Monica's Place
A Novel, By Richard Alexander, email address: bilboes@hotmail.com
Statistics:
Length: 208,000 words, 24 Chapters.
Genre: B & D erotica
Author's Philosophy:
Believability is the key. In my view a story should meet certain criteria. It
should have a plot that is logical and believable. Events should have causes
and consequences and take place for a reason.
In this genre there are many stories, often poorly written, that could not take
place since they are unrealistic - and this is before one gets to the realms of
true fantasy. My writings are about people who live in believable surroundings
and have 'adventures' that could conceivably happen. These people are not
superhuman, but they are attractive and individual. The main character, Steven,
has a dry sense of humour that permeates the sections that he writes. I like to
have fun in writing, which I hope comes through in the rather light-hearted
approach to the storyline as a whole.
B & D has many sides - fantasy, science fiction, or realist, all of which can
cover a range of aspects involving degrees of consensuality, pain and sexual
fetishes. There exist moral issues and social attitudes that may offend some
people, either through being too harsh or chauvinistic, or even the reverse. In
regard to these, Monica's Place is not extremist. It is 'middle of the road'
but readable and enjoyable.
The main characters in Monica's Place (aside from Steven) are female. They have
their quirks and idiosyncrasies, but they are in general nice people (unlike
some of their clients). This is a book that does not condone rape or
maltreatment of women, nor does it extend into the darker realms of B & D such
as disfiguration, blood letting or the like. In this regard, Steven has an
uncommonly chivalrous (if at times mischievous and downright devious) attitude
towards the female characters while struggling to understand what he is getting
into at times. He is somewhat naive in this regard, and frequently ends up
being educated the hard way.
The Plot
Steven Reynolds is a builder. He is in his early thirties, running a one-man
outfit. When he is asked by Monica Armstrong, the owner of Bilboes, an old
Queenslander house on the outskirts of Brisbane, to do a fitout of the basement,
he agrees, not realising where it will lead. In the course of building a
dungeon, holding cells and various places of devious torments, he finds himself
drawn into the lifestyle and encountering all manner of clients. As he and
Monica devise ingenious instruments of bondage and restraint, Steven finds
himself having to test some of them himself, or else assisting Monica to have
them tested by the girls and their clients. Circumstances develop where Steven
and Monica begin to try to outdo each other in inventing restraint situations
for each other, culminating in a final climax involving the entire staff of
Bilboes being involved in a slow release scenario that roves around Brisbane.
And what does Steven really feel for the proud Monica, when she is not trying to
outdo him in the humiliation stakes - or vice versa? That too begins to surface
in the lead up to the final chapter.
Reactions
The novel has been posted on a somewhat obscure Australian-based web page and,
according to the page host, has attracted more feedback than any other story
ever posted there. The chapters were posted in groups of six and the author
received numerous emails demanding the rest of the chapters be posted as quickly
as possible so readers could continue with the saga. The author has not
received any detrimental criticisms - all were most praiseworthy.
"By popular public demand", a second Monica story (Monica's Quest, set primarily
in Hong Kong and Macau) is almost complete. At around 120,000 words it is not
as long as the first, but has a more cohesive plot and has been deemed 'a worthy
successor' by those who have read the advanced copy and provided feedback for
tightening up and tweaking the story.
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