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Carried Away
Scorching hot leathersex is only the start when a jaded bottomboy and a one-time Master come together for some no-strings bondage and s/m. But after lust is sated, each finds a deeper hunger within that moves them unexpectedly toward partnership as Owner and owned. Set in the early1990s in New York City, Carried Away is not only replete with hard-core bondage and ferocious it's a love story between two men who are equals in intelligence and character, but opposites in temperament. Terry Andrews is a successful architect and all-around topman with a passion for bondage and the means to indulge it. Matt Stone manages a large bookstore, but he lives for the times when he can surrender control. When these two come together at the Spike, the legendary leather bar, neither is looking for a new partner, just a night of hot action. They get that, and much almost in spite of themselves, they forge a deeper connection. Matt gradually realizes that he needs to belong to someone, not simply let himself be played with and released. For his part, Terry simply needs to own what he loves, and once he falls for Matt, enslaving him is the only option! "Goodnight, Mr. Benson - it's time to give the '70s a rest. Besides some of the most sizzling, astoundingly detailed bondage and s/m scenes ever written, Carried Away gives us believable, complex characters struggling with jobs and responsibilities, genuine loss, and frightening realities that have nothing to do with make-believe. The author's passion for his subject weaves throughout the text like ropes in the hands of a Japanese-bondage expert. An instantly engaging tour de force. Highly recommended!" - Laura Antoniou, author of The Marketplace, The Slave, The Trainer, and The Academy "If anyone is qualified to write hot and realistic man-to-man s/m fiction, it would be david stein, whose lifelong activism within the leather community has bolstered the growth of a whole new world of erotic opportunities. The bondage sex in this book is depicted with great accuracy and feeling, and the characters are well-developed and true to life, making it easy to identify with them. This detailed story reads so smoothly, you'll lose track of the number of pages and wish there was more of it." - Patrick Califia, author of Macho Sluts and Sensuous Magic "Carried Away may not be the great American novel, but for those who can see voluntary slavery as a laudable way of life and courtship by a Master as romantic, david stein has performed a great feat of literature. By showing what is actually possible, he does for our sometimes ploddingly realistic times what John Preston did for an earlier and more fanciful time. The truth of the lives Carried Away examines will never be forgotten by any serious reader." -Joseph W. Bean, author of Leathersex and Leathersex Q&A, editor of Leathersex Short Fiction "Realistic, compassionate, shocking, arousing - one of the best gay male s/m novels I've read. By making the world of gay Masters and slaves more accessible, david stein has opened doors the narrow-minded want to keep closed. Carried Away shows that love in an s/m context can be the greatest adventure of all." - Victor Terry, author of WHiPs, Masters, SM/SD, and Tying Knot
582 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
12 people are currently reading
348 people want to read
About the author
David Stein
9 books12 followersBorn in Pittsburgh in 1948, David Stein grew up in Western Pennsylvania. After high school, he went off to study philosophy at New York University in 1965 and later at Northwestern, where he earned an M.A. degree and met all requirements for a Ph.D. except the dissertation, which he was too perfectionist to finish. In 1975 he fell into publishing and in 1977 landed back in New York City, where he got a job as a magazine editor (from which he was laid off in 2006). He’s lived there ever since except for a year in San Francisco to produce his story collection, Boots Bondage and Beatings, and the nonfiction Ask the Man Who Owns Him for his new Perfectbound Press imprint. His romantic yet realistic novel about a gay Master/slave relationship, Carried Away, was started in the late 1980s and completed and published, by Daedalus, in 2002.
In 1980 David co-founded New York City’s Gay Male S/M Activists (GMSMA), once the world’s largest gay SM organization, and served it in many capacities, from president to newsletter editor and program chairman, for the next 11 years. In 1983, for that group’s statement of purpose, David coined “safe, sane, and consensual SM,” now a ubiquitous slogan he has mixed feelings about. Retired from GMSMA, he co-founded and helped lead New York’s gay chapter of Masters And slaves Together, from which he is also now retired.
For six years he wrote the “Bond+Aid” safety column for Bound&Gagged magazine, and in 1996 he guest-edited issue #14 of International Leatherman magazine, devoted entirely to real-world gay Masters and slaves. Over the years, his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Drummer, DungeonMaster, International Leatherman, Mach, Power Play, and other periodicals as well as the anthologies Leatherfolk, edited by Mark Thompson (Alyson); SM Classics, edited by Susan Wright (Masquerade); Horsemen, edited by Joseph W. Bean (Leyland); Men on the Edge, edited by Christopher Pierce (StarBooks); and The Academy, a “novelology” by Laura Antoniou (Circlet Press). Some of his other writing is available online at his personal website, as is a fuller biographical essay.
In 1980 David co-founded New York City’s Gay Male S/M Activists (GMSMA), once the world’s largest gay SM organization, and served it in many capacities, from president to newsletter editor and program chairman, for the next 11 years. In 1983, for that group’s statement of purpose, David coined “safe, sane, and consensual SM,” now a ubiquitous slogan he has mixed feelings about. Retired from GMSMA, he co-founded and helped lead New York’s gay chapter of Masters And slaves Together, from which he is also now retired.
For six years he wrote the “Bond+Aid” safety column for Bound&Gagged magazine, and in 1996 he guest-edited issue #14 of International Leatherman magazine, devoted entirely to real-world gay Masters and slaves. Over the years, his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Drummer, DungeonMaster, International Leatherman, Mach, Power Play, and other periodicals as well as the anthologies Leatherfolk, edited by Mark Thompson (Alyson); SM Classics, edited by Susan Wright (Masquerade); Horsemen, edited by Joseph W. Bean (Leyland); Men on the Edge, edited by Christopher Pierce (StarBooks); and The Academy, a “novelology” by Laura Antoniou (Circlet Press). Some of his other writing is available online at his personal website, as is a fuller biographical essay.
