Felicity Brandon's Hide & Seek

Let me start out this review by saying that I'm very disappointed in Felicity.

Her latest story is called Hide & Seek, is only sixteen pages in length and can be literally read in about twenty minutes.  It's priced at 99 cents, which is a relief since Felicity's publisher seems to normally think they can foist short to medium length stories off on the unsuspecting public as novels, with similar prices. (Note to Wildheart Books: 50k words makes a novel.) Even then Hide & Seek, due to its length, is only barely worth the coin.

That said, Hide & Seek itself showcases author Felicity Brandon's quality descriptive writing. She is articulate, understands timing and tension, and uses actions to reveal deeper motives within her characters. Hide & Seek, for all intents and purposes, is a short story designed to titillate the senses.  For what it is, I have to say that it has been written well.  It's arousing, intriguing, and delightfully playful, perfect for a little out loud reading while having your favorite subbie strapped down to something while a feather and your purple wand alternatively dance across their skin.  It's short enough that you can read it one session, and just fun enough that it can certainly prime the pump for whatever you and the previously mentioned subbie might get up to. 

But there are some negatives.  Hide & Seek is nothing but porn without plot.  It's a journal entry, written in first person (I did this) and then again in present tense (I write this), a narrative and tense mode I find absurdly simplistic unless combined with complicated plots or in-depth characters (and I don't mean the capacity to take a twelve inch long dildo when I mean depth.) The characters in Hide & Seek have no name and little to no description.  Everything is about the action and emotion of the main character, the submissive girl who likes to start off her sexual games by hiding from her lover like a recalcitrant child.  Even here I was disappointed.  Of all the fun games we played as children, an adult version sounds like something I'd like to try.  Unfortunately Hide & Seek quickly becomes a spanking game and has little to do with hiding or seeking.

I would have preferred meeting our main character out and about in a mall, fearfully looking over her shoulder, wondering if or when he will find her.  She darts into a clothing store, looking around, only to jump in shock as his hand closes down upon her arm.  She is found, and the punishment is a new toy for her to endure, a plug, nipple clamps, or a vibrator perhaps, and he takes a single article of clothing, leaving her something terribly slutty in exchange.  Then back out into the mall with a five minute head start. Now THAT'S a game of Hide & Seek.  End it with the spanking and sex and I'm hooked.

 I definitely think it's time for Felicity to get serious about her writing.  She's obviously a talented wordsmith who can craft a simple tale, but now I want to read something erotically charged with her unique turn of phrase and capacity at description, with a viable plot that isn't merely a description of a fun evening at home.  I need adventure, excitement... and purpose would be nice too.  For 99 cents I guess Hide & Seek is worth it, but be prepared for the quick dip in the pool this is.  Felicity is ready (and needs) to play more serious games than Hide & Seek.  Seven out of ten on this one.

You can get your copy of Felicity Brandon's Hide & Seek at Amazon.com.

Customer Service - By Felicity Brandon

I’m not a fan of present tense narratives under most circumstances.  The awkwardness of the prose always seems to distract, and yet there are authors who use it with skill and grace.  Suzanne Collins who wrote Hunger Games did it well, using the present tense narrative form to keep the readers in the dark about how the plot ends.  In the erotic world, author Felicity Brandon does it with style, though more from a personal preference than out of the necessity of plot.  Even more incredibly, Felicity Brandon writes from a first person perspective, forcing action, dialog, and even description through the lens of a narrator, and not just an author’s pen.  And she does it well.

Her latest short story, “Customer Service” is pure gold, balancing action, dialog, and description in a sexually tense and fascinating way.  In it, Felicity Brandon introduces us to Polly, a beleaguered waitress dealing with the dreaded customer “Rachel” who wraps her arrogance and bad attitude around herself like a cloak.  Polly discovers a note with Rachel’s phone number on it and a personal message.  Intrigued, Polly calls and finds herself willingly submitting to the dominatrix, whose attitude doesn’t change, even in the privacy of her own home.  The sex is steamy, the descriptions poignant, and the tension builds.

The only critical complaint I can give – is that I wished the story kept going.  Rachel is an amazing character with vibrant colors and an unforgiving attitude that makes me like her, despite her aggressive and haughty behavior.  I almost wish she had offered Polly a job as house maid.  It would have been totally appropriate and I would have loved to read Polly’s reaction to the humiliating uniform and demanding antics of Rachel. 

“Customer Service” is a short, fast read, filled with eroticism and romance that anyone, man or woman, would enjoy.  I heartily recommend this tale and give it a full ten out of ten rating. It's currently priced at 99 cents and I think, despite being a ten minute read, might actually be worth it.

