Reviews of Broken
"This book is so good on so many levels. The story is believable, it provides information about the lifestyle that is accurate and informative, the mix of vanilla and bdsm is potent, the characters are engaging, and the plot keeps moving and resolves nicely and honestly. I read the author's book Shattered before reading this one. Now that I've read Broken, some things from Shattered make more sense but I'm going back for a second read anyway and will probably re-read this one as well. Good bdsm reads are hard to come by -- check out Dushayl's books, you won't be disappointed."
"Broken is a lot of fun, wonderfully written, and a pleasure for all those who like their BDSM to have an edge of delicious credibility." (full review, which appeared on Erotica Readers & Writers Association, below)
Ashley Lister, Columnist,
Erotica Readers & Writers Association
"Broken was a fascinating introduction to a new genera of literature. I've not yet decided if or if not the genus is to my taste, but the introduction was fascinating. Fabulous work!" -- Four Mystique Moons(Fabulous), Class Five sensuality. (Raging Carnality)
Brenda Thatcher, Co-Owner
Mystique Books
Korin Dushayl "writes with authority and compassion about those who live within the lifestyle. Broken and Shattered explore issues including finding and initiating a submissive partner, informed consent and the difference between dominating someone and exploiting their needs." (full review, which appeared in Forum magazine, below)
Elizabeth Coldwell, author, anthologist, magazine editor
"The longer the books gestate in my mind they give me some things to think about in my own life, as well as stirring me physically."
Korin "touches upon darkness that many of us hold within ourselves and the inner core that can be broken and rebuilt. She brought out the things that we will do and go through in order to achieve our life goals.
"I don't normally write about books (has to do with trauma of grade school book reports) but Broken and Shattered really spoke to a deeper place in me plus they were just fun to read.
"I will recommend your books to everyone I (within the community and some out) know."
~Purple~
Originally Published in Forum magazine
When Jessica's father commits suicide, a victim of the falling stock market, she is unexpectedly left penniless. Rather than give up her post-graduate research and the very comfortable lifestyle to which she has become accustomed, she manages to get herself taken on as a research assistant by the sleazy but academically well-respected Professor Lawrence.
However, his endorsement comes at a price - Jessica must act as his slave and submit to whatever torments he and his colleagues decide to inflict on her. Not being a natural submissive, she finds no pleasure in serving him, and only when she is required to dominate one of the clients to which Lawrence pimps her out does she discover the true pleasures of the BDSM lifestyle.
Shattered, the second of these two connected novellas, sees Jessica installed in private practice. When Zachary Smith comes to her, seeking help for his depression and Asperger's, she unlocks memories of childhood abuse which leave him traumatised. She believes an unorthodox Russian therapy, which involves applying regular whippings, will cure him, and while the treatment intially proves successful, by enslaving Zachary, is Jessica taking him places to which he has not consented to go?
[Korin Dushayl], who already has a number of fem dom short stories to her name, including a couple for Forum, writes with authority and compassion about those who live within the lifestyle. Broken and Shattered explore issues including finding and initiating a submissive partner, informed consent and the difference between dominating someone and exploiting their needs. On an intellectual level, these two novellas act almost as a primer for someone taking their first steps on the scene, while in terms of their erotic content, the punishment scenes involving Jessica as both top and bottom are intense and imaginatively written.
While it's hard to sympathise with the dubious morality of a couple of the characters, whose motives are driven largely by bitterness and revenge, once it becomes clear who is the true focus of the story, you find yourself willing them to find the happiness they have previously been denied and which they clearly deserve.
Elizabeth Coldwell is the former editor of the UK edition of "Forum" magazine.
Her short stories have appeared in more than twenty anthologies including
Best SM Erotica Vols 1 and 2, Yes, Sir and Spanked: Red Cheeked Erotica.
Her short stories have appeared in more than twenty anthologies including
Best SM Erotica Vols 1 and 2, Yes, Sir and Spanked: Red Cheeked Erotica.
Originally Published on ERWA
There's a common misconception that universities are filled with exceptionally bright people. This is not true. I ordered a coffee at our local university the other week and it tasted like tea. How dumb is that?
Obviously, I drank it. It was like an eerie blend of tea and coffee -- as though the machine was broken and pouring a little from each spout into the mix. I feel sure that the stomach cramps I suffered for the remainder of that day were coincidental.
Not that the mentally challenged are only inside the universities. Whilst lecturing at a local school one of the students asked, "How do I get in to university?" I didn't treat the student as though they were an idiot for asking the question. I patiently explained that the university has a front door and students are simply expected to walk through it one foot at a time.
But I'm digressing here. We're talking about the bright people who go to universities. Jessica Richards is a university student and, at the beginning of Broken, she seems to lose everything. With her father's passing Jessica discovers she has no money, no means of supporting herself through the remainder of her PhD and a future that looks as unappetising as a Styrofoam mug filled with a mixture of tea and coffee.
Fortunately, Jessica is offered a position under the nefarious Professor Lawrence. Professor Lawrence is a strict tutor who demands his students are either brilliant or beautiful. Jessica only falls into one of those categories. And, more troubling for Jessica, Professor Lawrence demands a lot from his beautiful students.
Broken is a fun and compelling insight into Jessica's journey into the wonderful wonderland of BDSM. Professor Lawrence is knowledgeable about what his students need and he teaches Jessica to the highest standard. By the time he has finished with Jessica she could easily lecture in domination.
But the most fun, with any academic adventure, comes from the journey of learning. In discovering what Professor Lawrence wants from her, Jessica also learns several important lessons about herself. And, on the path to independence, [Korin Dushayl's] remarkable heroine becomes a remarkable woman.
Broken is a lot of fun, wonderfully written, and a pleasure for all those who like their BDSM to have an edge of delicious credibility.
Ashley Lister is the UK author of SWINGERS: True Confessions
from Today's Swinging Scene and SWINGERS: Female Confidential
from Today's Swinging Scene and SWINGERS: Female Confidential