The New Year is here, the old year has gone – and it’s time to reflect on the twelve months just past and express our appreciation of those aspects of the kinky community that delighted and entertained us.
Welcome to our Third Annual Awards! (You can look back here to see the results for 2006 and 2007.)
Best Spanking Blog – Chross Guide to the Spanking Internet: a treasure-trove of information and a source of many thrilling links.
Best New Spanking Blog – This category has joint winners this year. New To Spanking by Eliane and Freshly Spanked by Irelynn and Smudge are both excellent chronicles of what it’s like to be newcomers on the scene.
Best Spanking Event – We don’t claim to have attended every single one (though invitations are certainly welcome!), but our favourite last year has been the boarding school weekend we attended back in March. A magic, memorable weekend of lessons, uniforms and punishments with a group of dear friends.
Best Vanilla Exhibition With Decidely Kinky Undertones – the ‘British Orientalist’ exhibition at the Tate. Other people may have gone there for the camels, bazaars and architecture, but we know it was actually put on for those of us who wanted to see the slave girls and harem scenes. Source of much kinky inspiration – and several instances of girls being ‘sold’ on the streets of London since!
Best Vanilla Book With Whippings – “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss. (Also a winner of Haron’s Book of the Year). A quasi-medieval fantasy university has corporal punishment for students; a must-read!
Best M/M BDSM novel – “Dark Heart” by Thom Lane. An impressionable slave boy meets a powerful magician. Mmmm. (Abel didn’t read it, needless to say, but Haron’s read it, oh, at least four times already).
Spanking Book of the Year – It’s been disappointing, to be honest: we’ve found lots of old volumes in dusty second-hand bookstores, but there’s been nothing to match (say) “Over The Knee”. So we’re going to be cheeky and give this award to ourselves, for our anthology of the best of the first two years posts here at Spanking Writers.
Best Writing of the Year – Mr Justice Eady’s excellent judgement in the Max Mosley vs. News of the World case (conveniently summarised by Abel). The judgement contains serious passages of great relevance and importance for those of us who live a kinky lifestyle, like “It has now to be recognised that sexual conduct is a significant aspect of human life in respect of which people should be free to choose.” And it’s full of entertaining observations, too: “I naturally could not check from the DVD, as it was not his face that was on display.”
And finally, and most importantly:
Person of the Year – Max Mosley, for representing the spanking community in the vanilla world with courage and dignity, and his outstanding, single-minded pursuit of the right to enjoy kinky activity in peace.
I agree with the best writing of the year being that of Mr Justice Eady, we should all be free to choose what we do in private even if the rest of our lives are public.
However it seems more spanking books are needed for the next year. Either of you like to put your hand to writing a piece of published fiction?
Happy New Year.
Watch this space, purple.sky, you may see something you like soon!
An excellent list, certainly the best Best of 2008 list I’ve seen. Though it is they only spanking oriented list…but it’s still the best.
Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year!
TS – who will be keeping an eye peeled (in the refrigerator) also Haron
Wow, does this mean I get to do a Sally Field and run around shouting “You Like Me, You Really Like Me!”, clutching my award?!
In all serious though, thank you very, very much. Such a compliment coming from two of the best spanking writers out there means an awful lot to me.
The rest of the list was fab as well, so I’m off to do some book buying from the recommended reading list, and then sit drumming my fingers with anticipation waiting for you guys to publish some fiction – go on, get to it!
I WANT ABEL AND HARON PUBLISHED FICTION! I WANT ABEL AND HARON PUBLISHED FICTION! I WANT ABEL AND HARON PUBLISHED FICTION!
You got that? Hurry up about it, too, or I’ll spend all weekend following you around whining about it.
And thank you muchly for our award!
Hooray! and well done Eliane and Smudge and Irelynn, and all the other winners too of course.
I hope Smudge is on her very best behaviour this weekend.
And some new spanking fiction would definitely be welcomed, in fact there are many opportunities for better / different spanking-related goods and services I think!
Many Happy Returns for the New Year.
Olivia
Already see loads on here I like. But I’ll keep my eyes open for some published fiction.
Well done to all the winners! Is ‘The name of the wind’ good as a book- might be one for the epic train ride to Glasgow for panto…
Chloe, if you like fantasy, it’s perfect – the best I’ve read this year. (And I say this as somebody who’s very picky about her thick fantasy novels.)
Hmmm…I always wanted to be Alanna from the Tamora Pearce novels (complete with sadistic trainers) and am also rather fond of the Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist novels…oooh and Terry Brooks (so yes- I like thick fantasy novels too- especially ones with fighty girls!)
Thanks a lot :)!
Cheers
Chross