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May 29, 2015DNF at 27%
I was mistaken when I thought it could be interesting to have insight into a gay Master/slave relationship. I normally don't enjoy a BDSM topic in my books, but I was curious. The author, being himself a co-founder of GMSMA (Gay Male S/M Activists) and an active member of MAsT (Masters And slaves Together),knows what he is writing about, without any doubts. And in spite of the fact, that Carried Away is a fiction novel-I can't see it as a romance though, sorry!- it tells us with a documentary character about the essential rules of this lifestyle and the the subjective perception of sexuality among those gay men, who have chosen this kind of relationship for their liveis. They have my respect, but it's beyond my comprehension.
For sure it's an educational read. But I just don't know what to do with this knowledge. This book is written for the specific target audience, and I simply don't belong to it. No rating.
December 6, 2012
“Carried Away” changed my whole mindset about BDSM books.
Until then, I’d been mildly amused by the sexy handcuffs, the odd flick of leather or swat of paddle that I’d come across in my reading. In these, the kink is just a playful part of sex. Even when books tried to get deeper into the whole Master/slave scenario, it seemed unreal. Sure, some of the better writers depicted scenes where the pain could be viscerally felt, but it still seemed superficial.
There is nothing superficial about “Carried Away”.
The scenes depicted are not the sort of things I would like to be subjected to or subject anyone else to for that matter. Not only drinking piss but loving it, getting off on spit-polishing boots, accepting humiliation and getting a thrill from being scared or treated like a dog.
So, why read it?
Because by trying to understand why someone would do all these things, I gained a better insight into my fellow human being. Sometimes, it’s not enough to step into new shoes to see what they look like on, you need to walk in them for a while to appreciate them.
We are all different.
How different and why intrigued me. Someone told me that “Carried Away” was written as a direct rebuttal or response to John Preston’s book Mr. Benson: A Novel. So, I added that to my reading pile. I also read as many non-fiction books on the subject that I could find. Ties That Bind: The SM/Leather/Fetish Erotic Style, Issues, Commentaries and Advice Leathersex Q& a: Questions about Leathersex and the Leather Lifestyle Answered Chainmale: 3sm: A Unique View of Leather Culture
Given the evidence there, how real are these fictional stories?
“Mr Benson” is a fantasy or at least an idealized view of what Master/slave relationships could be like. Terry, the Dominant in “Carried Away” goes to great lengths to explain that 24/7 relationships are unworkable. Yet, ultimately, that is what this book hints will happen.
Why read "Carried Away" then?
In answering this question, I think I stumbled on the essence of BDSM. Because deep down we all want to be the object of someone’s focused attention. But there's more than that. For some, it’s the thrill of adrenaline and the endorphin rush that pain can produce. But I think most of all, many like the concept of belonging, of needing to know that even if they stuff up, they won’t be abandoned, that efforts will be made to correct the situation so they can move on to bigger and better things.
As I see it, some people seek this sense of belonging under the “cover” of BDSM. Some people do it through a vanilla marriage, but in each case there is that essence of a bond that collars them or links them to someone else, whether it be in the form of a wedding ring or a studded leather collar.
The author, david stein, is a slave in real life. He was very much a participant in the introduction of the concept “safe, sane and consensual” although he now maintains that there are better ways to control the scene. In 2009, he founded his own publishing company “Perfect Bound Press” from which you can purchase a number of M/s titles including Thom Magister’s The Slave Journals and Other Tales of the Old Guard. David commented on my review of that book saying: My favorite line in your review is “It’s a man’s idea of ‘romance’.” since that’s what I miss in so much MM erotica, which reads like the characters are drag kings. This man is the real deal, and that comes through in every sentence. I’m glad you enjoyed his work.
This is exactly what the characters in “Carried Away” are: men. Their needs are different, their motives have more to do with the chase and the hunt, taking pride in catching someone and having them under their control.
The book explores the whole M/s scene and explains the problems and benefits. At times, this can overpower the action, but the depth of the kink surrounding it balances the more prosaic sections. If the kink hadn’t been so heavy, then the explanation of what is happening might be superfluous, but given the pain and suffering that Matt endures, it’s good to see Terry has given a lot of thought to the process and not just done it because he can.
Sadism for sadism’s sake is dangerous.
The danger is always that an uncaring Dom can justify his reasons without looking at the effect it has on his submissive. david stein has depicted a situation where there is honesty in that appraisal, and that is vital. For BDSM to be able to be seen as something other than abuse, there has to be that mutual understanding of what is happening, preferably by two people with a similar level of experience.
Every now and then, I re-read “Carried Away” to gain some gritty reality after the sugary sweet offerings that abound in the BDSM genre. In those, the submissive is often depicted as the sweet little sub. Someone like Matt Stone is anything but weak. Part of the whole process is for him to prove to his Master how strong he is, both mentally and physically.
This concept shouldn’t be that hard to understand. You only have to endure the traditional army-style bootcamp to see these same concepts applied: having to perform under pressure, developing the persistence to endure pain while commands are being yelled at you. The only difference is that you don’t get the pay off of the hot sex afterwards. At least not with your boot camp instructor.... :)
Until then, I’d been mildly amused by the sexy handcuffs, the odd flick of leather or swat of paddle that I’d come across in my reading. In these, the kink is just a playful part of sex. Even when books tried to get deeper into the whole Master/slave scenario, it seemed unreal. Sure, some of the better writers depicted scenes where the pain could be viscerally felt, but it still seemed superficial.
There is nothing superficial about “Carried Away”.
The scenes depicted are not the sort of things I would like to be subjected to or subject anyone else to for that matter. Not only drinking piss but loving it, getting off on spit-polishing boots, accepting humiliation and getting a thrill from being scared or treated like a dog.
So, why read it?
Because by trying to understand why someone would do all these things, I gained a better insight into my fellow human being. Sometimes, it’s not enough to step into new shoes to see what they look like on, you need to walk in them for a while to appreciate them.
We are all different.
How different and why intrigued me. Someone told me that “Carried Away” was written as a direct rebuttal or response to John Preston’s book Mr. Benson: A Novel. So, I added that to my reading pile. I also read as many non-fiction books on the subject that I could find. Ties That Bind: The SM/Leather/Fetish Erotic Style, Issues, Commentaries and Advice Leathersex Q& a: Questions about Leathersex and the Leather Lifestyle Answered Chainmale: 3sm: A Unique View of Leather Culture
Given the evidence there, how real are these fictional stories?
