the field of erotic, and alt-sex, erotic fiction.

She is best known for The Marketplace series which runs to a collection of six books:

  • The Marketplace (1993)
  • The Slave (1994)
  • The Trainer (1995)
  • The Academy (1999)
  • The Reunion (2002)
  • The Inheritor (2015)

Written over a period of more than twenty years, the books follow the lives and loves of a secret society of owners, mistresses and master and their chattels (slaves, submissives, maids and butlers). The dominant characters buy and sell aspiring slaves who work hard to be trained well so they will become a highly prized possession.

Each novel explores different aspects of the society and Antoniou depicts a culture that centers around duty and honor with absolute servitude being at the heart of all her stories. She writes with intelligence, sensuality and passion and delivers some fantastic and memorable scenes you will want to keep coming back to.

Certainly the series has legions of fans who crop up time and again at various conventions wielding copies of the books for the author to sign.

In our opinion, The Marketplace is an epic saga with some enthralling story-lines that are well written around a cast of intriguing and clandestine characters.

Gor Series

by John Norman

best bdsm fiction book series gor series john norman
Image via Pinterest.

“How incredibly, and yet rationally and justifiably, I felt at his mercy. He was my master. He owned me. He could do whatever he wanted with me. He could trade me or sell me, or even slay me upon a whim, should he wish. I was absolutely his, his girl.”

We said there would be something for everyone in this list and we weren’t wrong with the inclusion of this epic series of novels that combine science fiction and interplanetary fantasy.

With 34 titles published over several decades spanning from 1966 to present day, getting involved in this series is like having a second job but if you enjoy speculative fiction, alternate universes and immersive worlds then this will be right up your alley.

Sometimes compared to a pornographic Discworld set in outer space, John Norman (aka philosophy professor John Lange) is certainly no Terry Pratchett but his work has inspired a similar cult following.

Known as Gorean fandom, this subculture of fans incorporate various elements of Norman’s counter-earth into their lives; from sexual roleplaying to online gaming there is even a non-fictional sex manual (also written by Norman) by which elaborate Gorean fantasies can be enacted.

The whole series is far too complex to condense in this feature but needless to say that the book is largely built around a culture of dominant men and submissive women who are often kidnapped, coerced and abused and/or placed in slavery.

Gor is not without its critics and has, relative to many of the titles on our list, far more than average with many detractors simply believing that the books are sexist, and cause nothing but widespread offence.

True, the themes of sadomasochism are explored in all aspects here and there is ritual humiliation of women as well as an undercurrent of what seems to be Norman’s own philosophies of female objectification and even a suggestion that women like to be beaten.

Nevertheless, there is no avoiding the cultural influence that the books have had on BDSM communities with some even suggesting that the novels have (in part) helped shape some of the modern tenets and protocols that are common in BDSM role play.

Other BDSM Series

There are a lot of great series available and far too many to review in great detail with many sharing similar plots and characters but, nevertheless, which are well worth reading. We think the following deserve a place on your bedside reading table:

  • The Original Sinners Series by Tiffany Reisz
  • Brie’s Submission by Red Phoenix
  • Sleeping Beauty Quartet by A. N. Roquelaure
  • Masters and Mercenaries by Lexi Blake
  • The Unfinished Hero Series by Kristen Ashley
  • Up In The Air Series by RK Lilley
  • Rescue Me Series by Kallypso Masters

Best Dark Romance BDSM

And finally, we’ve pulled together a little list of some BDSM books that are popular in the ‘dark romance’ genre. Some have, as they say in the trade, a HEA (Happy Ever After) ending but whilst they may conclude in a neat and satisfying way, this doesn’t detract from their value as a good read; after all, sometimes you just need a fix of fantasy fiction:

  • Collared by the Billionaire by Emma York
  • Cuffed & Dominated by Melissa Davenport & Camille Crosby
  • Daddy Wanted by Susi Hawke & Piper Scott
  • Daddy’s Secret Mountain House by Nina Rains
  • Disgrace by Dee Palmer
  • Feather by Drew A. Lennox
  • Grace by Dee Palmer
  • I is For …by Dubois
  • In His Silks by Patricia D. Eddy
  • Keep Me by Cate Bellerose
  • Kneel by Dani Rene
  • Knocked Up and Punished by Penelope Bloom
  • Leather & Lace by Samantha A. Cole
  • No Entry by Claire Thompson
  • No Refusal by Claire Thompson
  • Polished by Alyssa Turner
  • Secrets by Claire Thompson
  • Surrender to Me by Claire Thompson
  • The Billionaire’s Desires by Nicole Casey
  • The Gypsy and the Rogue by Claire Thompson
  • The House of Pain by Tara Crescent
  • Torn by Lexie Syrah

AUTHOR PROFILE

Paul Cassidy

Paul has been a regular contributor on AdultVisor since 2017. His work -- which he describes as his "professional dirty pleasure"! -- has been published on several adult industry blogs, including Red Light Australia, Euro Sex Scene, Asia Sex Scene. A native of the UK, Paul is currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
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