The New Topping Book - book discontinued by Greenery Press - review by Kayla

"The Topping Book" is the top-half version of the "The Bottoming Book". It's written by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy, and this is the second edition. This book has been updated with more details, information about the internet and BDSM, and with more real-life experiences from the authors. The book is a softcover book that has black and white pages on the inside. This book has 209 pages with 17 different chapters.

"The Topping Book" is not a technique book - at all. It does not focus on how to swing a flogger nor what the safe spots to hit on the human body are. It refers you to other books for that because the authors believed that there are already enough books out there with that information. Instead, Dossie and Janet chose to focus on the non-physical aspects such as what your ethical responsibility, your responsibility as a top, what tops do, the general line-up of a scene, and troubleshooting for if your scene doesn't go as planned.

This book covers a wide variety of different content. It doesn't stop to give too much detail into any one place, but it does cover about all of the basic bases that someone needs to know to be a top. There's the introduction that talks about why they made the second edition, what "topping" is, what tops do, rights and responsibilities as a top, how to learn the techiques, how to connect more with your partner, your ethics as a top, the before-play aspects of a scene, the during-play aspects of a scene, and the after-play as well as troubleshooting for a scene, different toys that a top can own, how to find others, full time D/s, and spirituality in S/M from the top's point of view.

A neat aspect of this book is their "Interludes" which is something they just added with the second edition (since they had more room for them). There are four interludes. The interludes are basically a couple-page, real-life scene stories that Janet and Dossie tell you the story of. The scenes aren't erotica exactly, but instead, it seems like they're just meant to mostly give you a taste of what to expect with kink and scenes.

I can't say that I'm overly impressed with "The New Topping" book, but I can't say that I dislike it either. For beginners into the scene, this book is a lot better than picking up SM101 or something because this book isn't nearly as dry as other alternatives. Dossie and Janet give personality to the book, and since they include examples of scenes as well, you get a good taste of what to expect as a top. However, it doesn't really focus much on technique or safety in particular, so if you are a first-time top, you'll want to pick this up as well as a technique book. The book also, for the most part, only focuses on the idea of being a Top instead of a Dominant or Master/Mistress, so this book will teach you how to top during scenes - it's not meant to teach you any sort of non-sexual topping.

This is must more of a book to pick up when you've bought the flogger, know how to swing it, and then you step into a room with your partner and go "well, what the fuck do I do now? How do I lead into using the flogger? How do I lead into the sex? What if she gets hurt?" Stuff like that. If you have a good idea how to start, continue, bring to climax, and end your scene, this book is probably beneath you, but if you have the flogger, toys, and technique and have no idea where to go with them, this book will be helpful. Overall, I like "The Topping Book" more than I did the "The Bottoming Book", but there is still something that keeps me from giving it five stars, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I like it, and I think it's a great resource, but I was just wasn't amazingly impressed.