Friday Featured Spotlight ~ Pink Flamingo Publications

Pink Flamingo Publications is an alternative press founded in 1994 by Lizbeth Dusseau, and her husband Ken. With the launch of their first website in 1996, Pink Flamingo was one of the first erotica publishers to bring quality Bondage and Spanking Fiction to the Internet.

While Pink Flamingo began with the publication of Lizbeth's Spanking, BDSM and General Erotica, they soon expanded to offer erotica by many other authors. They've also added both Femdom and Lesbian Erotica, and many other genres to their listings. Pink Flamingo Publications now has over 85 authors, from several different countries. 

Pink Flamingo specializes in BDSM erotica, a catch-all phrase for ‘kinky’ erotica that includes bondage, spanking, master/slave stories, male and female domination, as well as a variety of fetish content.

*Book source ~ Many thanks to Pink Flamingo for providing review copies of the following books in exchange for honest reviews.

Title ~ The Ring of Giants

Author ~ Olivia M. Ravensworth

Published ~ 14 June 2013

Genre ~ Erotica/Historical

Pages ~ 173

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Kalesh is the lowest of the lowest people in his village. An orphan rescued from a burning village by a man that died soon after, he had to fend for himself and was not wanted by anyone else. Even Mara, the lowest daughter of the lowest man was above Kalesh. Until one day, far up in the mountain, Kalesh finds something of great worth, something that changes his life dramatically.

This story reminded me sort of an erotic Clan of the Cave Bear told from a male POV. Though Kalesh’s time is considerably more recent (8000 BC) than Ayla’s (35000 BC) in Clan of the Cave Bear, there are many similarities with how people lived in our past.

The characters are pretty good though I didn’t really get to know them as well as Kalesh. For being such a ‘low’ person on the totem pole he’s actually pretty smart. When he finds the giant relics on the mountain he grows by leaps and bounds though he doesn’t always understand what he’s seeing and learning with his new items. His journey with Mara and Pon is very interesting to follow and I was curious where they would end up. Along the way there is a lot of sex going on. Kalesh is making up for lost time and who can blame him.

The plot, the writing, the characters and the hot steamy scenes are wonderful, but there is a lot of repetition of certain phrases and descriptions of sexual acts. Much of it could have been cut without losing any of the tale. All-in-all though I really enjoyed Kalesh’s story.

Title ~ Steam & Spurs

Author ~ Johnny Stone

Published ~ 24 June 2011

Genre ~ Erotica/Steampunk

Pages ~ 237

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Johnny Stone is a rough and gruff old-school Texan who has been through the grinder over his 50-some years. Once a soldier fighting for the Republic of Texas and later a Texas Ranger he’s now a bounty hunter picking and choosing the jobs he wants. When he agrees to go to Uranus to find and bring home the son of his client and he boards the airship the H.M.S Dreaming Star he has no idea he’s about to learn something completely new about himself. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

This steampunk story was a little different than the other ones I’ve read. Airships in this book can go into space and when in space it’s not much different than sailing the ocean. People can open portholes or go up on deck without dying from lack of oxygen in the vacuum of space. So, a bit of a departure from traditional sci-fi. It’s hard to wrap my brain around, but if I could breathe in space then I might just go on that Mars expedition instead of staying firmly where oxygen is in abundance.

The writing is very good, the characters are well-developed, the plot is interesting and the BDSM scenes are hot, hot, hot. There’s a scene towards the end that reminded me of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean. It was very entertaining! The only problems I had were some editing issues (punctuation problems and several instances of homophones) and the ending was left a bit up in the air. Will there be more of Johnny & Rainia?

Title ~ The Mayor's Daughter: Draft Pony

Series ~The Mayor's Daughter, #1

Author ~ Will Versuch

Published ~ 2 March 2011

Genre ~ Erotica/BDSM

Pages ~ 126

My Rating ~ 4 bites out of 5

Jessica Miller is a spoiled rich girl whose father is the mayor of her town. On her 19^th birthday while on the way to her party she gets pulled over for yet another speeding violation and she thinks she might be able to get out of it with a warning. However, the officer says she’s got an outstanding warrant and she needs to go to the station to get it straightened out. Except there is no warrant and Jessica is about to enter a whole new world. One that is cruel and sadistic with no hope for escape. If she survives, this will be a birthday she’ll never forget.

Woah. I have to say that animal roleplay or petplay isn't something that lights my fire. However, I was curious and had heard this story was pretty good, so I was game to give it a go. Sweet Baby Jane! This is not a cutesy light and fluffy BDSM story. This is a non-con abduction and forced BDSM book. Jessica, newly christened Sierra, is forced to be a ponygirl.  This is not something she ever even thought about in her wildest dreams. She is not secretly craving to be a submissive and she does not fall in love with the cruel and sadistic Officer. This story is brutal to read.

I like Jessica despite the fact she starts out a bit spoiled. She has guts aplenty. And she’s smart. She’s constantly trying to think of ways to get the fuck out of there or ways she might be able to manipulate her captor. None of it works, but at least she’s trying. The story is well-written and the things the Officer does to Jessica are so finely detailed I had no problem picturing them in my head. Which was enough to give me nightmares, thankyouverymuch. I may have learned more than I ever needed to know about ponyplay, but at least it was an inventive and very interesting learning experience.