Review: The Hedgewitch Queen

The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I give kudos to Saintcrow on doing a complete shift to a new world that is "soft and romantic" albeit still filled with fighting and violence (or the promise of it).

I struggled while reading the book, and I longed for the gripping immersion, the raw atmosphere and powerful characters of her paranormal action (and very adult) series.

I learned, while searching for books to read by this author, than anything labelled with the shortened version of her penname to "Lili" meant that the book was for "young adults." That's a bendy little phrase that should really be interpreted for "under 18 but old enough to know about sex and read about violence." The typical 18 year old or college-age student, or any adult older than that will probably be frustrated by the quality of this work.

The world building is very weak, and reliant on your existing awareness of Europe. Although she took great pains to create a new world, she rests way too much on assumptions of your understanding of fuzzy period piece movies or books you may have read. Her work lacks none of the same level of detail and world building, and ironically, where in her darker, edgier more violent books I'd literally jump paragraphs while she talked about "silver chiming" or "sparking blue" and the throbbing and pulsing of a demon scar in the same 5 ways every 8 pages, while it was overkill - she built the world THOROUGHLY. Leaving almost no detail out. So that it was so alive you could taste and smell it, even if she hit you on the head with it.

In this new series, everything is extremely superficial. She'll talk about the green velvet of her gown, but not the boning or the layers or corsets underneath. She'll mention the laces only in that her maid or her lover laced her up. She'll talk about "braids in the style of X" but not really talk about the X culture and what that looks like. She'll mention the "herbal earthy odor of a hedgewitch" - in her other books she'd have given you 19 different ways to describe those herbs and spices. In this novel, "herbal" and "earthy" and sometimes "green" is all you'll get.

Her romantic interest has one expression, one general mood. A far cry from her males in her other works, who are multi-faceted and much deeper. They are still not always terribly deep in her other works, since her strong female leads are her main skillset, but even here, the hero falls one-dimensional to what has historically for her been at least two-dimensional.

The language - as part of her world-building, is a pretentious cheat. The map at the opening of the novel is a map of Europe. She uses the stereotypes of existing cultures, takes root words for the names of their current ethnic groups or regions, and makes up slightly new versions of the names. Arquitaine is France, and she plays around with the French so the words are recognizable - if you already know French. If you don't, you might not care, but the words are scattered through as if someone were a French transplant in the US and occasionally throws the word in for dressing, not because they actually can't think of a word. It feels unnatural and definitely trying too hard.

Then, as others have mentioned (who strangely gave this book 4 stars), the book is very slow. It's very slow because, I will be honest - I do not think the author is at all moved by the setting, and you can tell in how she's handled her world building and the action within it.

She likes strong, physically vital female leads. She has instead created a softly wilting delicate creature, who, for the first book, is tested by physical trial and tribulations that cause her extreme duress - trials the modern day woman would generally be fine at the end of and maybe complain for a minute or two about afterward.

This lead's female is smart and gracious - her saving grace. She is also cunning, and conflicted about that cunning. This is a root character type for Saintcrow, but I think the setting she has created has either made her bored, or she is doing this just to see if she can, or because she has to tap some new market. As an author, I understand experimenting, so again, kudos to her trying.

All I know is - I kept reading because I had to, not because I really enjoyed it. I did it because it was a favorite author, and because plotwise, I hoped to see some dramatic shifts in the lead character's development. I did, but it's all a paltry shadow of her work so far, even her other fantasy pieces (which I like just as much as her urban fantasy, see "Steelflower").

I think this really belongs in Young Adult and recommend you read it if only to see for yourself, but I don't recommend it very highly.



View all my reviews

On male to female service and the language of alphas

Today I paused in my life of gentlewomanly leisure (aka, self-employment) to take a momentary jaunt over to Twitter and check up on the latest from the tweeples. What I found was an update on @PaddledHusband's 8 year anniversary with his wife, who just weeks ago officially became his Mistress. (Note, I am a lazy one who does not necessarily believe in the capitalization issues around domination and submission, but out of respect to the tradecraft, I try to remember to capitalize per la societe. Wow. I'm in a pompous writing mood today. Or is that every day?)

