random rec for those who like kinky slash-style original erotica

[valentinite]

aphephobia can probably tell from the subject line what I'm about to rec, but for everyone else, I figured I'd finally put this pimpage out there.

The Administration, by ms_manna. A fully constructed, plausible near-future dystopia, well-written, realistic, respectful treatment of kink, two complicated main characters and deep psychological drama, and serious, interesting plots that aren't just window dressing for the relationship drama? Yes please.

The reason I'm pimping this now is that the sixth book in the series just got published, and I figured hey why not. But the original version (the published version has had an edit pass and contains some added stories) is still available on-line, so it's pretty much the ultimate in try-before-you-buy. The original stories are at here at Manna's site (which also contains a full set of warnings -- while well-handled kink is a good description, there is also a fair bit of potentially triggery content due to hello dystopia), and the books are Mind Fuck, Quid Pro Quo, Games and Players, Control, Quis Custodiet, First Against the Wall.


I'll finish by quoting the author's own back-of-the-book blurb for the series, which says it better than I probably did.



The inspiration for the Administration series of stories is a maxim of Chris Boucher, script editor of Blakes 7—There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys.

One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world where torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division .

One of the better guys is Keir Warrick, a corporate director. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a 'sim' system which places users in a fully-immersive virtual reality.

Their world is the dark future dystopia of New London, where Europe is controlled by a totalitarian bureaucracy, which shares political power with powerful corporations. The oppressive government uses torture, violence and the various Divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain power. The corporations fight amongst themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of 'corporate sabotage', uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its control over them.

The series follows Warrick and Toreth, and their families, friends and enemies as they struggle to survive and hope to prosper.


And now you should either have gone off to check it out or have tuned out due to it not sounding like your sort of thing at all.