“Mr Benson” is a fantasy or at least an idealized view of what Master/slave relationships could be like. Terry, the Dominant in “Carried Away” goes to great lengths to explain that 24/7 relationships are unworkable. Yet, ultimately, that is what this book hints will happen.
Why read "Carried Away" then?
In answering this question, I think I stumbled on the essence of BDSM. Because deep down we all want to be the object of someone’s focused attention. But there's more than that. For some, it’s the thrill of adrenaline and the endorphin rush that pain can produce. But I think most of all, many like the concept of belonging, of needing to know that even if they stuff up, they won’t be abandoned, that efforts will be made to correct the situation so they can move on to bigger and better things.
As I see it, some people seek this sense of belonging under the “cover” of BDSM. Some people do it through a vanilla marriage, but in each case there is that essence of a bond that collars them or links them to someone else, whether it be in the form of a wedding ring or a studded leather collar.
The author, david stein, is a slave in real life. He was very much a participant in the introduction of the concept “safe, sane and consensual” although he now maintains that there are better ways to control the scene. In 2009, he founded his own publishing company “Perfect Bound Press” from which you can purchase a number of M/s titles including Thom Magister’s The Slave Journals and Other Tales of the Old Guard. David commented on my review of that book saying: My favorite line in your review is “It’s a man’s idea of ‘romance’.” since that’s what I miss in so much MM erotica, which reads like the characters are drag kings. This man is the real deal, and that comes through in every sentence. I’m glad you enjoyed his work.
This is exactly what the characters in “Carried Away” are: men. Their needs are different, their motives have more to do with the chase and the hunt, taking pride in catching someone and having them under their control.
The book explores the whole M/s scene and explains the problems and benefits. At times, this can overpower the action, but the depth of the kink surrounding it balances the more prosaic sections. If the kink hadn’t been so heavy, then the explanation of what is happening might be superfluous, but given the pain and suffering that Matt endures, it’s good to see Terry has given a lot of thought to the process and not just done it because he can.
Sadism for sadism’s sake is dangerous.
The danger is always that an uncaring Dom can justify his reasons without looking at the effect it has on his submissive. david stein has depicted a situation where there is honesty in that appraisal, and that is vital. For BDSM to be able to be seen as something other than abuse, there has to be that mutual understanding of what is happening, preferably by two people with a similar level of experience.
Every now and then, I re-read “Carried Away” to gain some gritty reality after the sugary sweet offerings that abound in the BDSM genre. In those, the submissive is often depicted as the sweet little sub. Someone like Matt Stone is anything but weak. Part of the whole process is for him to prove to his Master how strong he is, both mentally and physically.
This concept shouldn’t be that hard to understand. You only have to endure the traditional army-style bootcamp to see these same concepts applied: having to perform under pressure, developing the persistence to endure pain while commands are being yelled at you. The only difference is that you don’t get the pay off of the hot sex afterwards. At least not with your boot camp instructor.... :)
December 26, 2013
There is not much about the main characters’ background or personal history, e.g. we don’t know where they come from and what their relationships with their family members are. But we know that the story happens in the 90s and that the MCs live in Manhattan. Terry, the Dom, is an architect specialized in jails and Matt, the sub, is a manager in a bookstore.
In the first chapters, I found that there were descriptions that were too much detailed, like the one of the police uniform in chapter one. I love police uniforms, but I don’t care much if they are dark blue, black or any other colors, if the pants have a line of contrasting color on the side, and so on for a complete page of description. But there are not so many descriptions after that and they are shorter.
Below, you’ll find quotes from the books and my comments about them:
“That's what your mouth is for.... No talking, no thinking, just licking ... slobbering over a man's boots and crotch. That's what you're good for.... Isn't that right, boy? [...] I didn’t really believe my only purpose in life was oral service, nor did I think Terry believed it. Yet his words were intensely exciting: they liberated that part of me that was a sensual animal freeing it for a time of the shackles of my workaday life as a responsible adult member of society.”
But this is perhaps also the reason why the author described the uniform with so many finical details. The Dom’s look helps in staging his fantasies and embarking the ship named D/s and BDSM.
“Our needs were so complementary, it was a win-win game. I asserted my independence, only to have the pleasure of surrendering it. He asserted his conquest, only to elicit the greater prize of a willing submission.”
Once back at home after his first scene with Terry, Matt is unable to concentrate on the chores he is doing. His mind drifts back all the time to Terry’s basement and what he lived there. He is unable to watch anything on TV.
“Too much of me was still locked up in Terry’s cell, or chained at his feet, to be able to enter anyone else’s imaginary world.”
He imagines scenarios: “Kneeling beside his chair, collared, chained, naked, I wait patiently, asking for nothing, perfectly content to wait…”
But the following morning: “Terry’s spell seemed broken.” Matt no longer feels disoriented: “On the contrary, charged with energy, I was eager to work”.
This lack of concentration, the need to prolong the beatific experience at least in imagination and to re-live it (self-binding), the sweet erotic dreams, the overflow of energy the next day and the feeling that the Dom’s spell is broken,… That’s exactly like that! Everything Stein wrote feels so real to me. The author reminded me the same feelings and needs, I lived many times, but particularly vividly after the first visits to my Master’s place.
“If a man ties me up, it says he wants me enough to keep me near him. The bondage is only an extension of his arm, his hand.”
I felt the same for my Master’s flogger, whip, crop or cane: an extension of his hand, and another way to “caress” me.
“You enjoy owning things, putting your mark on them, molding and customizing them to your taste, then showing them off. You’re willing to put in a lot of your own sweat to maintain them, too. Whether you admit it or not, it can’t help but affect the way you do s/m.”
“I wish I could pick and chose what turns me on… Life’d be so much easier if I could.”
“His discipline could help me to become the man I want to be.”
“A doormat? […] No, damnit! An unselfish lover. A giver, not a taker.”
“Look, Stan. I’ve read the same porn stories you have, and I’ve seen the same sorry specimens who follow them like recipes. But once in a while, you see a couple of guys who make the archetype work for them, who seem like flip side of the same coin, happily inseparable.”
p. 134-135 of the book, there are interesting questions like:
“- If your lover does anything for you, does that make him your slave?