You can pick up a copy of "Customer Service" at Amazon.com.
Visit Felicity's website at  http://fbrandonfiction.wix.com/felicity-brandon-

Follow Felicity Brandon's Twitter: @FelicityBrandon
Or follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felicitybrandonerotica

Review: Disciplinary Action Anthology

This memorial day weekend I perused Disciplinary Action, a brief anthology of short stories by several different authors linked with Xcite Books, a publisher of erotica.  There were five stories included in the anthology.  Overall the collection isn't bad, however it certainly wasn't worth the $2.99 cost.  Anthologies generally need to be used by publishers as a sort of means to introduce their pantheon of authors.  My primary issue with the price was that overall the collection was only 51 pages long.  I sell full length novels for $2.99 and in the cutthroat industry of e-book erotica, $2.99 for a 51 page anthology is a death sentence.  I'd have serious reservations about buying another Xcite book again unless I knew the author and loved their work.

The first story in the anthology is Disciplinary Action by Felicity Brandon and sets the tone for the rest of the anthology.  The plot, which is a timeless classic, involves a rather unbelievable young woman in similarly unbelievable circumstances, being blackmailed into sexual submissive by her employer.  Ms. Brandon's strength lies in the emotional content of the main character but the action is unfortunately predictable.  The antagonist (or depending on your viewpoint, the PROtagonist) Mr. Carlton explains that he has video tape of the main character: Megan, copulating with a fellow co-worker during the Christmas Party, on premises, and then proceeds to fondle her while she's watching.  With only the video hanging over her, Megan suddenly finds that not only is she submissive, but likes it, and allows Carlton to punish her with a spanking and screw her brains out.  The action is precisely what you would expect  and while readers will enjoy the description of Megan's emotional turmoil, they'll be racking their brains trying to explain away her actions, which make no logical sense.  Why is Megan willing to submit to this man with so little to sway her?  Were she being accused of theft, I could possibly understand it.  But a single video of her having fun with a co-worker, off the clock?  And before she can even come to an agreement with her employer, the man begins fondling her?  Can any one say sexual harassment?  

"Disciplinary Action" is followed up by Beverly Langland's "Sandra's Stockings" a short hash of a mess constructed with simple sentences and short prose that makes it choppy and difficult to read.  Admittedly, I'm not a foot fetishist and find the idea of sucking some woman's used stockings to be unattractive.  But that is the risk of an anthology.  The plot revolves around Lucy, a submissive who serves an older woman and happens to be entranced with her stockings, and tells of the day that her life changed as she began to "serve" Mistress Sandra.  The narrative bounces between present and past tense abruptly and the entire story is more of a journal than a story with an active plot.

The gem of the anthology is the teaser story "Who is the Keymaster and Who The Key" by Ralph Greco, Jr.  In this short tale, classic playboy Ken, who certainly has a thing for his best friend's wife Lisa, gets her to put a chastity cage on his manhood, limiting his usual antics to seething frustration.  The sexual tension in this tale is masterfully done and despite the fact that I would never, ever, place myself in Ken's position, I found myself aroused from the idea of it alone.  The prose is excellent and the narrative compelling.

We are then subjected to "Daddy’s House" by Angel Propps, a strange conglomeration that adds a healthy dose of confusion to a mix of lesbian sex and punishment.  The author does a great job describing the characters and uses adjectives almost to a fault, peppering her sentences with them almost as an afterthought.  We are introduced to a powerful dominatrix of a woman in the very first paragraph, only to stare in bewilderment as we learn that she makes her submissive house slaves call her "Daddy".  Why? No idea.  It makes no sense.  It's as if she is so dominant, so testosterone laden, she actually wants to be a man.  I always thought that being a dominant woman was about being in control, yet ALSO being a woman.  Angel Propps does nothing to explain this disparity.  Then things get weirder when either the worst repetitive typo in history rears it's ugly head or for another unexplained reason, the submissive women living with "Daddy" are called "grrls."  Yes, you might have noticed there are no vowels in the world "grrls," which made no sense to me and was instantly classified in the same category as the lesbian dominatrix being called "Daddy".  After carefully filing those two oddities in my WTF drawer, I moved on through another formulaic plot that was saved from borishness by the author's capable action scenes.  The punishment she inflicts upon the "grlls" is creative and interesting, but the sexual tension really doesn't move in any direction.

Lastly we are given "The Art Master" by J. Smith, another story with a plot concept so old and unlikely that it almost scares me.  I'm not sure if J. Smith is a woman or man, but rest assured regardless of the author's gender, there are not many men out there who are "professional dominants" and sell their services to highly attractive woman who secretly wish to be abused and ravished by their ideal man.  I'm guessing that the "art master" must formally be either an Old Spice spokesman or an Axe commercial guy.  With this questionable story base used for the foundation, we are then treated to a repeat of every other spanking sex story every written.  Rest assured, I believe that old and well-used plots can be revitalized  by a talented author, but it takes creativity to do it.  "The Art Master" brings nothing new to the table.

All in all I can't recommend purchasing this book.  To put it in baseball terminology, three strikes, one double, and one home run doesn't make the game.  Two of the authors, Felicity Brandon and Ralph Greco, Jr. are probably worth reading on their own, but that will have to be a review for another day.

In summary, I give Disciplinary Action a 6 out of 10 rating.