Total control that is monopolized for no other reason than that the dominant character needs to control others in order to feel better about himself (i.e. for selfish reasons) - that I cannot abide. Which is why TBQ's story is totally anti-kink for me.
TBQ's prose is lovely, the voices ok, but IMHO the charactersation is eh. Her Spike does not have anything in common with the one we've seen on BtVS S7 or on AtS. I haven't actually seen evidence of the soul.
I can see scenarios in which authority gives structure to a life/personality that has been shattered and traumatised, in which one character exercises control not because he or she enjoys it but because it's necessary. But I would always have to feel that the hierarchy is temporary and mutable.
Now *my* kink is equality. Shifts in power have to be negotiated. Power can be transferred and granted, but not usurped. I don't even mind the incest kink that permeates TBQ's fic, because I can see how a replacement father can have a certain erotic appeal to a certain frame of mind. I do mind the way Spike supposedly enjoys pain. I didn't see him enjoy Glory's torture. Spike is a wuss, he doesn't enjoy pain, which makes his resilience in 'Intervention' more noteworthy and admirable. At least that's how I see him.
But then again TBQ was quite open about the fact that she's writing her own kink. *shrug* I don't think kink-centric fic makes good fic just because the prose is well-crafted. But then I liked eliade's 'Subtleties, and those were indulgent too, just closer to something I can relate to. Objectivity is difficult when it comes to kink. :-) Fortunately, nobody forces us to read or like everything that's out there. I may admire the craft and can be emotionally cold at the same time....
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Date: 2003-10-15 12:42 am (UTC)TBQ's prose is lovely, the voices ok, but IMHO the charactersation is eh. Her Spike does not have anything in common with the one we've seen on BtVS S7 or on AtS. I haven't actually seen evidence of the soul.
I can see scenarios in which authority gives structure to a life/personality that has been shattered and traumatised, in which one character exercises control not because he or she enjoys it but because it's necessary. But I would always have to feel that the hierarchy is temporary and mutable.
Now *my* kink is equality. Shifts in power have to be negotiated. Power can be transferred and granted, but not usurped. I don't even mind the incest kink that permeates TBQ's fic, because I can see how a replacement father can have a certain erotic appeal to a certain frame of mind. I do mind the way Spike supposedly enjoys pain. I didn't see him enjoy Glory's torture. Spike is a wuss, he doesn't enjoy pain, which makes his resilience in 'Intervention' more noteworthy and admirable. At least that's how I see him.
But then again TBQ was quite open about the fact that she's writing her own kink. *shrug* I don't think kink-centric fic makes good fic just because the prose is well-crafted. But then I liked eliade's 'Subtleties, and those were indulgent too, just closer to something I can relate to. Objectivity is difficult when it comes to kink. :-)
Fortunately, nobody forces us to read or like everything that's out there. I may admire the craft and can be emotionally cold at the same time....