Bound to Please

Zine
Title:	Bound to Please
Publisher:	The Nut Hatch
Editor(s):
Date(s):	November 1994
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	The Professionals
Language:	English
External Links:
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Bound to Please is a slash Professionals anthology of BDSM fiction by Shawn Gedge.

From the Zine

THAT OLD PLEA TO READERS:

For the umpteenth time we beg you not to duplicate this zine for the circuit. Also, if you discover someone doing this, gently suggest to them that they stop, because The Nut Hatch will get stuck with $1000's worth of unsold copies, and go broke all over again! If you would like to bulk-order for your group, circuit or con, please write to us, we would be delighted to give details in full!

The Editorial

In this instance, the greater part of the work I did on this issue was, quite literally, to translate American English into ... English English! And kids, it wasn't easy. To begin with, it can be hard to spot what's US and what's UK, because we here in Australia are fairly inundated with American TV and after a while (say, the first twenty-five years or so) Americanisms have just about taken over! Secondly, I had to draw a line somewhere, because I became aware that I was about to stifle Shawn's style. And I'd given her my word of honour that this was one thing I wouldn't do. So I settled for middle ground. I changed the spellings (if I missed any, such as car-tires, shades of gray, center of the page, or something, forgive me. I have a weird idea my spell checker may be on the blink. Either that or my eyes!), and looked out for things that just had to be changed, like hood of the car and so forth ... and then I racked my brains to see if what I was taking for American isms aren't also used by Englishmen. Transpires, they are. I'd gotten to believe... the parking lot. I've recently heard these on Brit TV shows. So I ceased to meddle in Shawn's work, and just did my editing job instead!

This is quite an anthology. Half of it is strongly plotted fiction (including a whole novel), and... okay, okay, the other half is about sex. Not just how it happens, and to whom, but why it happens. What makes us tide And lastly, as anyone who knows Shawnie would predict, it's about consensual sexual bondage in many guises. But this is also potentially the most wildly romantic zine I've seen in ages! Every one of these stories is a love story; some are angsty, some are funny. All are entertaining, and (perhaps to set your mind at rest), before you begin let me assure the reader once or for all, sadism and masochism between Bodie and Doyle do not take place within these pages. A wilder set of love-stories than these, you will never encounter, but love stories they definitely are! There's fantasy, role-playing, birthday stories, Christmas stories ... misunderstanding and misadventure. Gifts given and received. In the novel, there's 'bags of panic and blue lights,' complete with Martin Riggs guest-starring, and a plot that drives itself and knocks your socks off.

But I have to admit, the rest of the zine is driven by sex. Well... someone once said to me, sex is at least as important as a car chase or a gunfight, but the chase etc. gets 1pp and the love scene gets 1pp. I saw the sense of that. As it happens, I agree that sex is hugely important

in the lives of these characters, and these stories approach the whole concept of sex from several angles. No two are identical though a couple are similar ... and in every instance Shawn gets to grips not just with the mechanics but with the psychology. I was fascinated, and I hope you will be also. But is this porn. Ach. So what. Enjoy. It was fun (and yes, exciting!) to edit, and ought to be fun to read.

Contents

• Nuts and Bolts (4)
• A Taste of Brimstone (crossover with Lethal Weapon)(14)
• Birthday Boys 1 - Imperial Leather (77)
• Birthday Boys 2 - Sugar and Spice (82)
• Slap Happy (includes domestic discipline) (86)
• Playing by the Rules (95)
• Phantasm, Part 1: Doyle (114)
• Phantasm, Part 2: Bodie (121)
• Five Gold Rings (129)
• Educating Raymond (140)

"Translator's Notes"

In this instance, the greater part of the work I did on this issue was, quite literally, to translate American English into ... English English! And kids, it wasn't easy. To begin with, it can be hard to spot what's US and what's UK, because we here in Australia are fairly inundated with American TV and after a while (say, the first twenty-five years or so) Americanisms have just about taken over! Secondly, I had to draw a line somewhere, because I became aware that I was about to stifle Shawn's style. And I'd given her my word of honour that this was one thing I wouldn't do. So I settled for middle ground. I changed the spellings (if I missed any, such as car-tires, shades of gray, center of the page, or something, forgive me. I have a weird idea my spell checker may be on the blink. Either that or my eyes, and looked out for things that just had to be changed, like hood of the car and so forth ... and then I racked my brains to see if what I was taking for Americanisms aren't also used by Englishmen. Transpires, they are. I'd gotten to believe... the parking lot. I've recently heard these on Brit TV shows. So I ceased to meddle in Shawn's work, and just did my editing job instead!

