Okay, after spending the last who-knows-how-long in careful study, I can say that Rebecca Webb's Hogwart fics (they're not centered on Harry, but rather on Slytherin and everyone's favorite Head of House) are definitely worth a read.
For the right reader. Which I definitely am by the way.
Who's the right reader?
- someone into Potter-verse fanfic
- someone who can let go the need for everyone to be completely in character (these were written a while ago, before the recent novels came out)
- someone who likes to read. These are long. This is a delight because they're also exceptionally well written and develop character in rather lovely ways.
- someone who isn't just looking for spanking porn.
That last comment was the one I found most interesting to write. Because there are a lot spankings (or rather canings, but she calls them spankings) and the characters refer to them even more frequently. But the stories aren't about the canings themselves. The canings aren't (generally) detailed in a pornographic* way. Rather, like traditional school novels (think Enid Blyton), the caning / spanking is mentioned and the possiblity of them is constant, but they aren't the stories' main events.
I love that.
For a long time I've tried to understand why I find it so much more thrilling for there to be a reference to a spanking in say an Enid Blyton book then the emotion I feel when I read most spanking-fetish stories. These stories by Rebecca Webb have sort of crystallized the issue for me. My enjoyment, I think, comes from them not being first and formost about spanking -- these stories have a plot and dramatic trajectory far apart from the spanking act. Sure, sometimes the two come together and the spanking / caning is the final line drawn under some sort of student hijinks (now there's a word I've never used before) but it doesn't have to be that way. Not every threat ends in a spanking. Nor does every misdeed result in a drawn out, bent over scene.
I think that's what I like. I get off on the absence of detail, the lack of pornographic detail about her knickers, about the feeling of each stroke and how she moved. How weird is that?
The Snape in Rebecca's stories is dark but lovable, again somewhat in the tradition of English school novels. Yes, there's a bit of the "crusty professor with the heart of gold" but she does it and the whole Slytherin house well.
Favorite passages? Too many to count. However, this is representitive of the lovely energy the author gives these stories:
Malfoy ducked just in time to avoid Snape's cane, which flew across the room at him and soared right out the door. He watched in confusion as it sailed up the corridor. Then, as it rounded the first corner, he took off after it at a dead run.
He chased it up deserted hallways and staircases until it suddenly stopped short at the intersection of two corridors. Malfoy skidded to a halt, hesitated for just a moment, and then leapt inside the nearest classroom doorway, peeking carefully into the hall. Sure enough, here came Snape, storming down the cross corridor, snatching the cane furiously out of thin air without breaking his stride as he swept through the intersection. Malfoy waited until the robes billowing behind him disappeared and then took off after him.
"Can I be this lucky?" he wondered joyously to himself as he sneaked along behind his housemaster. When Snape turned to mount the steps to Gryffindor Tower, Malfoy fell to his knees in gratitude. "Yes!" he cried, thrusting his fists triumphantly into the air. "
Soooo... is the author kinky? One might think so. I mean, the cane and all it symbolizes is a central and important to the plot of these interlocking fics, but I'm not sure. So despite what happened with Mikki's story, I'm reluctant to write to her. I mean, what will she feel knowing I'm perving on her fic? But I'm perving on it the way I would on some of the classic stuff (US and UK) from the 1940s and 1950s.
Anyway, assuming you want to read them after the above disclaimers, let me know what you think. The stories start here. I was sorry to finish them. Definitely a great read.
