In This Issue ....

• Tales from the Librarian
• New Acquisitions
• Tell Me More About This ...
• That's Some Stuff Right There
• TNG Corner

Tales from the Librarian

Another wonderful event

Where did I leave off? Ah yes, team Library arrived safely back in Pennsylvania just long enough to do a quick turn around for our next event. There a little over a week to prepare the Library for BootCamp!

In 2010 the Library brought a ten box display plus art and DVD's to the Ramblewood Resort for the yearly event put on by NDDs (Northern Delaware Dominants and submissives). Master Steve and Tami asked us if we would bring the entire Library for Bootcamp 2011. We eagerly accepted the invitation and began planning.

We packed the Library on Wednesday the 11th and as usual there was just not enough room in the van for everything I wanted to bring. Tami had previously told me that there would be a large TNG contingent, so special care was taken in choosing what would be going to Ramblewood. Thank goodness the event was only about 100 miles from home so taking an extra vehicle for things like clothes, camping gear and essentials (and maybe an extra portfolio case or three) wasn't going to be a problem. We left bright and early Thursday morning on the two hour drive.

In just a few hours we were unpacking the vehicles at the cabins that would house library and staff. Five hours later adjoining cabins had been turned into a Library on one side and sleeping quarters for six on the other. The Library was ready to greet the BootcCamp attendees.

The Library was busy all day Friday. Many who arrived early could be found hanging out in the Library socializing, reading or watching DVD's. The staff gave tours and our TNG docent proudly talked to the many next generation kinksters who came to borrow books for the weekend or ask about their history. Philly TNG's presented the Library with their club pin and the Library returned the honour. But that was not to be the only gift presented that evening. While on vacation earlier that year, Master Steve and Tami had a storyteller staff specially carved for me. It was gifted that evening at dinner. I was honoured and humbled. The staff is made of mahogany and is surprisingly heavy for its four and a half foot length. It (the staff actually feels like a he.) stood guard over the Library for the entire weekend.

Saturday was even busier than Friday. The attendees kept everyone busy. At times it seemed like there were too few of us to answer all the questions of people passing through the Library. But the day was not all work and no relaxation. Boy Robi took a nature walk and got to watch deer and many of the nesting eagles that call Ramblewood home. He even brought back some eagle feather found at the base of many of the trees where the eagles nest. I got to spend quality time chatting with Lord Ramerez, SkyWolf, Ari, Omerta, as well as my host and hostess.

We took a break for dinner and the Bootcamp auction which raised over $2000.00 for the Library. After our dinner break Boy Robi took security duty for a few hours and I went back to the Library to give some promised tours. By 10:00P.M. it was break time by the bonfire with a cup of hot decaf and the new storyteller staff.

Sunday morning arrived far too soon. We finally shooed the last BootCampers out of the Library a little after 1PM and began the take down and pack up. Final goodbyes were said around 6pm and we started off for home.

I am delighted to say that Bootcamp is the first event to cause me "event drop" in a very long time. The NDDs has embraced the Library and made us a part of their family. We WILL be back next year. Until then … THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL TIME!!!!

Next: TESFest

Support The Library

You can support us by becoming a member of the Library, linking to our website, shopping at our e-store or making a donation directly to the Library. You can also make a donation directly to the Library Van Fund.

Community Corner

Letter to the Library

Wow, that's all I can say, thank you for putting this all together for another Issue. The first Issue was great, but this one is so full of surprises to me that... WOW
From the very well thought out perspective of Jaki Grier to the great find of Erziehungs- Flagellantismus, which I can't wait to gander at next time I get to the library, I am continually humbled at how well you all do this labor of love. I wish I had more time to help, and would love to be able to digitize parts if I can. My work schedule keeps me local far too often, but when I can I will spend time with you folks.

Thank you for all that you do, keep up the great work and know that your efforts are truly appreciated.

