Anthology
Review by: Alison
Review
A Little B&D, an anthology from Lionheart Distribution
What I did appreciate about this zine was the cover and some of the illustrations which included Suzan Lovett's 'The Stakeout was Called Off...', two interesting face studies by Tauna 'Lashes'- Bodie and 'Concentration'- Doyle, plus a nice wallpaper by Sekhmet called 'The Lads'.
However, what I failed to take account of when ordering this zine were the words, 'Some stories include loving bdsm, some graphic violence ...'
The stories referred to were the six stories of The Acronym Series by Karen Klinck. As one of them, snappily entitled The Motorcycle Gang That Tried To Eat Brighton And The Valiant CI5 Agents Who Stopped Them, and its follow up Time To Heal are the longest stories in the zine you actually get rather a lot of bdsm. I have to admit that I can stand just so much before I start screaming with boredom as I find it tedious and formulaic at the best of times. As to the Acronym Series, the characterization seemed off, the longer stories lacked credibility and the bdsm and violence felt excessive and somewhat gratuitous. I really struggled to see Bodie and Doyle acting as they did. I struggled to believe that Cowley would have sanctioned such an undercover operation. I struggled to believe in the premise of a gay s&m motorcycle gang terrorizing Brighton, and I found it very hard to accept that Bodie needed to hurt Doyle as much as he did even if he was trying to keep up their undercover personas. Also, Bodie and Doyle might have been engaging in consensual bdsm, but most of the rest of the gang were just engaged in graphic violence and rape! The follow up story Time To Heal was more of the same with Doyle in the leading role and I'd quite honestly had more than my fill and skimmed it quickly.
The rest of the stories, If it's done for love by Alanna, Peaches and Cream and Stakeout by Tauna, Lucky Charm by Shorts and The Things I Do For You, Sunshine by Darby Brennan were mainly very short and sweet relationship ones that tended to include a lot of sex, plus one first time one. The odd one out was a death story Can life go on by Darby Brennan that was at variance with the mood and tone of the rest of the zine.
Unfortunately, many of the stories in this zine were not to my taste and I did not really enjoy it. On a more positive note, I got a refund from Lionheart for $8.00 because they'd posted two zines together and reduced the postage costs. I certainly appreciated that.
Alison, from website April 2010