I was raised by wolves

Life was pretty much ALWAYS LIKE THIS. I'm the one on the right.

Here's the thing. I was raised by wolves - aka, men. Rather, a single father, which is fairly rare in the world I think, so I'm proud he managed to get me through in one piece. In particular, I'm grateful for the male point of view my father gave me, although admittedly it's a heavily narrow lens and I don't think all men are like my father.

So you know the wolf thing. Ultimate playground for domination tactics, right? Effectively I had an alpha male to contend with, but, after reading all the paranormal/werewolf romance novels and erotica on hand I can most assuredly tell you that I am fully versed in the ways of wolf culture, and that I now know all.

Just kidding. But in evaluating the alpha/sub dynamic in animals and humans over time, I have come to this conclusion: I was submissive in my pack only because my alpha was in charge of finances, and putting a roof over my head, and social rules said he was the Boss, because he was my father. Inherently, I chafed at this. On the one hand, I sought the care and emotional support and guidance one would normally seek from a person of power and position. I received none of these things (alas, which is why I hope most men are NOT like my father), but instead what I got was a LOT of control and domination, of mind, body, and emotion. Obviously this was my father, so NONE of this was sexual, I'm speaking of the domination role of parent/child, and THEN ... (our main topic), also of the language of domination that creeps up in any relationship between male/female, regardless of whether there is a romantic relationship or not.


When a sub becomes alpha

In my situation, it was just me and dad, and dad, ironically, raised me to be very much like him - an alpha male. When I look at the other men - and women - in my family, we all have very clear signals that we're alphas - and we do not play well together. The only people who play well together are my dad and his two brothers - they grew up in a pack litter together, you could say. Their pecking order is very, very clear. There is the eldest, the middle, the youngest, and they behave as you would expect that hierarchy to behave with one another. As a mini pack, though, they are loud and obnoxious and cocky and kings of the world, and everyone else needs to move out of the way and cater to them and their fun.

As a teen, I chafed at seeing the men behave this way, expecting the women to defer. There were lots of dominance challenges from me to my dad. At the same time - in a weird way, I was daddy's girl, because I was his only girl. Sure, he had lovers and girlfriends and whatnot, but dad was also a player, and I was, in a weird frustrating way, his wife. I cooked, I cleaned, I was around for him to nag and bug and scold and discipline - I was the only female consistently in his life for a long time. And I wanted something else, entirely.

My father grew up in the American South - they expect these roles. The girl should cook and clean and be eager to do laundry, make the bed, and be gentle and fair, and demur and always defer to her male betters. They expect us women to follow those gender roles. But I saw no such example in my own immediate parenting, because all there was was a dad, no mom/dad roles to follow. I could make up the rules entirely. Who said I had to be their definition of a girl? If my DAD could go off and be cocky and loud, and state his mind, and be demanding, and drink and party, and be beholden to no one - then why couldn't I? Why should it matter if I was a girl?

Submissive? Ba! And when I turned 18, off I went to be my own alpha.

What I seek: Correction of bad behavior

Here's what I have discovered over time - men's egos are as delicate as any woman's. There is no gender, really, when it comes to the inner essence of love and desire, and power can be exchanged non-romantically, in any situation. Power is a fact of life - we need it and use it at various times, and sometimes we fall victim to someone else's, and sometimes we deliberately choose to defer to someone else's power.

I will not lie, I have had my own tangles with seeking a dominant male who knows how to handle me, because, in that wicked complex way, our youth shapes us, and yes, I had a dominant male father.

But I also have the flip side of that coin - a part of me that wants to put a man in his place when I see him misbehave, and particularly to right him on his path when he seems lost. Many women do, dominant or submissive or not, since we are commonly reared early to be caretakers, to fix and correct, and save our children, lovers, family. But some of us have a special talent or craving for it, and some of us find that that craving can align with our sexual desires.


