SF erotica and genetic engineering are in fiction a happy combination, like coffee and cream, like peanut butter and jelly, like lobster and lemon butter. You find the combination in older works like Philip José Farmer's Flesh and Robert Silverberg's Tower of Glass, and currently here, in Reese Gabriel's fifth entry in her "More than Male" series, where the reader will find "primales who are designed with superhuman mental and physical strength, natural dominants meant to mate with a submissive" and "obedients" who are genetically wired to be what they are.

The initial story set-up is this: Desela is a genetically engineered submissive, hardwired to respond to testosterone. After being dumped five years before, she's tried to swear off men and has developed a D/s matchmaking agency called Des' Dream Mates. She takes her matchmaking services to different planets; and on arrival at one remote colony, she immediately responds to Marshal Trajan. He's a primale, and brings out all of the "obedient" traits she's been repressing since her relationship failed.

In BDSM fiction, it is not atypical for most of the obstacles of the story having to do with characters refusing to accept their inner natures because of some past history and some current complication. A Dominant for Desela is no exception. Both Desela and Trajan have painful histories; and even though Desela becomes convinced that Trajan is the one for her, she still feels she must prove herself worthy. Aided by her ex, Korlon, and his sweetheart Jaxey, they plot to bring circumstances to a head.

The issues involved are not unexpected. After all, as physical as it would seem to be, BDSM is nevertheless more emotional than physical, because the BDSM relationship requires deep trust. (Profound attachments require complete surrender) so it is inevitable that the key common issue in BDSM fiction is likewise about trust. As ever, Reese Gabriel handles the subject with finesse, style and a whole lot of heat.

Reviewed by Maîtresse
© September 2007