- If a bottom surrenders unconditionally to a top he thrusts, does that make that top his master?”
“Like most bottoms, I preferred an invulnerable top, an indestructible superman who’d give me what I needed, and take what he wanted, without my having to worry about his feelings at all.”
Not surprising that there are so many books that describe such supermen.
The author describes very well when Matt goes in subspace:
“Time seemed to stop. I couldn’t hear anything from the other men in the bar either they were watching us in rapt silence, or we were in a world of our own. The movements of my heart and lungs became slower and more regular as tension flowed out of my body. The uneasiness I’d sense in Terry also vanished; his boot under my cheek was a rock that would never fail me. I actually stopped thinking, my restless mind suspended in a timeless moment. From his cap to the soles of my own boots, we were one.”
And then, maybe the most submissive statement: “If he’s happy, I’m happy.”
There is every imaginable kinds of boots in this novel: lineman boots, jump boots, Doc Martens, Dehners patrol boots (NYPD cop boots), cowboy boots, logger boots, Wesco Boss engineer boots, black harness-strap Fries boots, Knee-high lace-up boots, army boots, work boots, jackboots, crotch-high lace-up boots,…
There is even an interesting metaphor about boots:
“Any slave of mine, dickhead, would have to be like these boots: dependable and trustworthy, yielding and soft to the touch, but tough, strong, built to last. When I wear these boots, they cling to my legs and move along with me. But when I take ‘em off, they stand up on their own. That’s the kind of slave I’d want: well trained and eager to serve me, but able to stand on his own feet, too.” Said to Matt by Terry
David Stein told me that he is a “boots pig”. I believe him.
Men who wear boots are attractive, especially since they make us immediately think of men in uniform. They are the epitome of the authority.
“Masters need to be reminded that we aren’t gods and aren’t exercising power in a vacuum or in a social structure that support what we do.”
“… equal partners in an adventure of inequality.” Thought by Matt
“It’s as important for you to kneel to me in your head as in person, maybe more important.”
“But stubborn as I was in resisting my submission, I was even stubborner in trying to prove I could do anything he asked.”
“I wanted to swim in a sea of submission, and all I could do was swim from one little island of selfish concerns to another.”
“I’d never questioned the idea [that subs should have safewords], but when I looked back over my career as a bottom, I realized that the only times I’d ever used a safeword were with tops I shouldn’t have gone with in the first place, because they were too inexperienced or too arrogant to pay attention to their bottoms, or too drunk or stoned to read nonverbal signals.”
Let me take this opportunity to tell you that if you don’t have enough trust in someone to play with him/her without safewords, do not play with him/her at all, even with safewords. I'm not telling that you don’t need safewords, but to trust your instincts. It's better not to play with a good Dom, you misjudged, than to risk playing with a bad one.
“Most slaves aren’t selfless at all but extremely self-centered. They don’t get off on serving so much as being told what to do.” Jake’s philosophy
“Even if a slave hates the idea of being lent to someone else, he’ll be a better, happier slave afterward. It’s not the service itself that’s important, or how in particular he’s used, but simply that he doesn’t have any say in the matter.” Jake
“I’m a sadist, not a monster. I don’t enjoy torturing a reluctant victim.” Terry
That’s the first time there is a top in a book I read who had a small paunch. As if all the tops in the leather community are shaped like Mr. Muscle and ready to throw their subs over their shoulder as easily as their jackets. And he has just a seven-inch cock. I know, it’s above average, but in books usually the tops/doms have huge cocks. As if every top has a monstrous cock. And that’s also the first time I read: “He might not be the handsomest topman in the bar, and he didn't have the biggest reputation [...]” The MC top, not the handsomest, not the best of all tops in town? What’s that?! Could it be reality?
At page 406, Terry says: “I was going to keep you tied up even longer, but thinking of you down here all alone was starting to get frustrating. I got to feeling deprived. When I came in to check on you, I wanted to feel your mouth in my crotch and on my boots more than I wanted to keep you locked up.”
A Dom who changes his mind in the middle of a scene? We don’t find it often in books too. Yet it happens all the time in real life. Why not? If something else feels better than the planned scene, the Dom has a right to change his mind, no?
“"Kneel, dickhead." Despite the "humiliating" name (which I was coming to like), his tone made it clear that this was an honor [to kneel to get your Master’s collar], not a degradation. They kneel to be knighted, don't they?”
Right! As I always say, the soul’s height has nothing to do with the body’s height. A great man on his knees is still a great man (sometimes, he’s even greater). And a moron on a throne is still a moron (sometimes, a bigger one).
Out of body experience:
“My awareness was divided - part of it was still inside my leather-swathed skull, squealing like a trapped animal, but another part seemed to be floating serenely overhead, looking down equally on my glowing, sweat-soaked, pain-wracked body, sagging in its chains, and on the hard-working leatherman tormenting it.”
“It's a Master's job to help a slave fulfill himself in service, and that sometimes means the Master's immediate desires don't get gratified because he's focused on training or preparing his slave for the future.”
“Control, beginning with self-control - that's the heart of mastery.”
So, this is not just the slave who can’t get immediately what he wants. If a master could sometimes deprives a slave of the fulfillment of his desires, he needs to deprive himself too if he wants to achieve his goal.
“I learned from my mistakes with Philip, and you can be sure I won't repeat the same ones with you. I'll find new ones!” Terry (Dom’s joke)
“What I am is a control freak. I believe that any pain you feel from something I do to you should be deliberate, because I want you to feel it.” Terry
I heard exactly the same thing from my Master’s mouth once. He didn’t want any accidental pain.
“I'm going to leave you alone for a while, boy," he said finally. "You'll have nothing to do but think and rattle your chains. And here's what you can think about: when I come back I'm going to whip the shit out of you […] It'll hurt like hell, but by the time I finish, you'll be mine in a way you aren't now. This is our real wedding ceremony, slaveboy.”
Then Terry leaves Matt alone for one hour and comes back with a bag full of slappers, riding crops, floggers, knotted whips, single tails, and so on, that he hooks on a chain beside Matt. After half an hour of beating, he says to Matt, “It's only the start, boy. We have a long way to go yet.” F*cking sadist! How much I love him!!