What he seeks: Surrender to maternal safety

In mother's boudoir, all is dark and safe and loving. The whole oedipal thing has been discussed plenty, and of course I gave you a glimpse of the elektra aspect above, but aside from all that, we are looking at the heterosexual male/female power exchange in discipline and dominance/submission and how very fulfilling it can be for both partners.

@PaddledHusband began with spanking but always secretly craved more. And his loving wife enjoyed spanking him very much, and has also lived part of her life as a sub. She has graduated to being his Mistress, and there is a deep beauty in reading their story on @PaddledHusband's blog.

What I find so beautiful in this story - and attractive - is that the man knows he needs discipline. Just like a child, he struggles and chafes, talks back and misbehaves. He's in effect being a bad little boy who doesn't want to trust his woman knows best. Only one woman ever knew best, and deep down, he is always seeking a woman to match THAT one (mommy). Who can take him in hand, and be guaranteed to get proper results? (no pun intended)

And of course, the man can't simply lay back and just hope some woman comes along and corrects him. He must seek and court her, and lay himself down for her, and she may or may not choose him, but should she, he must surrender completely to realize the full benefits of that loving, delicious, guaranteed safety. In her care, he will want, but only in that the wanting should be better for him, at the pleasure of his Mistress.

In this modern age, these lines do get blurred. I'm not saying I want a return to misogyny or sexism, I'm saying the courting ritutals are getting blurred because now sex is easy to find, and get, and teenagers run around half naked after dark without their parents being the wiser, sexting and having orgies and experimental whatevers and finding themselves far earlier in their youth than they used to. So now a guy can just show up and a girl's got her mouth on his cock. Now, maybe that girl is submissive. But, maybe that guy is just lazy, and deep down he's looking for a girl who demands he get on the floor and suck her nubbin.

What I wish for are that more men work harder to receive the attention of a woman, and that they treasure such attention more.

Do as you're told, my dear boy (I promise you'll like it, very much)

This has been percolating in the back of my mind because I only in the past year or so began to realize I had dominance urges. I didn't really articulate them like that in my mind. Because in weird ways, as I mentioned, I had the elektra thing going, I wanted to find a man worthy of dominating me, and then I'd submit. But along the way as I experimented, I found myself doing things like tying up and spanking my lovers. Or forcing them to bathe in a tub before we'd have a night together, and I'd literally wash him myself, because I didn't trust him to do it properly. And the men would be surprised and confused - because women don't apparently offer this to them. I didn't offer it I just told them what to do. And they did it. And enjoyed it. 

After first hesitation, they sink down into the tub and they marvel. They are aroused, and flushed, and like a dewy rose all blooming. Lips turn pouty and eyes turn languid, and they close their eyes as I run the water through their hair. I ask them if they've been naughty today, did they masturbate, and what did they think about, and how often did they do it. Or, I command them to be silent, while I do the talking, and I just listen to them breathe and surrender.

It's deeply gratifying, to have someone instantly do as you tell them. Perhaps I am a Domme waiting to flourish, who knows. But all this is leading to a story ... I have a few random images in my mind, nothing concrete yet ... of a woman and her boy, and his very thorough and explicit surrender to her domination.

- Mira

Erotic voiceover and the art of the helpless maiden / noble monster fantasy

So next up is a story I wrote when I was working with a client who ran an erotic story site where he posted his own stuff (The Story Mill). Peter also liked to feature erotic art alongside his stories, and of course to have his stories recorded for people to enjoy. He also encouraged other authors to submit their own work to his site.

Peter and I have worked together to record his stories, and you can hear the results in stories like Plunder, an exciting and filthy little romp that is very well-written. Not for everyone, but definitely arousing for the open-minded listener, I enjoyed performing this with Peter, and of course, if you click my "Contact me" link you'll see I'm open to performing more erotic stories for other clients, if you're interested!

