Sunstone is a story about two women who fall in love after meeting through a BDSM message board. If there was any justice in the world, Fifty Shades of Grey would not exist, and Sunstone would have every bit of its popularity and success. Sunstone is a beautifully-drawn, well written BDSM love story that is basically the polar opposite of E.L. James’ duded-up Twilight fanfic. Fifty Shades is hacky and loaded with one-note cardboard cutouts, while Sunstone is beautifully written with interesting, three-dimensional characters. Regarding BDSM culture, Fifty Shades is an insultingly inaccurate mess, while Sunstone is basically a crash course on what proper BDSM can look like. Fifty Shades glorifies an abusive relationship, while Sunstone focuses on a healthy romance between peers.
I don’t have any particular interest in BDSM, but I read The Pervocracy’s take on Fifty Shades a couple of years ago, and it discussed many things James got wrong about BDSM. So when I read Sunstone a few months ago, I noticed how many things it seemed to get right (based on my limited experience).
It’s funny and interesting and sexy, so if that sounds like your thing, check it out. The first four chapters are available on Deviant Art, and are also available in trade paperback. Link below (spoiler-boxed due to NSFW):
It is interesting. I’m not much on lesbians, or BDSM, but I what struck me–no, perhaps, what touched me–was the total humanity of the characters. This wasn’t porn by any means; it was a character study about people for whom BDSM is only one part of their lives. They are ordinary people with ordinary jobs–waitress, lawyer, accountant, web designer, tattoo artist–and ordinary hobbies, such as online gaming or jigsaw puzzles. They drink coffee in cafes, order Chinese and watch movies, and visit the bathroom when they have to. Yes, there is BDSM, but it’s not the only thing.
What I found was that, while definitely NSFW, it is a wonderful story. It deals with the doubts we all have about starting and maintaining relationships–about ourselves, about our partner; any kind of relationship. About our friends, who may or may not know about our relationships, or the depth of them–or maybe they know too well. At any rate, I am looking forward to the next installment.
Why would you say that? They have nothing in common except the very broad topics of BDSM and romance. (Cutting Fifty Shades of Grey a lot of slack there, although I suppose horrible BDSM and horrible romance is still BDSM and romance.)
FSoG is actually based on Twilight (it originated as a Twilight fanfic), which explains the glorification of abusive relationships, the atrocious prose, and the paper thin characters.
You probably already understood this, but my previous “you” was the general “you the reader”, unlike the initial you in this sentence which is you the OP.
Sunstone Volume 5 was released this month in trade paperback. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Apparently, the author originally considered writing Sunstone as a crazy sci-fi space opera with alien abductions and space dommes. I’m glad he didn’t, since I can’t see that outstripping the excellent, romantic character study we did get.
Absolutely. I was very impressed with how many beautiful drawings he works into each volume. And he puts this stuff up on deviantart for free! It’s crazy! All the more reason to buy the books and support the art.
That, and reading a trade paperback is a lot more pleasant than scrolling through a huge PDF.