“That's okay, because a slave needs to free himself of vanity and not worry about protecting his turf or perquisites. But the difference in status doesn't mean a difference in worth.”
“We're a matched set, boy, and we're going to be great together.”
Very true since they both love to do the same things (see below).
Types of D/s or BDSM activities in this novel (in order of frequency):
• Boots and licking them
• Sucking cocks
• Every kind of bondage (with or without sensory deprivation)
• Being pissed on and drinking piss
• Being punched
• Being belted or whipped
• Play puppy
• Mild humiliation (embarrassment)
• Tongue bath
• Hot wax scenes
Things the main character (sub) doesn’t like:
• Scat
• Piercing
“Sometimes I wish we weren't so damned verbal! I thought. Other guys manage to play without all this talking, don't they?”
Stein explains a lot. Many reviewers found it was preachy-preacha. But I loved it. At the beginning of my relationship with my Master, he asked me to write my slave diary. I did it even at my place, and I emailed it every day or he read it when I got back to his place, so he could know what was right and what was wrong for me, and how my thinking about slavery evolved. When I read Stein’s “preachy-preacha stuff”, I felt I was reading the kind of things I wrote in my slave diary. And when Terry and Matt discuss together, there is things Terry explains to Matt that are word for word what my Master told me. It’s like diving in my old slave life. In Carried Away, everything seems real and remembered me my feelings when I lived the same kind of things. And the author describes pretty well subspace and out of body experience (see quotes above).
I think that the “preachy-preacha stuff” could help newbies to understand what “real” slavery could be. If Stein’s thoughts can help them to decide if a Master/slave relationship could be right for them, that’s good. Better than what most books on BDSM offers by the time going.
Even though I found many typos (I got an old version of the book, maybe they are not in the newer version), I give this book 5 very deserved stars.
Note: The capitalization and italization are my doing, not Stein’s.
Other reviews here: http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?tag=D...
In the first chapters, I found that there were descriptions that were too much detailed, like the one of the police uniform in chapter one. I love police uniforms, but I don’t care much if they are dark blue, black or any other colors, if the pants have a line of contrasting color on the side, and so on for a complete page of description. But there are not so many descriptions after that and they are shorter.
Below, you’ll find quotes from the books and my comments about them:
“That's what your mouth is for.... No talking, no thinking, just licking ... slobbering over a man's boots and crotch. That's what you're good for.... Isn't that right, boy? [...] I didn’t really believe my only purpose in life was oral service, nor did I think Terry believed it. Yet his words were intensely exciting: they liberated that part of me that was a sensual animal freeing it for a time of the shackles of my workaday life as a responsible adult member of society.”
But this is perhaps also the reason why the author described the uniform with so many finical details. The Dom’s look helps in staging his fantasies and embarking the ship named D/s and BDSM.
“Our needs were so complementary, it was a win-win game. I asserted my independence, only to have the pleasure of surrendering it. He asserted his conquest, only to elicit the greater prize of a willing submission.”
Shocking Tale of a Slave Abuse!Sub's joke
“Force to live in luxury, slave runs away from his master. ‘He made me sleep in bed’, the ex-slave wailed, ‘and I had to eat his gourmet cooking! He even made me wear clothes! And when I begged him to torture me, he answered: ‘Not tonight, I have a headache’.”
Once back at home after his first scene with Terry, Matt is unable to concentrate on the chores he is doing. His mind drifts back all the time to Terry’s basement and what he lived there. He is unable to watch anything on TV.
“Too much of me was still locked up in Terry’s cell, or chained at his feet, to be able to enter anyone else’s imaginary world.”
He imagines scenarios: “Kneeling beside his chair, collared, chained, naked, I wait patiently, asking for nothing, perfectly content to wait…”
But the following morning: “Terry’s spell seemed broken.” Matt no longer feels disoriented: “On the contrary, charged with energy, I was eager to work”.
This lack of concentration, the need to prolong the beatific experience at least in imagination and to re-live it (self-binding), the sweet erotic dreams, the overflow of energy the next day and the feeling that the Dom’s spell is broken,… That’s exactly like that! Everything Stein wrote feels so real to me. The author reminded me the same feelings and needs, I lived many times, but particularly vividly after the first visits to my Master’s place.
“If a man ties me up, it says he wants me enough to keep me near him. The bondage is only an extension of his arm, his hand.”
I felt the same for my Master’s flogger, whip, crop or cane: an extension of his hand, and another way to “caress” me.
“You enjoy owning things, putting your mark on them, molding and customizing them to your taste, then showing them off. You’re willing to put in a lot of your own sweat to maintain them, too. Whether you admit it or not, it can’t help but affect the way you do s/m.”
“I wish I could pick and chose what turns me on… Life’d be so much easier if I could.”
“His discipline could help me to become the man I want to be.”
“A doormat? […] No, damnit! An unselfish lover. A giver, not a taker.”
“Look, Stan. I’ve read the same porn stories you have, and I’ve seen the same sorry specimens who follow them like recipes. But once in a while, you see a couple of guys who make the archetype work for them, who seem like flip side of the same coin, happily inseparable.”
p. 134-135 of the book, there are interesting questions like:
“- If your lover does anything for you, does that make him your slave?
- If a bottom surrenders unconditionally to a top he thrusts, does that make that top his master?”
“Like most bottoms, I preferred an invulnerable top, an indestructible superman who’d give me what I needed, and take what he wanted, without my having to worry about his feelings at all.”
Not surprising that there are so many books that describe such supermen.
The author describes very well when Matt goes in subspace:
“Time seemed to stop. I couldn’t hear anything from the other men in the bar either they were watching us in rapt silence, or we were in a world of our own. The movements of my heart and lungs became slower and more regular as tension flowed out of my body. The uneasiness I’d sense in Terry also vanished; his boot under my cheek was a rock that would never fail me. I actually stopped thinking, my restless mind suspended in a timeless moment. From his cap to the soles of my own boots, we were one.”
And then, maybe the most submissive statement: “If he’s happy, I’m happy.”