Janus@artesianreign.com

Thank You:

NDDs and the entire BootCamp Family
Master Steve and Tami
BESS (Baltimore Educational and Social Society)
Bennett, Omerta, Ari and Veruca Salt

Newsletter Archives

January 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 1

February 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 2
March 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 3
April 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 4
May 2011 - Vol 1, Issue 5

New Acquisitions

Tell Me More About This

"La Vie et les Amours Tourmentees de Sacher-Masoch" - Maurice Bransiet, France

"La Maitress Legitime" - Georges-Anquetil, Paris

"Secrets D'Alcove" - M. Laurent-Tailhare Paris

"Le Cabinet Secret de l'Histoire" - le Docteur Cabanes Paris

Our new acquisitions needed to be listed together. These four books were discovered in a little bookstore a few blocks from the University of Chicago. A few hours before these books were found an exchange student came into the Library and asked if we had any French erotica. There were a few pieces in the Library and she happily sat and read. I must believe that providence wished the Library collection increased.

All four of these soft wrap tomes are in French and written between 1908 and 1927.
The first, "LaVie et les Amours Tourmentees de Sacher-Masoch", discusses the life and love torments of the noted writer Von Sacher-Masoch, the man whose name gave birth to the term masochism.

"La Maitress Legitime" is an essay on the polygamous marriages of the future.

"Secrets D'Alcove" I have been told is an erotic novel about a man and his exploits with his very capable mistress.
Last but not least is the "Le Cabinet Secret de l'Histoire. This one I admit to finding the most intriguing. A Secret Cabinet usually referred to a place containing locked away items that often made their owners uncomfortable. These items were usually sexual in nature. I wonder how many sexual secrets Dr Cabanes is exposing by opening the door to this usually hidden place.

If you read the language of love, come and enjoy these new listings.

One of my great joys is taking people through the Library and showing them the many hidden gems of kink history that are on the shelves. Exploration and discovery often lead to the question, "Can you tell me more about this?"

Bondage Life was a magazine produced from the late "70's into the new millennium. The editors produced 4 magazines a year for 85 or so issues. Though I have never really been a bondage baby I have always loved the beautifully bound form. Bondage Life gave me the opportunity to see beautiful and very creative bondage with rope and occasionally chain.

In the early '80's the top floor of our house in Jersey was call an S/M amusement park. There were 17 or 18 large pieces of play furniture, a 15 foot ceiling and an intricate suspension system that moved on tracks around the play space. It wasn't unusual for friends to book time in the playroom to try out techniques that couldn't be done in the average home dungeon. My first exposures to long term bondage and intricate bondage were watching a frequent visitor tying up his girlfriend. More than once I watched Billy copying rope for rope, pictures that he saw in Bondage Life. So I started thumbing through the magazines.

The photography was beautiful but what held my interest were the articles. (Yes, people actually did read more than just look at the gorgeous photography.) There was a continuing series on Bondage Through the Ages. The writer looked at bondage in art from the early Greeks through modern day. These articles showed illustrations of statues and paintings, pointing out details probably missed by most when looking at the artwork.

Another series was Bondage in Hollywood. The columnist would review the latest movies or T.V. shows and vividly describe the bondage scenes. He would even include a rating. There were lots of good amateur photos sent in by readers. My favorite issues were the ones highlighting the artists of the day. Bondage Life gave many new artists their first public showing. The magazine interviewed or wrote about the art of The Bishop, Stanton, Coco, Eneg and many many more. Articles featuring bondage as performance art made their way into Bondage Life over twenty years ago, as did the art of Japanese bondage now called Shibari.

A complete set of Bondage Life magazines can be found in the Library. If you are a lover of bound beauties, come take a look.

See you in the Library!

