“I didn’t realise that you were the Abel who wrote stories. I used to read your stuff on Laura’s Spanking Corner.” Thus spake a new spanko friend, perched in the passenger seat of my car recently. Actually, she was the third new person I’ve played with thus far in 2006 to have mentioned that they used to read my stories on that particular den of spanking iniquity.
None of the professional accolades I’ve garnered in my real-life career has ever generated half the pride of Laura’s note asking whether she could add some of my writing to her site. When I first started exploring corporal punishment sites on the Web in the late 90s, the Spanking Corner was so far and away the best repository of spanking tales that to be invited to join her august group of authors was honour beyond my kinkiest dreams.
I wonder if Laura realises quite how popular her site was (and, presumably, still is)? Quite how many people realised that “There are other people like me” as a result of browsing the stories that she selected? Quite how important she’s therefore been to quite so many people’s lives? I know who’d win my vote for the first Nobel Prize for Spanking.
I was one of the people who realised that “there are other people like me” through reading the stories on Lauras site. I’m sure I found it on one of my very early “spanking stories” searches and it is still on my favourites list, although I admit not visited so often these days (probably because I’ve read everything many times over). I began by systematically working my way through the writers, so I suppose I probably read your work first Abel! Some authors fitted my kink well, others gave me plenty to think about, some made me realise how broad the whole ‘spanking’ scene was, as they didn’t fit in with what I sought at all, but thanks to Laura and her site and her authors my eyes were opened to so many new, wonderful and exciting things…. and I’ve never looked back. “Spanking stories” has always been my favourite google search, only recently surpassed by “spanking blogs”… and here I am at my favourite!
Mary Catherine deserves a ton of praise, too, for looking after the site since Laura’s effective retirement. I have a feeling Laura knows how popular the site both was and is. My own small wish for her is that she knows how much she’s herself missed.
Laura’s site was one of the first sites I found after I typed “spanking” into Alta Vista (remember that one?). I didn’t have internet access at home and would go into my office on weekends to read stories and copy them to read later at home. It was probably a couple of months after that that I could get online at home and was finally brave enough to click the link to soc.sexuality.spanking. I hardly read stories anymore. I find the ones I wrote embarrassing now. But all of them were very important to me once.
Well I know I’m at least one of the people who was shocked to discover that the “nice” spanko man I was spending time with was actually Abel of Laura’s site. I also found Laura’s site before any others, and it really helped me to feel better about my kink, although at the time I was very innocent and didn’t realize what a big variety there was. Of course, I’m a youngin, so I didn’t find her site until it was already “retired.” Realizing who Abel was is probably the closest I’ve ever come to meeting a real celebrity. Except for Joan Baez, who (sorry Abel) will always be my favorite!
Laura’s spanking corner was my first foray into the world of spanking stories on the internet.
hey pablo, speaking of mary catherine is she still writing stories? it seems like the last time she published a story was years ago…
Your guess is as good as ours on Mary Catherine. She’s keeping up only a minimal online presence, so if she’s writing anything, it doesn’t get published.
Man, I’d love a fresh juicy Mary Catherine story… Of all the stuff on Laura’s, hers was my favourite universe.
(Woops, sorry, Abel 😛 )
Oh, Molly? Your stories were pretty important to me, too. Don’t knock them.
For example, it stuck in my mind that Alan wore mismatched plaid pyjamas; before I knew any actual live tops, for me those pyjamas became the symbol of humanity of any guy or girl I was going to end up with. If that makes any sort of sense.
Mary Catherine is definitely still writing. As for *what* she’s writing, you’ll just have to wait and see.
Haron — I’m glad you liked the early stories. I realized once I stopped writing them that they were a way for me to come to terms with my kink. So first I wrote M/F stories, the F/F, and then threesomes. And the glove story was even toppish and involved -gasp- leather gloves!
The stories were a way of showing myself that each incarnation of the kink was ok for me. I don’t know why I find their mildness and comfort embarrassing now, but I do.
Laura hserself is one of the people that I loved reading in the newsgroup, even more so in many ways than the stories on her site. Not because I don’t appreciate the fiction (I really, really do), but because the accounts she wrote of her life were really formative for me.
I miss that.
sparkle
I thought that I should join in by acknowledging how wonderful Spanking Corner was. Of course it’s still there but when it was a living archive with new stories coming in I loved it and visited regularly. It helped that it had such a distinctive url and easy to remember.
And I certainly was one of those who was astounded to realise that so many other people in the world shared this particular kink. I think I actually found it through my first yahoo search where I risked the word ‘spanking’ on a university computer. Goodkitty for the spanking of females and Jimka for the spanking of males came up at the top of the results list and I passed many happy hours reading my way through their archives. Better than writing up research any day.
And I recall being astounded not only by the fact that lots of other people were into spanking but that Laura was so open about her own interests. It certainly prompted me into try playing and it’s still a fun part of my life.
Same story here, Mike
Laura for M/f, Jimka for M/m. I have very vague memory of several of my university courses, because I spent entire lectures either reading spanking story print-outs, or writing my own!
Laura’s Spanking Corner was a heaven for me. I felt like a chocolate addict lost in Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory. I didn’t know where to start from, and once started, just like Haron said, I couldn’t stop myself. I skipped classes because of those stories. Not to mention that Laura’s page pushed me in many ways towards SSS and discovering my kink. First, I learnt that I prefer M/F and I went through all the M/F stories. Then I understood that it’s not just any M/F, but the domestic ones that turn me on. And I also developed a taste for M/f. I was quite shocked. So it helped me understand myself better. It was a nice journey for me. And I still have plenty of those stories saved on a CD, from my old computer.
I’m so pleased this thread sparked such a response. Just think: all of us pervs rescued from our boring vanilla lives by one site…
Wow. I’ve been away from the online community for so long, I just stumbled onto this tonight for some strange nostalgic reason, I went google searching and I found all these names from the past (and clearly, present!) I remember Laura’s site. I remember being so flattered to have my name listed there. I really grew up in that time and place on the web. Now my site link has long been broken, but, it’s still a warm place in my heart that I was once part of a place that meant so much to so, so many people.
Julnick – lovely to hear from you, and glad we helped to bring back some happy memories for you