There is every imaginable kinds of boots in this novel: lineman boots, jump boots, Doc Martens, Dehners patrol boots (NYPD cop boots), cowboy boots, logger boots, Wesco Boss engineer boots, black harness-strap Fries boots, Knee-high lace-up boots, army boots, work boots, jackboots, crotch-high lace-up boots,…
There is even an interesting metaphor about boots:
“Any slave of mine, dickhead, would have to be like these boots: dependable and trustworthy, yielding and soft to the touch, but tough, strong, built to last. When I wear these boots, they cling to my legs and move along with me. But when I take ‘em off, they stand up on their own. That’s the kind of slave I’d want: well trained and eager to serve me, but able to stand on his own feet, too.” Said to Matt by Terry
David Stein told me that he is a “boots pig”. I believe him.
Men who wear boots are attractive, especially since they make us immediately think of men in uniform. They are the epitome of the authority.
“Masters need to be reminded that we aren’t gods and aren’t exercising power in a vacuum or in a social structure that support what we do.”
“… equal partners in an adventure of inequality.” Thought by Matt
“It’s as important for you to kneel to me in your head as in person, maybe more important.”
“But stubborn as I was in resisting my submission, I was even stubborner in trying to prove I could do anything he asked.”
“I wanted to swim in a sea of submission, and all I could do was swim from one little island of selfish concerns to another.”
“I’d never questioned the idea [that subs should have safewords], but when I looked back over my career as a bottom, I realized that the only times I’d ever used a safeword were with tops I shouldn’t have gone with in the first place, because they were too inexperienced or too arrogant to pay attention to their bottoms, or too drunk or stoned to read nonverbal signals.”
Let me take this opportunity to tell you that if you don’t have enough trust in someone to play with him/her without safewords, do not play with him/her at all, even with safewords. I'm not telling that you don’t need safewords, but to trust your instincts. It's better not to play with a good Dom, you misjudged, than to risk playing with a bad one.
“Most slaves aren’t selfless at all but extremely self-centered. They don’t get off on serving so much as being told what to do.” Jake’s philosophy
“Even if a slave hates the idea of being lent to someone else, he’ll be a better, happier slave afterward. It’s not the service itself that’s important, or how in particular he’s used, but simply that he doesn’t have any say in the matter.” Jake
“I’m a sadist, not a monster. I don’t enjoy torturing a reluctant victim.” Terry
That’s the first time there is a top in a book I read who had a small paunch. As if all the tops in the leather community are shaped like Mr. Muscle and ready to throw their subs over their shoulder as easily as their jackets. And he has just a seven-inch cock. I know, it’s above average, but in books usually the tops/doms have huge cocks. As if every top has a monstrous cock. And that’s also the first time I read: “He might not be the handsomest topman in the bar, and he didn't have the biggest reputation [...]” The MC top, not the handsomest, not the best of all tops in town? What’s that?! Could it be reality?
At page 406, Terry says: “I was going to keep you tied up even longer, but thinking of you down here all alone was starting to get frustrating. I got to feeling deprived. When I came in to check on you, I wanted to feel your mouth in my crotch and on my boots more than I wanted to keep you locked up.”
A Dom who changes his mind in the middle of a scene? We don’t find it often in books too. Yet it happens all the time in real life. Why not? If something else feels better than the planned scene, the Dom has a right to change his mind, no?
“"Kneel, dickhead." Despite the "humiliating" name (which I was coming to like), his tone made it clear that this was an honor [to kneel to get your Master’s collar], not a degradation. They kneel to be knighted, don't they?”
Right! As I always say, the soul’s height has nothing to do with the body’s height. A great man on his knees is still a great man (sometimes, he’s even greater). And a moron on a throne is still a moron (sometimes, a bigger one).
Out of body experience:
“My awareness was divided - part of it was still inside my leather-swathed skull, squealing like a trapped animal, but another part seemed to be floating serenely overhead, looking down equally on my glowing, sweat-soaked, pain-wracked body, sagging in its chains, and on the hard-working leatherman tormenting it.”
“It's a Master's job to help a slave fulfill himself in service, and that sometimes means the Master's immediate desires don't get gratified because he's focused on training or preparing his slave for the future.”
“Control, beginning with self-control - that's the heart of mastery.”
So, this is not just the slave who can’t get immediately what he wants. If a master could sometimes deprives a slave of the fulfillment of his desires, he needs to deprive himself too if he wants to achieve his goal.
“I learned from my mistakes with Philip, and you can be sure I won't repeat the same ones with you. I'll find new ones!” Terry (Dom’s joke)
“What I am is a control freak. I believe that any pain you feel from something I do to you should be deliberate, because I want you to feel it.” Terry
I heard exactly the same thing from my Master’s mouth once. He didn’t want any accidental pain.
“I'm going to leave you alone for a while, boy," he said finally. "You'll have nothing to do but think and rattle your chains. And here's what you can think about: when I come back I'm going to whip the shit out of you […] It'll hurt like hell, but by the time I finish, you'll be mine in a way you aren't now. This is our real wedding ceremony, slaveboy.”
Then Terry leaves Matt alone for one hour and comes back with a bag full of slappers, riding crops, floggers, knotted whips, single tails, and so on, that he hooks on a chain beside Matt. After half an hour of beating, he says to Matt, “It's only the start, boy. We have a long way to go yet.” F*cking sadist! How much I love him!!
“That's okay, because a slave needs to free himself of vanity and not worry about protecting his turf or perquisites. But the difference in status doesn't mean a difference in worth.”
“We're a matched set, boy, and we're going to be great together.”
Very true since they both love to do the same things (see below).
Types of D/s or BDSM activities in this novel (in order of frequency):
• Boots and licking them
• Sucking cocks
• Every kind of bondage (with or without sensory deprivation)
• Being pissed on and drinking piss
• Being punched
• Being belted or whipped
• Play puppy
• Mild humiliation (embarrassment)
• Tongue bath
• Hot wax scenes
Things the main character (sub) doesn’t like:
• Scat
• Piercing
“Sometimes I wish we weren't so damned verbal! I thought. Other guys manage to play without all this talking, don't they?”