Also from the Editor

This is quite an anthology. Half of it is strongly plotted fiction (including a whole novel, and... okay, okay, the other half is about sex. Not just how it happens, and to whom, but why it happens. What makes us tick. And lastly, as anyone who knows Shawnie would predict, it's about consensual sexual bondage in many guises. But this is also potentially the most wildly romantic zine I've seen in ages! Every one of these stories is a love story; some are angsty, some are funny. All are entertaining, and (perhaps to set your mind at rest), before you begin let me assure the reader once or for all, sadism and masochism between Bodie and Doyle do not take place within these pages. A wilder set of love-stories than these, you will never encounter, but love stories they definitely are! There's fantasy, role-playing, birthday stories, Christmas stories ... misunderstanding and misadventure. Gifts given and received. In the novel, there's 'bags of panic and blue lights,' complete with Martin Riggs guest-starring, and a plot that drives itself and knocks your socks off.

But I have to admit, the rest of the zine is driven by sex. Well... someone once said to me, sex is at least as important as a car chase or a gunfight, but the chase etc gets l0pp and the love scene gets 1pp. I saw the sense of that. As it happens, I agree that sex is hugely important in the lives of these characters, and these stories approach the whole concept of sex from several angles. No two are identical though a couple are similar ... and in every instance Shawn gets to grips not just with the mechanics but with the psychology. I was fascinated, and I hope you will be also. But is this porn? Ach. So what? Enjoy. It was fun (and yes, exciting!) to edit, and ought to be fun to read.

From the Nut Hatch Flyer

Okay, okay, folks, we get the message! Here is a zine by popular demand, featuring Shawnie at her best, and at full-throttle, a whole zine especially constructed for those many fans who turn to the Shawn Gedge story first when opening the zine, savour it and can’t get enough! (To those gentle readers who aren’t shure what all this means: Shawn has already carved herself a reputation for stories which all tend to have a theme in common. The theme is bondage! We stress, *bondage*, as completely distinct to sadomasochism. Nut Hatch doesn’t handle *that*, but Shawnie’s brand of bondage has won many fans.)

Often funny, frequently tender and just as often warmly romantic, her stories are based on established-relationship B/D, with a twist. These guys have a penchant for getting ‘all tied up’, emotionally as well as physically! It can be an accidental misadventure with a pair of handcuffs, it might be a whole undercover assignment, a game at home, as simple as a runaway conversation, as complex as an elaborate plot.

In *Bound To Please*, we present Shawn at her best ... always outrageous, always the mistress of her material ... uncompromisingly sexy, consistently fascinating as she explores the whole concept of consensual bondage (but deliberately never crossing the line into sadism and masochism. Trust us.)

In this volume, we’ll pack in as many of the stories Shawn has sent us as we possibly can. The zine is planned for Christmas ‘94, and hasn’t yet been formatted, but here is a tiny pre-tease of what’s to come ... and we do mean *come*!...

An argument jeopardises Bodie’s and Doyle’s relationship, and the solution to the situation is unusual to say the least!

Insomnia can be curse, but when two insomniacs share the condition, the pillow talk necessitates asbestos bedding!

The rainy afternoon looks like being totally boring until Bodie and Doyle get to gambling. And boy, the stakes!

And much more! With titles like *Slap Happy*, *Educating Raymond*, *Turkish Delight*, *Sugar and Spice*, and so on, these stories are....bound to please those readers who turn to Shawn’s work first and let the rest of the zine bring up the rear! Be warned to handle this issue with tongs and fire-gloves. Not for readers who suffer heart trouble. (And admittedly, not for readers to whom the concept of consensual bondage between ‘married’ partners is unacceptable.)

160pp. A4, coil bound.

Another flyer:

Here it is, guys: the infamour bondage anthology ... available again and all its glory. Seriously, it's not for everyone, and I stress that it is a bondage tour de force! If you don't know what all this is about, choose another title! On the other hand...

A TASTE OF BRIMSTONE is novel-length, a thriller where Bodie and Doyle join forces with Martin Riggs to uncover a nest of satanists in a country house west of London. It's a "wow" of a book, fast-paced, gritty and, when it comes to delivering the goods, tough to beat, as the saying goes.

