"Recommend some fantasy BDSMy books for me. Lesbians preferred."

[snarp]

Someone sent me this text earlier in the year. I guess I can just be assumed to know such things.

My answer was as follows. (By email.)

In response to to your text, I regret to inform you that the only perfect match to your request I can think of is Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey.

Other possible matches below. Stuff that I recommend has an asterisk.

(It's sad that I can compile a list like this so quickly.)

No Lesbians

Transformation, by Carol Berg - Nice enlightened nature-worship guy is enslaved to bullying barbarian prince with a heart of gold. Slashy but it remains entirely subtext; may kind of make you want to kill yourself. Is a series. (Her Flesh and Spirit is exactly the same.)

Daughter of the Blood, by Anne Bishop - Has been discussed on the blog. Is hilariously bad. Is a series.

Mona Lisa Awakening, by Sunny - Has been discussed on the blog; is Daughter of the Blood fanfic with the serial numbers filed off. Hilariously bad, is a series.

Quarreling They Met The Dragon, by Sharon Baker - Two sex slave guys attempt to escape their cruel masters together. INSANELY melodramatic. Actually sci-fi.

Wicked Gentlemen, by Ginn Hale - Bitter drug-addict demon private eye guy meets earnest young inquisitor guy.

An Exchange of Hostages, by Susan R. Matthews - Idealistic young doctor is forced to become a torturer and slave-owner. Textually slashy but nothing happens; will totally make you want to kill yourself; actually sci-fi. Is a series.

Melusine, by Sarah Monette - Cruel, haughty wizard is imprisoned and tortured for a crime he didn't commit, and rescued by a thief with a heart of gold. May kind of make you want to kill yourself (though not as much so as Berg and Matthews). Is a series.

Shadowheart, by Laura Kinsale - I think there was a plot in there somewhere, and I think the plot involved pirates. Technically a historical romance, but is too insane to properly regard as such. I haven't finished it, but apparently half the RWA wanted to kick Kinsale out over this book because the girl is the dominant partner. So, obviously quality.

the Anita Blake books, by Laurell K. Hamilton - These have been described in many places. Hilariously bad.

* The Vintner's Luck, by Elizabeth Knox - An emo guy finds a (male) angel in his vineyard.

* The Winter Prince, by Elizabeth Wein - King Arthur retelling involving Mordred/non-canonical legitimate son of Arthur UST. Is a series.

* Dawn, by Octavia Butler - Sci-fi about benevolent tentacle aliens enslaving humans for their own good. May kind of make you want to kill yourself. Is a series.

* The Vor Game, Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance, by Lois McMaster Bujold - Part of a very long sci-fi series. Plot is difficult to describe, but involves clones. You can read just these three books, but you'd need to do it in order. Mirror Dance is the most BDSM-intensive, but you can't read it first.

Havemercy, by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett - Melusine fanfic with the serial numbers filed off and much less BDSM stuff. Included for completeness; it annoyed me.

Contains Lesbians

* Fire Logic, by Laurie Marks - The lost heir to the throne, addicted to a drug that is slowly killing her, finds herself walking out in a blizzard to rescue a foreign warrior woman imprisoned by her country's invaders. Contains many, many lesbians, but it may be stretching to say it contains BDSM. Is a series.

* The Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen Kushner - A girl's eccentric uncle agrees to pay off her family's debts if she'll learn swordsmanship and become his bodyguard. Contains lesbians, but no BDSM of note. Is second in a duology, but you don't need to read the first one to understand it.

Manga

the works of Kaori Yuki - It is impossible to describe any of Kaori Yuki's plots, but they are all structured around scenes in which people fiddle with chains and torture implements and declare ownership of one another. Cain Saga is set in Victorian England, if we assume that zombies were quite common in Victorian England, and also that "Jezabel" was an appropriate name for a guy back then. (It is not to be confused with Kaine, an entirely separate Kaori Yuki series which just coincidentally happens to have the same title. I should probably add that Kaori Yuki is kind of nuts.) I think that the only one with lesbians is Angel Sanctuary, which is set partly in modern-day Japan, partly in Hell, and partly everywhere else that Kaori Yuki thought might look cool.

* Saiyuki, by Kazuya Minekura - A hot Buddhist priest and three hot demon guys, all in firm possession of Tragic Pasts, go on a road trip together to save the world, and must continually rescue each other from bad guys who want to touch them inappropriately. The road trip has now been going on for thirteen years and more than twenty volumes, not including the side-series exploring their past lives together, also apparently spent rescuing each other.

* Heart of Thomas / Toma no Shinzou, by Moto Hagio - In pre-WWII Germany, a boy enrolls at an angst-ridden all-gay high school and learns that he looks exactly like a boy who killed himself for love of another boy just days before he arrived. Spoilers: Satanic torture was somehow involved. Slashy but nothing happens. Only available in scanlations.

Onii-sama e, by Riyoko Ikeda - Innocent young girl enrolls at an angst-ridden all-lesbian high school (in modern Japan, this time) and falls instantly in love with the most angst-ridden girl on campus. Only fantasy in the sense that Japan probably doesn't actually have all-lesbian high schools; may kind of make you want to kill yourself; I haven't finished it. Only available in scanlations, and I don't think the scans are complete.

-

I was later told that this request had been made on behalf of a friend who was really into Nalini Singh. So I am, like, the go-to person for when you've got a bored Nalini Singh fan on your hands. I fear for my future.

Comments

[branchandroot]

*dying of laughter over the Kaori Yuki* It's so true; they /are/ impossible to describe.

Frankly, I would also recommend all the works of Marion Zimmer Bradley, who had more hang-ups than a coatrack and kind of took them out on her fiction. Warrior Woman and The Ruins of Isis both have plenty of lesbians and some fairly BDSM background, though not the safe, sane consensual kind. *thinks* House Between Worlds may have also, but it's been so long I can't recall for sure.

The short stories are the real place to go for up-front sexual kink, though.

[snarp]

You know, I've got no idea why I didn't put The Shattered Chain and Thendara House in there...

[branchandroot]

Yeah, when the author gives us a whole /culture/ of women who are literally chained up, and one dealing with her Issues therefrom, well...