Stein explains a lot. Many reviewers found it was preachy-preacha. But I loved it. At the beginning of my relationship with my Master, he asked me to write my slave diary. I did it even at my place, and I emailed it every day or he read it when I got back to his place, so he could know what was right and what was wrong for me, and how my thinking about slavery evolved. When I read Stein’s “preachy-preacha stuff”, I felt I was reading the kind of things I wrote in my slave diary. And when Terry and Matt discuss together, there is things Terry explains to Matt that are word for word what my Master told me. It’s like diving in my old slave life. In Carried Away, everything seems real and remembered me my feelings when I lived the same kind of things. And the author describes pretty well subspace and out of body experience (see quotes above).
I think that the “preachy-preacha stuff” could help newbies to understand what “real” slavery could be. If Stein’s thoughts can help them to decide if a Master/slave relationship could be right for them, that’s good. Better than what most books on BDSM offers by the time going.
Even though I found many typos (I got an old version of the book, maybe they are not in the newer version), I give this book 5 very deserved stars.
Note: The capitalization and italization are my doing, not Stein’s.
Other reviews here: http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?tag=D...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2010
This is a really, really interesting book, and a really, really long one! The conversations between Terry and Matt were enlightning & informative. Both men are very much into bondage and a lot of the book is describing the chains and handcuffs and how the slave is positioned. It was interesting at first, but then became a little too tedious. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered me if I just read a little at a time, but that's not my style :)
The author does an excellent job of walking you through all of Matt's emotions and thoughts pertaining to Master/slave relationships, bondage, bootlicking, piss drinking, piss baths uniform fetishes and whippings. Even though the story is told from Matt's POV, I still got great insight into Terry through the many conversations they had. Terry is not portrayed as THE perfect Master - not to say that he makes huge mistakes because that is not the case. And the relationship is not portrayed as perfect. The story is all about how their relationship evolved over approximately 5 weeks.
The author does an excellent job of walking you through all of Matt's emotions and thoughts pertaining to Master/slave relationships, bondage, bootlicking, piss drinking, piss baths uniform fetishes and whippings. Even though the story is told from Matt's POV, I still got great insight into Terry through the many conversations they had. Terry is not portrayed as THE perfect Master - not to say that he makes huge mistakes because that is not the case. And the relationship is not portrayed as perfect. The story is all about how their relationship evolved over approximately 5 weeks.
October 19, 2017
I read this book as an exercise in comparing bdsm books written by men, targeting a male audience, vs books written by men or women targeting a female audience (I can't say I know of any women authors who write bdsm books targeting male readers - not to say there aren't any, but I don't know who they are).
I've read a few other books written by men for men and they all have similar characteristics as far as what appeals erotically. There's much more boot-licking/kissing/worshiping, uniform kink and piss-drinking/playing than what appears in books that women write. This book is long and some of the scenes were boring to me, but I don't think I'm a fair judge of the writing since I'm a woman.
And the men are definitely men. Many times in stories written by women, it's as if the story is a romance between a man and a woman, just with the woman's gender changed to be male. I don't mean that stories written by men for men are lacking romance or that the characters don't care about each other, it's just in a different way. The story is written from the POV of the submissive and I have to say I did thoroughly enjoy getting insight into his thought process and feelings as the story progressed. The end was satisfying and I found myself wanting to read more about how Terry and Matt's relationship works out.
I've read a few other books written by men for men and they all have similar characteristics as far as what appeals erotically. There's much more boot-licking/kissing/worshiping, uniform kink and piss-drinking/playing than what appears in books that women write. This book is long and some of the scenes were boring to me, but I don't think I'm a fair judge of the writing since I'm a woman.
And the men are definitely men. Many times in stories written by women, it's as if the story is a romance between a man and a woman, just with the woman's gender changed to be male. I don't mean that stories written by men for men are lacking romance or that the characters don't care about each other, it's just in a different way. The story is written from the POV of the submissive and I have to say I did thoroughly enjoy getting insight into his thought process and feelings as the story progressed. The end was satisfying and I found myself wanting to read more about how Terry and Matt's relationship works out.
May 4, 2010
I couldn't really decide if this book deserved a 5 or a 1. It was a very raw book. There were many times that I had a hard time reading the book. There were things that were done that totally turned my stomach. I continued to read because It just seemed so real. There was nothing pretty about this book or characters. Anyone who is really into S/M I think would totally get off on this book. I would like to read more form this author. After reading his biography I think this was .... well, Just get the book and see for yourself. It is a long, long read. Give yourself time to enjoy it.
July 6, 2011
Very well written although the bdsm was too hardcore for me but I loved both main characters.
maybe-later
April 2, 2013The blurb is kind of meh, but it doesn't sound that bad. It's the godawful cover that makes me want to run for the hills...
May 2, 2021
Excellent story, very well written for fans of heavy bondage. It reminds me in tone more of (good quality) stories I've read of gay leather and bondage on alt.sex.stories.moderated rather than m/m BDSM romance written primarily by women for women.
In that spirit, here are all the tags I can think of for its sex/kink content: .
It's a long book with loving descriptions of the bondage and leather, uniforms and types of manacles used in each scene. I didn't necessarily recognise any of the specific boots or cuff descriptions but the author's obvious pleasure in the details, and the pleasure the submissive gains from his top/master's attention to detail was pleasurable for me to read.
There was a lot of time given to the psychological side of submission and dominance. The descriptions of subspace and tricks the mind played during sensory deprivation or trance-like states seem to have a ring of authenticity. (Not that I've ever experienced them myself to validate that statement.)
In that spirit, here are all the tags I can think of for its sex/kink content: .
It's a long book with loving descriptions of the bondage and leather, uniforms and types of manacles used in each scene. I didn't necessarily recognise any of the specific boots or cuff descriptions but the author's obvious pleasure in the details, and the pleasure the submissive gains from his top/master's attention to detail was pleasurable for me to read.
There was a lot of time given to the psychological side of submission and dominance. The descriptions of subspace and tricks the mind played during sensory deprivation or trance-like states seem to have a ring of authenticity. (Not that I've ever experienced them myself to validate that statement.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2017
Really 2 1/2 stars. I really wanted to like this book, but it just got monotonous after a while.
