The best kinky books published before the internet was a thing

I was first introduced to The Story of O in a college psychology book, where a three-paragraph exerpt was listed, which I read and reread, over and over.

I needed the entire book, but since this was around 1987, finding one in a bookstore in Chattanooga (also known as the buckle of the bible belt) proved difficult. A friend found me a copy in Atlanta, and I devoured it.

I’d known something wasn’t normal about my sexual tastes, and this told me at least one more person on the planet felt the same as me. I wasn’t certain what to think about the fact the book was published in 1954.

I also learned about the Marquis de Sade in that psych class, but he was a bit over the top for me.

The Beauty Series is actually three books, written as one long story: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, Beauty's Release.

When I read the books, sometime around 1989, I didn’t know Anne Rice had written them. I only knew this was proof that yet another person felt the same as me about sex.

These books aren’t written as consensual sex, but they’re pure fantasy, so it worked okay for me then and still does today.

Mr. Benson was published in 1983, but I discovered it a decade later, in a conversation I had with people while in a BDSM club in Atlanta.

According to the gossip at the time, Anne Rice and John Preston had a contest involving both of them writing and publishing a kinky novel.

Mr. Benson is well written, and was clearly penned by someone in the lifestyle. This was also my first introduction to M/m books, and I was hooked.

I’m actually recommending two books here: Carrie's Story and Safe Word – a duet telling the full story.

Whether these came before the internet was a “thing” is arguable, but they were certainly published before ebooks had a chance to change the publishing industry.

They are well written, and once again come clearly from someone who understands the lifestyle. These books are highly recommended, and come towards the end of my list mainly because I’m doing this (up to this point) chronologically.

I listed the first book, but I’m actually talking about the entire thirty-seven-book Gor series, which spans the fifty-seven years from 1966 through the present day.

However, I don’t necessarily recommend this series, which is why it’s in last place, but it’s an important footnote in the history of BDSM fiction and must be mentioned.

In this fictional world, women are slaves, and there are all kinds of complicated rules about how they must act around free men. The many slave positions described in the books have made it into the modern kinky lexicon, along with other phrases and terms.

If you’re going to read one, I would suggest picking a later book at random—Norman’s craft gets a little better over time. It wasn’t terrible to start, but it’s better, later. He wrote (and is still writing) an intriguing world that obviously hooked a whole lot of readers.

There were Gor parties, with people dressed as the characters in the books, back in the mid-nineties. There may still be, but I’m old now, and no longer publicly active in the lifestyle.