Masters and Slaves: A Review of Master Han’s Daughter
Given the recent success of speculative sci-fi and fantasy fiction–-in films like the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as in the increased popular and critical attention given authors like J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick and Samuel R. Delaney–-it’s no real surprise that speculative erotica has become an important and successful market. Cecilia Tan’s Circlet Press, begun as a self-publishing venture in 1992 when Tan found that her work had no appropriate outlet, has established itself as the primary home for the genre, attracting names like Francesca Lia Block, Thomas S. Roche and Lawrence Shimel.
With Master Han’s Daughter, BDSM educator and author of three non-fiction guides to the world of fetish Midori joins the Circlet roster with impressive and pleasing results. Set in a darkly cyberpunk Japanese city called ShinEdo, these nine stories form a remarkably inventive and often unsettlingly sexy glimpse into the erotic possibilities of a hyper-technological corporate future. Reading these tales, I often found myself torn between the insistent stirring in my jeans and the overwhelming unease engendered by the blurring of consent and coercion both within the stories and in my response to their content. It is here that these stories display their true power; weirdly hypnotic, even in their most brutal and disturbing passages, I almost felt like the stories were slowly transforming me into the author’s ready and willing slave. Narrative becomes simply one more tool of the dominatrix’s trade in this book, and I was generally eager to see which of the darker back-alleys of lust Midori planned to drag me, kicking and screaming, down next.
The collection’s only drawback is the brevity of its tales, most of which read more like darkly ephemeral vignettes or flash fictions than actual short stories. Not that there’s anything wrong with the vignette as an occasional form; it can often be one of the most powerful instruments in an author’s repertoire. I just would have liked to see Mistress Midori extend her visions a bit, make her characters more alive and complex than the android sex-dolls that inspired the title piece.
In short, I’d heartily recommend the book, especially to enthusiasts of fetish and/or cyberpunk. The sex scenes come thick and fast here (but not too fast), and always serve to universalize the more esoteric tropes of science fiction. For those not comfortable with sci-fi, I’d suggest giving the book a try regardless. You just might find yourself eager to pick up both the next Circlet offerings and even willing to check out William S. Gibson’s cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer.
