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With only 72 pages, this one was a short read. As the author herself states, the book comes was derived from her personal experience and accompanying research about mono-poly relationships (meaning a monoamorous/monogamous person being in a relationship with a polyamorous person). She seeks to provide a jumping off point for absolute beginners dealing with the lack of resources for this specific relationship structure (mainly consisting of online forums and Facebook groups), detailing the unique challenges from the perspective of a monoamorous person and issues around opening up a previously monogamous relationship.

The book includes some basics around polyamory and ethical nonmonogamy, best practices for opening up your relationship, agreements and boundaries, interacting with metamours, and dealing with jealousy and FOMO. While much of the book reads like a compilation of personal notes, the chapters about self-care and supporting yourself as the monoamorous partner as well as some of the writing prompts were unique to this book and especially helpful for me. None of the explanations are particularly detailed, but with only 72 pages, this is to be expected. To summarize, I would have hoped for more content and different personal perspectives on the topic, especially since the author's personal story ends with a breakup. At the same time, it's great to have a book on this topic that will hopefully be followed by others in the near future.

While this book focuses on the practice of erotic tickling, it also contains some BDSM basics like negotiating consent, safe words, safer sex and building trust between Dom and Sub. In his own words, 30 years of exploring tickling and BDSM and a myriad of questions about these topics prompted Eric11 to write this book. He writes from the lense of a man who loves men.

The focus of the first half of the book is on how to set up a scene successfully: Setting the mood, getting the Sub into the right headspace, and combining tickling with other techniques like sensory deprivation, bondage, and power exchange. He also touches on possible overlap with watersports. Atmospheric scene descriptions that can be found throughout the book provide inspiration for your own scenes. There are also practical role play ideas (e.g. frat house hazing, extracting classified information from a spy) and tips for setting up a tickle scene with a Sub who hasn’t tried it before as well as instructions on how to throw a tickle party.

The second half of the book details the art of the tickle. The author's thesis is that everyone is ticklish in some way, so the greatest challenge is to get the ticklee into a headspace that opens them to the sensations of being tickled. In his experience many ticklees are trying to challenge their tickler by blocking out ticklish sensations. The job of the tickler is therefore to (consensually) break through those defenses, partly by building trust and making space for being vulnerable, and partly by making use of all available skills. He discusses an array of techniques for different minds and body parts and tools (e.g. brushes, feathers) for maximizing your success. An important chapter is how to find ticklish spots on any Sub, how erotic zones often are also the most ticklish ones and how to pace a scene without wearing out your Sub too quickly. The book closes with directions to where to find the tickle tribe.

This book has been a breath of fresh air. I’ve been reading a lot of heavy stuff in recent months, and it was great inspiration to try something new in my play. I really enjoyed the deep dive into a kink I knew nothing about. Tickling is not only about making somebody laugh, it’s about reaching a hypersensitive state that simultaneously enhances your erotic pleasure. It’s also the ultimate experience of vulnerability for the ticklee who is helpless at the mercy of the Dom's ministrations. The author says himself: “Tickling, in my opinion, is one of the highest forms of sublimation; it’s control without pain. It’s an exploitation of parental programming at its base.” (p. 15) And his first tickling scene he describes as follows: “There was a rush of excitement as I heard him plead for me to stop. It was control. He had lost control and was truely helpless...and he knew it. [...] I had never experienced a headier sexual power exchange.” (pp. 15-16)

His instructions on are clear and concise, and it has been a lot of fun to try them out with my partner. My only real critique is the use of thumb ties and thumb cuffs in the bondage chapter. I’m by no means a bondage expert, but using those in combination with tickling where the Sub is expected to pull and thrash around doesn’t seem like a good idea. I myself am a very ticklish person and have accidentally caused some kicks to delicate body parts and headbutts in the past because I lost control over my body. I wouldn’t want to end up with broken or dislocated thumbs…

Another aspect that didn’t resonate with me personally was the sense of the Dom having to prove himself to the Sub. On multiple occasions, the author details how to carry yourself as a Dominant to be taken seriously by your Sub. He even says: “Frank never had a moment to consider ‘can this guy really dominate me?’ – and I can assure you, every Submissive who meets with a new Dom is wondering this from the beginning.” (p. 60) This notion felt strange for me personally. I wouldn't play with someone who didn't trust me to be a competent Dom, or was quietly waiting for me to fail. For me, a BDSM scene is a collaboration between equal partners that requires a certain level of trust and vulnerability on both sides.

Before I had the opportunity to read this book, I came across Guy Baldwin's scathing review of it. He convincingly assesses the book as a figment of its author's imagination and contrasts it with his personal experiences in the gay leather scene in San Francisco, which have been very different from the allegedly authentic old guard protocols Weal describes. For me, this raised the question: Is this book still worth reading, given its influence on a generation of leather men and its contribution to the myth of the Old Guard? Does authenticity even matter to enjoy its contents? So, I read it myself.

To me, the value of this book lies in the detailed description of protocol from the lense of a gay leatherman. It answers questions like how to finetune the intensity of your D/s protocol when being with vanilla people vs in kink spaces, what a dominant might expect from his submissive and how to act as a collared sub within the social space of a leather bar. It also mentions the topics of negotiations while still adhering to some standards of protocol, the leather boy's bill of rights and detailed rituals for ceremonies such as collaring. It also translates practices like kajira posture training that have been prevalent within the hetero community for a gay male audience. Other chapters detailing probably inauthentic history and supposed ranks of leather men didn't hold my attention. It's unfortunate that he felt the need to lend authority to his compendium by claiming it to be "authentically old guard" and the only correct way to do this.

If you're looking for inspiration for your own protocols and rituals this book might be for you. Otherwise you'll be better off with a different read.

Review by Guy Baldwin: leatherati.com/the-leathermans-protocol-handbook-guest-editorial-review-by-guy-baldwin-d462183007ff Answer to Guy Baldwin's review by the author John D. Weal: leatherati.com/the-leathermans-protocol-handbook-author-s-review-rebuttal-414e07437b39

The anthology centres the diverse experiences of eight submissives with physical disabilities, both hetero and queer, many of them in long-term relationships. They not only share their kinky lives with the readers, but also give practical insights about playing as/with subs with varying impairments and support needs (e.g. wheelchair use, paraplegia, chronic pain and fatigue, loss of vision) and supporting them as their partners. Experience reports by five proficient dominants complete the book. This has been an informative yet emotionally intimate read on an important topic that is not enough talked about. Being able-bodied is a privilege many of us don't think about on a day-to-day basis. Disabled kinksters face many barriers to entry to the community and are mostly invisible in kinky media, unless it's in the form of fetishization. However, a many of us will acquire disabilities in the course of our lives, be it through a medical condition, an accident or old age. This issue concerns all of us! The book shows that being kinky and physically disabled are not mutually exclusive, especially if you're getting creative in your play, and breaks with stereotypes about disability and 'the perfect submissive'. It is also part of a series of anthologies about kink and disability. CW: There are mentions of negative self-talk and (internalized) ableism aswell as negative experiences in relationships.