Slave Fic: Some Personal Preferences

[maculategiraffe]

He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul
And there won't be a single thing that you can do

-Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Red Right Hand"

So, I'm actually gonna post something here.

You can probably tell from my userinfo why I created this journal. I'm a kinky bitch and have been from my cradle (I have distinct memories of getting excited by Lady Aberlin curtseying and murmuring with her eyes demurely downcast, "Correct as usual, King Friday" on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood). It wasn't until fairly recently (yes, I live under a rock) that I realized I wasn't the only one who found this sort of thing irresistible-- and always had, from before my sexuality had even really emerged-- and it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I found the slavefics community on here. Then I saw lapillus' fascinating post on what she likes about slave-oriented fiction. I'm not going to attempt a cool thorough analytical look at my preferences and the reasons behind them at this stage, but I did decide to write out a few of the things that distinctly Work or Do Not Work for me and maybe a poke at why, because this really is the kind of thing I find interesting, and for a lot of my life, as much as I tend to think and overthink, this is something I haven't thought about, because I thought I was just weird and messed up. Which, maybe I am, but hey, at least I'm not the only one. :)

THINGS I DON'T LIKE

Slave fic set in actual historical periods of slavery. Yes, when I was eleven I breathed hard to Quo Vadis?, Ben-Hur, The Prince and the Pauper, and Uncle Tom's Cabin, just like everybody else. (Right?) But once I realized I wasn't the only one getting turned on by this sort of thing-- and started reading things labeled "slave fic," instead of just picking and pecking out my slave-oriented fiction where I gratefully happened to stumble on it-- I started being kind of weirded out by ones that took place in "real" historical settings. I'm not saying it can't be done well, but it's a turn-off. I think it's hard to do that kind of thing respectfully, is all, and why step into a sensitive situation when you can just make up your own worlds?

(I'm pretty sure all the above-mentioned early wank material is historically inaccurate enough to count as fantasy anyway. God, speaking of which, who else saw that ubersexy made-for-TV Joseph, with all those chains and shivering and disorientation and husky pleading and thinly veiled slash between Joseph and the gorgeously arrogant, gleaming, manaically-laughing young Pharaoh? I was twelve years old when that came out, and watching it with my parents, and lord but I squirmed.)

Slave fic where the good/sympathetic characters constantly feel the need to discuss how very, very evil slavery is. Institutional slavery is wrong, mmmkay. Hopefully we all acknowledge that. But dude-- you're writing slave fic, and thus you acknowledge that while slavery may be wrong in real life, it is also hella interesting in fiction, which is where we happen to be right now. I can appreciate fic where the "master" is anti-slavery but forced to keep a slave for whatever reason-- an interesting dynamic can develop there, if the plot convolutions required to keep him acting like a master are well handled. (Slave fic where the master buys the slave in the first five seconds and immediately demands that he stop acting like a slave altogether and call his master Joe tends to irritate me; come on, dude, that's not slave fic, that's rescue fic, or rehab fic, or something.) And I understand that slavery is a terrible institution and some people find it prerequisite to liking a character that he take a firm stand against it. But if someone was born into a culture where slavery is an assumption, I think he can be a decent and likable person without being an abolitionist, and I think that's an interesting dynamic to explore, especially IN FANTASY.

Fic where the slave is rebellious and mouthy and has to be "broken in." Just not my kink. I like the opposite dynamic, the "broken slave needs healing" hurt/comfort vibe. I don't like gratuitous cruelty, except as an unspoken threat or a "missing reel" to furnish the hurt/fear for later comfort.

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THINGS I LIKE

Fic wherein a slave goes from a terrible scary awful situation to a kind gentle situation. It's just the very basic hurt/comfort dynamic-- does it for pretty much everyone, I think. I actually prefer that the terrible scary awful situation be mostly on the missing reel, because fear is more interesting to me than actual torture. For one thing, torture is relative, and what scares the hell out of one person might sound like a nice evening out to another, so scenes of actual torture tend to fail for me because they don't excite my imagination the way, say, a slave crying and begging beforehand, or huddled blank-eyed in a corner afterwards, might do.

Abjection. Period. You know that part in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat where the brothers sing a little chorus that goes, "Grovel, grovel, cringe, bow, stoop, fall/ Worship, worship, beg, kneel, sponge, crawl?" I love that part. This one might be too visceral for me to even look at why I'm so into it. I just... am.

Fic wherein a slave is explicitly treated as merchandise of a certain monetary and social value. As opposed to fic wherein a slave is treated as if the goal of slavery were to hurt and degrade, instead of that just being a side effect. I have a huge objectification kink (speaking of Quo Vadis?, the scene where Petronius Arbiter sends Eunice off to be whipped and tells them to take care not to damage her pretty skin always gave me little goosebumps) and it bugs me when masters treat slaves as if they hadn't paid good money for them. Slaves are expensive, yo! And in any remotely civilized society where slavery exists, there's going to be a-- social code-- about how to treat your slaves. Some people definitely aren't going to follow it, just like some people keep their dogs chained up in the backyard with no water, but most of society is going to think those people are nasty and trashy, even if they have no objection to slavery (or dog-owning) per se. I enjoy fic where the lines are blurred between real human sympathy and plain irritation at seeing a valuable piece of property mistreated.

