I love the traditional tropes of BDSM and slave fic – melting the dom’s dom, rescuing the fragile abused slave, Evil Is Sexy, mmmmm.

But I also love it when authors turn these tropes inside out. Here are my favourites of this kind, fan fiction and original work, free and paid. They’re all completed works that can be read as kink, but otherwise quite diverse (except for the overrepresentation of M/m).

If you’re not worried about spoiling the surprise, just skip down to the SPOILER ALERT to see the list of tropes. You’ll wonder how some of these could possibly work, but I think they do. This list is ruthlessly constrained to the stories that say something new and manage to be [cough] entertaining – at least to me.

Online Stories (i.e. Free!)

• The Breaking by Dusk Peterson (M/m)
• In Name Only by BootsnBlossoms & Kryptaria (M/m)
• Take Off Clothes as Directed by Helenish (M/m)
• The Violet and the Tom by Ocotillo (M/m)
• The Slave Breakers series and side stories by Maculate Giraffe (mainly M/m)
• Close Protection by Cordelia Kingsbridge (M/m, no longer available)
• The Slavefic Plot Creator by Dusk Peterson (M/m)
• Houseplants of Gor by Elle (NA)
• Falls Chance Ranch by Rolf & Ranger (M/m)
• The Auction by Miri Thompson (M/m, no longer available)
• 50 Shades of Sellout by Laura Antoniou (M/f)

Subversive Published Authors

• Dusk Peterson (now free) – The Eternal Dungeon series (M/m) – Waterman series (M/m) – Loren’s Lashes series (M/m)
• Joey W. Hill – Rough Canvas (M/m) – Afterlife (M/f) – Mistress of Redemption (F/m) – Ice Queen (M/f) – Natural Law (F/m) – Vampire Queen’s Servant (F/m)
• Laura Antoniou – The Marketplace series (MF+/mf+) – Scenes from the Marketplace (Mf+/mf+) – The Killer Wore Leather (MF/mf)

Other Published Stories (i.e. Not Free)

• As She’s Told by Anneke Jacob (M/f)
• The Captive Prince series by C. S. Pacat (M/m)
• Duck! by Kim Dare (M/m)
• Kushiel’s Dart series by Jacqueline Carey (MF/f)
• Odalisque by Annabel Joseph (M/f)
• Ricochet by Xanthe Walter (M/m)
• Tales of Amaranth series by Thom Lane (M/m)
• Under Contract by Helen Saito (M/m)
• Uneven by Anah Crow (M/m)

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!

Here is what those stories actually do that is so subversive.

Subs or Slaves

• Sub helps messed-up dom get it together: The Eternal Dungeon series, Rough Canvas
• Older sub: Uneven, Close Protection (no longer available), Under Contract, Afterlife
• Higher-status sub: Uneven, Falls Chance Ranch (free), Duck!
• Sub derring-do: Kushiel’s Dart series, Tales of Amaranth series
• Alpha male sub/slave: Natural Law, The Vampire Queen’s Servant, Close Protection (free), The Captive Prince series
• Slave dom/top: The Violet and the Tom (free), Scenes from the Marketplace
• Non-physical abuse: Unmarked, Take Off Clothes as Directed (free)
• Emotionally abusive sub: Mistress of Redemption
• Slave doesn’t want to be rescued, thank you: In Name Only (free)

Doms or Masters

• Two doms: The Abolitionist, Ice Queen
• Blue-collar dom: As She’s Told
• Effeminate male dom: Close Protection (free, no longer available), Barbarians and sequel, Loren’s Lashes series
• Irresponsible dom: The Trainer, Ricochet
• Previously enslaved master: Under Contract, The Slave Breakers series (free), The Marketplace series
• Master enslaved: The Captive Prince series
• Master wants to be slave/sub: The Violet and the Tom (free), The True Master

And Others:

• Vanilla partner: The Eternal Dungeon series, In Name Only (free), Kushiel’s Dart series
• Asexual sub: The Auction (free, no longer available)
• Disability: Odalisque
• Gender-bending: The Marketplace series
• Gor (best left undescribed): Houseplants of Gor (free), The Killer Wore Leather
• Realism in general: Take Off Clothes as Directed (free), The Slavefic Plot Creator (free), 50 Shades of Sellout (free)

What do you recommend? I had to leave out some of my favourites because I couldn’t convince myself that they were subversive/hot enough, but that doesn’t have to stop you.