Anyhoo, when Peter and I first got to know each other, I was much younger, and eager to learn and practice my writing craft. He asked authors to be inspired by the erotic art on his site, and one such image I am not sure I even have a copy of any more (I'll hunt to see if so and post it later), but an artist crafted a dark and powerful image of a fairly demonic looking creature with a split brow, huge body, dark skin, in possession of a maiden of some sort. I was instantly turned on. I think most people are, when they see the quintessential image of "beauty and beast," particularly when the beast is humanoid and powerfully represented as something virile and hungry for sex.

No tentacles, please

I'm not going to lie, when I see images like tentacles and machine parts invading a woman in Japanese hentai, I'm really not moved, particularly if the woman is crying or suffering or being abused. That sort of suffering doesn't turn me on and I don't condone it.

But the awareness the beast-image tickled into life at the back of my mind was that yes - if a powerful, noble, virile creature that was not quite human powerfully persuaded me into saying yes, even if at first I didn't think I wanted to - I'd probably succumb.

Tako to ama, an erotic ukiyo-e by the Japanese artist Hokusai.

There is a very very fine line here. It's a fine line women and men have been walking for thousands of years. Men who hear "no" and think they hear "yes," and who then take what they want and overpower and harm a woman - this is criminal, and not cool, and I don't condone it.

The issue is that lovers who are in doubt are always having to be persuaded. The art of the persuasion is an impressive skill that some can wield with great intelligence and finesse, and some not at all. Of course those who lack this skill entirely may attempt to just take or demand and those, of course, are the ones who don't have any business having a lover in the first place until they learn some manners.

Back to the point: if you read on the sexual psychology of women, back to Freud and Jung and Nancy Friday, and beyond, there is the classic story of the rape fantasy. Remember that it is a fantasy - therefore, in the experience of it, women are not actually being harmed. They are fantasizing about being harmed, and unless of course they are into some other types of activities, they are generally fantasizing about experiencing pleasure at the hands of a stranger who comes along and takes advantage of them against their will. The woman is in truth willing, because she has created and controlled the fantasy.

What happens, then, when a woman begins in a situation she doesn't want to be in, afraid and captive to a being that is powerful, virile, seething with the possibility of sex, danger, and violence, whom she can't control, and can't predict? This is the fine line - the classic recall to the Dominant / submissive role, in many senses, and to traditional expectations of the male / female role. (These roles are changing, and of course, there are more than male/female genders, I speak of traditional societal expectations.)

Surrendering your inner beast

The primal arousal, for me as a woman, lies I think in surrendering the animal within you. Women are historically required to play a very restricted role where she belongs to a man/set of men, and must be whatever they expect her to be. She must control her sex, give it only in marriage and motherhood, and enjoy her body only in those terms. She must use her pre-frontal cortex, and surrender her body to the will of society and its expectations of her.

But we are mammals, and before we learn to talk and eat and discourse and survive, we learn to feel and experience and satisfy our urges.

Men must also limit their interaction with women to societal restraints, and yet, when they lose patience with this over time, they are seen again and again to rape, pillage, and barter women away for power, prestige, or personal pleasure. Society pressures them to not do this, but what happens when that pressure mounts and they are suddenly alone with something soft and sweet that can pleasure them?

In hentai I see it as men getting to invade and defile every orifice of a woman for their own sadistic pleasure - the woman is utterly helpless, and becomes nothing but holes. This is hot for me only when the woman enjoys it; offensive if not.

Peel away another layer, away from scenes of what I basically consider torture (bad juju), there are stories of pleasure - where a woman surrenders her human self to a beast, or a group of men, or a woman, or whatever, after resisting. And when she finally surrenders, she surrenders wholly - the age old story of seduction and permission to become the animal you really are.

It is not, of course, as if women never do this to men, as well. But the story that keeps getting told is that of a woman who protects and locks away her sexual self, and is forced to expose it and surrender it to someone who overpowers her.

The demon from the film "Legend." I had the hots for him as a little girl.

And the erotic part is when the woman begins to want to surrender, enjoys her surrender, and gets hot and bothered and finally demands her own invasion by her captor.