And along those same lines, I particularly like detailed explanations of how slavery functions in this society. That sort of thing fascinates me. How does it work? How do you "other" the slaves? Are they a different race? A different gender? Less civilized? Less intelligent? Do they deserve it in some way, or is it just one of those things where shit happens to certain people and what are you going to do? Why don't the slaves rebel? Are they brainwashed, threatened, too small a minority, too scattered, content with their lot in life, or completely broken in spirit? How does the supply replenish itself (breeding, kidnapping, wars with lots of prisoner-taking, the justice system...)? How and under what circumstances does a decent person accept the fact of slavery without becoming a non-decent person? Is he eventually going to have to walk away from Omelas, or what? These questions are interesting ones, and I love to see them explored; it's one of the more compelling forms of worldbuilding for me.

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Besides the above-mentioned handful of slave- and power-oriented novels (and movies) that did it for me as a child, here are a few other notes on reading material:

BOOKS I GOT A LOT OUT OF BEFORE I WAS OLD ENOUGH TO CHOOSE MY OWN READING MATTER

Little Pilgrims' Progress, an adapted version of Bunyan's classic for children, by Helen Taylor. Whips! Chains! Fear and trembling! There's one scene in this book where the Little Pilgrim does something bad, and Moses comes along and canes him with his rod while he's crying and begging him to stop, and then Jesus comes along and tells Moses to stop and takes Little Christian in his arms and comforts him. Oh my God. I used to lie in bed and imagine that scene over and over.

Hinds' Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard. This is another Christian allegory, about a girl named Much-Afraid, who is afraid of much, and the Good Shepherd, who is her loving but stern disciplinarian as she learns how to be stronger and better.

Elsie Dinsmore, by Martha Finley. Written in the nineteenth century and given to generations of innocent God-fearing little girls, this book is all about the most naturally abject child ever, her very stern disciplinarian father, and a series of incidents wherein he yells at her or makes her sit somewhere for an extended period of time and she either cries until she's sick or literally faints dead away with misery and fear. There's actually a part where one of Elsie's more spirited friends teases her about how submitted she is to her father, and asks her if she enjoys it when her father whips her "because the pain comes from your dear papa", and Elsie blushes. SO KINKY.

BOOKS I READ AS A GUILTILY KINKY ADOLESCENT AND STILL LOVE

Winter of Fire, by Sherryl Jordan. Gorgeous worldbuilding, fascinating and sexy power dynamics, and a twist of feminism. What's not to love? Well, okay, there's the fact that the main character, Elsha, is a total Mary Sue, to the extent that before we'd heard the term "Mary Sue," my best friend and I used to refer to canon Mary Sues as "Elshas," as in "I liked A Ring of Endless Light, but I kind of thought Vicky was a bit of an Elsha." But I don't mind that so much, personally, if the rest of it is done well.

Songmaster, by Orson Scott Card. A pretty, innocent, damaged young boy's contractual enslavement to the jaded and bitter emperor of the galaxy is never going to come amiss, is it? Again, really nice worldbuilding, and I love the characterizations. Of course it's Card, so any hint of homosexual desire has to be punished by terrible ruination, but there's still plenty here to love.

The Silver Metal Lover and Metallic Love, by Tanith Lee. Oh, Silver. Tanith Lee does both scary and tender well, but I think she's at her peak with both in these two, particularly the second (the first one does get a bit mawkish at times). Lots of interesting "other"ing, bonding in the face of "other"ing, and shifting of power dynamics, which I always find intriguing.

Thomas the Rhymer, by Ellen Kushner. A mortal is stolen away to Fairyland to basically be the Elf Queen's sex slave for seven years. There's nothing explicit, but the whole dynamic where he's living in a strange place, wild with desire and need for this strange inhuman creature who's keeping him as a cute pet, and the rest of the elves' attitudes towards him range from appalled curiosity to casual hostility, works wonderfully for me. It goes downhill a bit after he gets returned to earth, but it's still a really good book.


BOOKS I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN INTO EVEN THOUGH YOU'D THINK I WOULD

The Kushiel books (too manipulative, not enough fear/abjection)
The Gor books (too mean, not enough comfort, also crappily written)
The Beauty books (too contrived, not enough plausible worldbuilding)
The Marquis de Sade (too sexual, not enough emotion)

BOOKS I WOULD NEVER BE TIRED OF REREADING IF I COULD FRIKKIN FIND THEM AGAIN

Maybe someone can help me with this? It was a novel from the Juvenile section of the public library when I was a kid, hardcover with a teal green binding, and it was about Akhenaton and Nefertiti and their attempts to turn Egypt into a monotheistic society. It was written with a strong Judeo-Christian bent, as I recall-- the implication being that the One True God whom Akhenaton wanted everyone to worship was, in fact the One True God-- but the part that I loved was about this serving-man who became Akhenaton's trusted councillor and then fell from grace. There was a lot of abjection and kneeling and pleading in it. I loved it. I cannot find it. I've combed my hometown's library and tried Google and Amazon and abe and everything else I can think of. I'm sure I didn't dream it. Anyone?