That's Some Stuff Right There

TNG Corner: Game Review

Hanky Panky with Spanky Spanky -
No Pain, No Game

by Jaki Grier

Along with the outrageous book fetish that our staff at the Carter/Johnson Library feeds, we have a number of other interesting artifacts we collect. They include (but are not limited to): art, posters, pins, DVDs and (most recently) board games. So it was with great enthusiasm I agreed to review our newest addition and became the staff test dummy for one called Spanky Spanky. I called two of my friends together and after a few drinks, we got down to it. The game was pretty confusing the first time figuring out the rules. The setting for Spanky Spanky was a strict English boarding school where the punishments come swift from the no nonsense staff of Instructors. I've had that fantasy before and I'm sure I'm not alone. How erotic would it be if Spanky Spanky gave me a not-so-secret excuse to roleplay with my friends! However, that idea left pretty quickly when I saw the intimidating set of Game Rules. The instructions could have been written MUCH clearer. Once the game started, it made sense but the booklet was frustrating to read. After about 15 minutes, we said "Fuck it!" and dove right in.

The basic idea is that you pick from one of eight characters (divided by gender, four boys and four girls) have hilarious names that are pretty much irrelevant to the game. You could really ham it up and act them out if you wished. The game is basically Trivial Pursuit/Shoots and Ladders with dirty quiz questions and punishments. There is a Spank Master General who acts pretty much like the banker in Monopoly by handing all the little pieces and asking the questions on the quiz cards. The game has a person called the Beak who is there just to ask the quiz questions to the Spank Master General (SMG). The SMG position rotates based on cards you receive when you land on certain spaces. The SMG is also the one who gets to give the spankings for incorrect answers. Collect three Bad Marks or as dictated by the cards and the player gets spanked. First round is a hand spanking, second is on the bum and third round is bare ass spankings. The goal is to travel the board three times. Winner of the game gets to spank everyone bare assed. Pretty good incentive to continue and lots of potential for craziness. You can also play the game as a team with two or more groups competeing which would get pretty fucking hilarious.

Pro: Since the SMG position is always rotating, it's pretty easy to get competitive and vindictive about spanking. There are also a few cards like "Kiss the other player below the waist" or "Mime a dirty song" which gets hilarious. The game can get as raunchy as you like. There are also a few random positions like Spank Master's Pet which lets you skip hard questions if the player makes up a really good excuse. The best one was, "I'm sorry I can't answer that Ms. Spank Master because I was up all night masturbating to a Golden Girls marathon." I'm STILL laughing.

Cons: I played with three players and we had repeat questions a LOT. There aren't enough cards to play it too often. Some of the questions are dated or British references so that may or may not be a concern. The questions were either basic math, spelling sex related words, obscure sex history/facts or riddles. I remember being pissed off that my high school teachers were right about memorizing math equations because my previous lack of study literally cost me my ass. My personal hatred of mathematics aside, a game about a kinky English boarding school probably should involve some form of education but it
would have been so much sexier if they were more clever about it. Instead of "X+Y2 = 40, solve for X" how about "If there are three naughty students and one upset Head Mistress who must deliver 30 minutes of caning to each bottom, how long will it take?" Even if you don't know the answer, you'll probably care more about reading the question. We also agreed that if we played again, we'd make House Rules where instead of all the spankings, we'd just make a punishment hat and you could get a spanking OR pick something out of the hat to keep it interesting. The dice only has 1, 2, and 3 so it can take a while to complete a game. Our whole game lasted just under an hour mainly because of the dice rolls.

Yet I can't keep thinking that it wouldn't take much imaginary to create scenarios for misuse and abuse. In your local area, is there a formal Mistress tea being planned? Perhaps a group of ladies could find a way to torture their wayward wards while still sipping their china? The theme of my three person group of ambitious switches pretty was revenge. Near the end of the game, we were trading spankings (completely against the rules, mind you) because if my ass is still sore, then I'm damn sure going to get you back. But I think that says more for the imagination of the players than the game itself. All and all, it was tamer than I expected but still a pretty good time. Everyone said they would play it again and even buy it if they could get a copy. Sounds like it would be a success for the company as well. After this, I almost want to make my own game now
but with a little more dirty added to it. Not like I need another project.

The general vote for Spanky Spanky was that the game was really fun! We gave it a 7 spanks out of 10. For reference, we gave Apples to Apples a 9 spanks out of 10 and Monopoly only 4 spanks. And in case any one wondered... I lost.

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