Women play these sex games all the time with lovers. There's the little hunt and hunter, the little dance in day to day. But in our fantasies, we get to go farther, harder, darker - to the Dominant who enslaves and humiliates and trains his lover to exist only for him, like a pony or a dog, to the supernatural beast who is sentient and arouses pure animal lust in his target.

Next up: Womb of the new world

So my next story, titled Womb of the New World was based on this darkly erotic illustration on a website. It was a fantasy, of a woman in a primal post-apocalyptic world who has appetites that don't line up with the strict rules and simple life of her family and community. Captured by a sentient beast who is intent on his own race's survival, she is basically a breeding slave. Terrified and trapped, our smart but outmanned heroine must deal with the raw virility of her captor, and a very scary biological reaction to him - the both of them seem to have a genetic predispostion to violent, wet, gratuitous arousal with one another.

So begins our tale, which is rife with lots of sex, but also, lots of other things to think about ...

I'm working on getting the cover designed - tricky, because good illustrators who can handle something like this can be hard to find and expensive! But I think it's worth it, and can't wait to share the work!

- Mira

late night ramblings and "talk to me" is live!

It's 2 AM in ye olde Northern Cali, and I'm piddling around with website analytics, linking my blog to my Amazon Author page, checking on performance stats, and generally doing very boring business stuff that is not writing erotica. Boo. But, success isn't an overnight thing, and I've dedicated myself to making this thing real.

How'd I end up trying to make this thing real? I had a job that used to kick my ass far more than 8 hours a day, regularly, and all the creativity in me dried up like roadkill on a hot summer's day. I used to write fiction constantly when I was in college, but after I hit corporate life finding the energy got hard. 

After 10 years in corporate, I saved up money and decided to get serious with the writing bit. I think it's possible to eventually make this thing pay the bills, but in the mean time, it's about craft, and marketing myself with the right image that conveys to you, my reader, what I'm about, and keeping you (and me) happy with more stories.

To wit, my latest story, Talk to Me is now live! 

Buy on Amazon! (or wherever the hell you like)

Years back, I was a Lolita-esque college girl and I had fantasies of seducing and torturing middle-aged men. I found them cute and sexy. But I was a virgin (yes, I didn't pop it as a teenager) and I kept dating different men (not having sex with them) trying to figure myself out as a woman. How to talk to a man, how to flirt, how to be frank about what I wanted, and to set boundaries, yada yada. Some men were uber pushy. I'd met those men as boys in high school and already knew I didn't like them. 

What I wanted was the man who could be subtle, masterful, even, yet also, respectful. Kind. Gentle and confident enough to know when not to act. That's a rare thing, restraint. It is one of the most erotic things in a partner, not trying too hard, knowing just when and how to apply enough pressure. That's literal and figurative - a dude who jackhammers a girl in bed by default without easing her into it isn't doing either of them any favors. It usually takes a little finesse to get her into the state - and then she demands the jackhammer. The impressive bit is in having the skills to read those signs.

I learned, in my erotic travels, about a delicate kind of vulnerability in a male lover. How men are, like us women, just young awkward wannabes in a body they are still figuring out, and how we have wants, needs, that we sometimes don't know how to control, or wield. And that one of the most beautiful and charming - and erotic things - in a man is the initial self-doubt, when he sees something he wants, and isn't quite sure he can get it. The man who reacts with a bit of nervous tension, walking that line of wolf and puppy, is hot. He wants to grab and molest you yet, knows if he breaks the rules, he won't get any of what he wants.

Of course I enjoyed the power behind it. What woman doesn't? Men have their own power, too, when a woman has surrendered her physical self and he's getting her good. They revel in their possession of us, and we revel in being possessed. But before ... there's the anticipation. The talking about it. The dancing around it. The threat of it, something delicious about to happen, the worry that it won't ...

Talk to Me is about savoring that white, pure edge of almost there, before you even get to the sex. The mindfuck, the courting stages. I'm a Libra, so, this is the part that often turns me on the most, before we even get to the naked bits. 

Told from a male point of view, this is one with a lot of dirty dialogue you might just enjoy acting out aloud with your lover. Enjoy! :)

- Mira