You may have seen the drawings of Shiniez (or Stjepan Sejic, how he is known in the rl-world) hanging on some walls in Second Life (for example at Dark Wishes) or on his DeviantArt page.
For those who are not familiar with him: His fetish-comic/graphic-novel series Sunstone is about the Domme Ally and her Sub Lisa and their adventures together. Yes, in- and outside of their bed :p
 |
| Ally and Lisa. I don't think I have to tell you who is the Domme and who the Sub! |
Sunstone is quite something special: Besides the outstanding quality of the artwork, it also show BDSM as a fun activity between two quite believable persons, not just exchangeable one-dimensional fetish-figures with exaggerated anatomy, as it is the case in a lot of fetish art.
You get to see them silly and playful, slouching around home in all-day clothes, bound and full of excitement, but also struggling with their self-doubts or with life's numerous ways to make things more complicated.
His characters have exactly what the name says: character.
There is also an aspect in Sunstone which makes me wonder if the author has any experience with Second Life (hence the hint at the beginning of my post): He describes Ally as a (at times) hardcore MMO-player, so it seems rather likely that he is at least aware of it (and hence likely of its BDSM-scene too). Anyway, in Volume 1 he shows a bit of the backstory of his main characters and how they found each other and eventually came together. From BDSM sessions inChat to exchanging more and more personal details and sending each other pictures till finally meeting up in real-life for the first time...
This is another aspect of the story which rings a bell for me, because that is exactly the way how Emma and I came together. Ok, we are less comical (hopefully!) but the pattern is the same and a lot of the feelings and thoughts which went through their minds could just as well been ours.
Sunstone also isn't shy of addressing the more serious aspects of BDSM like trust, health and safety (Safeword, SSC*), but usually not in a preaching way and very well woven into the story.
The only issue I really have is the visual uniformity of the characters. The girls all have more or less ideal body-shapes and all characters have quite similar faces and hairstyles (and not only that: tons of redheads, tons!)- and so far they are all white (I'm not waiting for Drows to appear though!).
So that's a bit of a flaw, but not a big one really as it doesn't affects the quality of the story or the visuals. (Edit: I was - at least partially - wrong: Harper, the owner of the BDSM club in Sunstone is actually black).
All in all Sunstone is a light-hearted and very well written (and drawn) series I am glad to recommend to everybody. Newbies to BDSM, who don't quite know where to start will likely find it just as entertaining and insightful as more experienced people who may find a bit of themselves in the characters.
Volume 4 of Sunstone was released recently and whilst you can get the series as digital copy or even as part of a humble bundle, I recommend the real deal and getting a printed copy. It is with $15.99 only insignificantly more expensive than the digital one ($11.99) and you can "forget" it innocently on your coffee table and see how your friends react to it ;-)
 |
| Vol. 4, not the Black Sabbath one. That's here. |
*Three important aspects of any BDSM interaction. It should be: Safe, Sane, Consensual