SLAP HAPPY is a heart-warming relationship piece...

NUTS AND BOLTS ... Bodie and Doyle have been caught by the bad guys and handcuffed to a drainpipe in a yard. How they get free is sure to tickle!

...plus, there's fantasy, birthday stories, drama, all kinds of high-jinx, each story offering a special "take" on the theme of bondage.

Every story is consensual, featuring consenting adults ... no kids, no assault, no undesired cruelty. But, yep, this one can be kinky as a Irish mile, and may raise the first blush on your fair cheeks in many a year!

Reactions and Reviews

1996

I like reading about [S/M] if it's done right -- "right" probably being a more idiosyncratic definition on this subject than on most. I must admit that I complained to a friend about Shawn Gedge's BOUND FOR PLEASURE [sic] that it was _too_ consensual. Or something.

That's exactly how I would explain it, too. In every single story whether its mild bondage, heavier stuff or whatever, the writer has the characters go through this very clear, well, -this- is how fur we'll go and no further...And while I can understand that that kind of discussion with this kind of sex (rough sex, kinky sex, bondage, blah, blah, blah) would be very necessary (along with safe words and so forth) and important to have before you begin, it certainly ties down the story if you have B and D do it. Plus, it adds to the ...frisson...(hope that's the right word) if the characters are not too sure of the other person's motivations or control over themselves...if say, Doyle's got Bodie in a position where he could be hurt if Doyle takes it too far, then Bodie, and therefore possibly the reader, would be feeling that uncertainty, that psuedo fear that sometimes can make sex more exciting. But to have them explain it to themselves, to each other, and then to the reader, well it bogged me down. Almost like the writer was trying to reassure the readers that she herself would never engage in roughish sex without safe words, would never have bondage between persons other than consenting adults, almost as if she were afraid of the reflection the topic would have on her. Some of the situations were very good, but then we got tied up, so to speak, in all this consensuality...

1997

One zine that, IMO, did not work was BOUND TO PLEASE. This is a zine from Nuthatch Press, with all stories by Shawn Gedge. In all the stories, the Lads are in established but kinky relationships of various flavors. The writing is iffy, but the main problem is that the whole S&M thing is too consensual. If there's nothing going wrong, there's not much of a story. Each story seemed sort of, "look at this new kink and what we do with it," without sufficient plot to hold up the story.

I'll agree with you about the lack of plots for most of the stories in this zine, but since I figured they were just suppossed to be big long sex scenes anyway, it didn't bother me. And I greatly enjoyed the Pros/Lethal Weapon story, had a decent plot that didn't have anymore plot holes in it than the 3 LW movies (or a typical Pros ep for that matter).

As far as the sex being "_too_ consensual", well that's because it's b&d not s&m. Now I know we could get into a huge debate over the differences in the two, lord knows the line is very blurry in spots; but for me s&m involves inflicting physical and/or mental pain of some sort (i.e. whips, lashes, razors, sensory deprivation, etc.). Bondage/Domination, OTOH, is more about trust and to me, the fantasy of play acting. I thought that most of the stuff they're into in these stories: being tied up, body shaving, sharing fantasies, body piercing, sex games, etc. fell much closer to b&d than s&m. And B&D's relationship in all the stories was portrayed as very loving.

[A fan commenting on a submission request for another zine I thought, "positive way." "POSITIVE WAY?" And I was well and truly put off. Disclaimer: this is not to say that a zine with any of the listed elements in any or all of its stories couldn't be fun; I'm just sick of the political correctness of sexual perversion being shoved down my throat. Figuratively speaking, of course. Thoughts, anyone? : If I hadn't read BOUND TO PLEASE (Nuthatch Press zine, stories by "Shawn Gedge," all showing various flavors of consensual kink), I would have been much less suspicious about this sort of thing [the submission request for Whips & Chains & Playful Things]. I don't think there's anything inherently _bad_ in such a zine. I don't think it's going to be my sort of thing, though. Which is a shame, since I'm disposed to like BDSM stories. It's not the activities themselves, though -- it's the struggle to overcome, the exchange of power, that floats my boat. Bodie as a love slave as done by Shawn Gedge just makes me giggle. And that's the sort of story that I envision in WHIPS AND CHAINS AND PLAYFUL THINGS.