Read
November 9, 2020Merci
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 15, 2014
This book isn't for everyone, but for me it was an exceptional book. The only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is it has some epic long very complex scenes involving piss, boot licking, and mild humiliation that just aren't really big on my sexy list. Still there is alot to enjoy in the play scene of this book that includes a little bit of everything. What's more this also contains a great deal of discussion and introspection of what it means to be a slave. These guys don't just fall into a D/s relationship without a worry or thought in their heads. They do start off with intense play but there are huge sparks of attraction between the two characters. I found it unique and interesting that the dance these two did coming to terms with what they both wanted and need. Most books gloss over the mechanics of making a D/s relationship work beyond the bedrooms and safewords. This book was all about it without the trappings of contract negotiations and safewords.
This is a heavy leather book filled with tons of scenes and a glimpse into the beginning of a Master/slave relationship in more realistic terms than a lot of books. Although it doesn't come in ebook format and is OOP it is really worth tracking down a paper copy if you like books like Mr. Benson: A Novel
This is a heavy leather book filled with tons of scenes and a glimpse into the beginning of a Master/slave relationship in more realistic terms than a lot of books. Although it doesn't come in ebook format and is OOP it is really worth tracking down a paper copy if you like books like Mr. Benson: A Novel
July 31, 2011
If you enjoyed this book you may like the BDSM Group
What a great read. I absolutely loved this book! Everything about it just felt so real. It read more like a real life love story then fiction. Which you would think you'd see that more often from authors who are part of the life style but you don't.
The relationship between Matt and Terry is sweet, romantic, and realistic. The bondage scenes are most certainly the hottest that I have ever read. There's a lot of really great scenes containing uniforms, boot worship, pet play, severe bondage, and watersports. If you are into any of those topics I highly recommend this book!
The only reason 'Carried Away' didn't get five stars from me was because it started to drag a little about 3/4 of the way through. It was still great but there is about 30% of the book that covers one weekend. Considering the book is 600 and some pages 30% to cover two days is a lot. And then right when I thought it was picking back up and I was getting excited about the progression of their relationship it was over. Even so it's still going on my favorites shelf and will be one I never forget.
What a great read. I absolutely loved this book! Everything about it just felt so real. It read more like a real life love story then fiction. Which you would think you'd see that more often from authors who are part of the life style but you don't.
The relationship between Matt and Terry is sweet, romantic, and realistic. The bondage scenes are most certainly the hottest that I have ever read. There's a lot of really great scenes containing uniforms, boot worship, pet play, severe bondage, and watersports. If you are into any of those topics I highly recommend this book!
The only reason 'Carried Away' didn't get five stars from me was because it started to drag a little about 3/4 of the way through. It was still great but there is about 30% of the book that covers one weekend. Considering the book is 600 and some pages 30% to cover two days is a lot. And then right when I thought it was picking back up and I was getting excited about the progression of their relationship it was over. Even so it's still going on my favorites shelf and will be one I never forget.
July 9, 2012
This story provided a fascinating look not only at the physical nature of an s/m relationship but the emotional one as well. This book is very long and VERY descriptive. I really liked the connection between Terry and Matt. It took a bit to get into the story but then I was completely drawn into their relationship. The s/m scenes were very raw, intense and often brutal. I appreciated the thought and detail given to the psychological aspects of their relationship. There was a lot of discussion regarding what makes someone a slave versus a submissive. The idea of “equal partners in an adventure of inequality” rang true. Some might find the BDSM activities too much so read with caution. This is definitely NOT your typical m/m romance but I liked it. Definitely had me thinking about the story and characters days after reading it.
November 28, 2011
I *really* loved this book, even though there were places where it well beyond my personal comfort zone... but that's okay, because the biggest selling point of Carried Away was the genuine emotions Matt and Terry had for one another.
My only real critisism is that the book could have done with some editing--not for any punctuation or grammar or spelling issues. Clearly, it *was* edited. It just could have been shortened up in places (some of the descriptions of *things* and *places* were a bit long winded... not Lord of the Rings long winded, but mundane details only need so much attention, IMHO.)
That said, that while I normally wouldn't read a romance that was this long, Carried Away was well worth the time.
My only real critisism is that the book could have done with some editing--not for any punctuation or grammar or spelling issues. Clearly, it *was* edited. It just could have been shortened up in places (some of the descriptions of *things* and *places* were a bit long winded... not Lord of the Rings long winded, but mundane details only need so much attention, IMHO.)
That said, that while I normally wouldn't read a romance that was this long, Carried Away was well worth the time.
January 14, 2016
What can I say about this book? It was a dark and thrilling ride. I just had trouble getting into the fact that it was okay to have sex with anyone and everyone especially in the height of HIV in the gay community. Although they took precautions constantly, it somehow made the flow of the story break. Maybe it was just me? Terry was sometimes cruel and careless about how others emotional and mental well-being. The flippancy of him sometimes made me want to just put this book down but I figured I'd gone this far I might as well continue. I loved learning more about the relationship between slave and master. It was expertly given throughout the whole book in so many ways that you couldn't have misconstrued the meaning of a Master/slave relationship.
August 20, 2010
This was a fascinating book. There were many parts which I had real trouble with (many of them the actual physical details of what Matt was being put through - all very willingly).
What fascinated me was the psychology behind Matt's and Terry's relatonship, their conversations and the glimpse into the "leatherworld" this book gives in ample detail. Matt's strength of character and determination to get what he wanted was as interesting to me as Terry's reluctance to jump into this without proper mental preparation.
Not recommended for the faint of heart or the squeamish, but if you want to find out more about the S/M world, this certainly reads like an accurate description.
What fascinated me was the psychology behind Matt's and Terry's relatonship, their conversations and the glimpse into the "leatherworld" this book gives in ample detail. Matt's strength of character and determination to get what he wanted was as interesting to me as Terry's reluctance to jump into this without proper mental preparation.
Not recommended for the faint of heart or the squeamish, but if you want to find out more about the S/M world, this certainly reads like an accurate description.
Currently Reading
May 29, 201365?
December 3, 2014
Wow. Just wow.
Did Not Finish
March 27, 2017Hardcore M/M, Bdsm. D/s. DNF at 47%. Story that was very long and frankly got a little boring after awhile (but this is hardcore so reader beware).
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