The Compleat Spanker - erotic book by Greenery Press - review by Kayla

The Compleat Spanker (Yes, they know "Complete" is spelled wrong. It apparently used to be an older spelling of the word.) is a short book written by Lady Green (also know as Janet W. Hardy) and published by Greenery Press. The book is entirely about the act of spanking. It's a softcover book with completely black and white pages. The book includes 12 chapters within its 87 pages. The book is about the regular width of a normal book but ends up being a bit tall at over nine inches tall. The text is larger than most book's text, and it's extremely easy to read. The book is a really easy read - around about an hour's worth of time to read. The front of the book shows a hairbrush with the title while the back just has text describing the book. Because of the inner pictures, I'd recommend against taking this in public because it's just too hard to hide those huge illustrations in the book. The copyright for this book is 1996, but the book still applies well to today - the only slightly out-of-date section is the section about how to meet other spankers. The rest is up-to-date.

The illustrations in this book are oddly placed. While I'm all for pictures in any book I look at, the illustrations in this book were full-page line drawings stuck in every ten pages or so. They were really large, depicting the act of spanking between two line-drawn characters (glorified stick figures honestly, very basic). These drawings made it pretty difficult to read this book in public. I could hide all of the text, but a huge picture of a woman bent over while being paddled? Not so much. Plus, I feel like they were just strewn around the book. They would have been much more useful if these pictures had just been contained to the "positions" section of the book.

The book was mostly directed towards tops. (The one doing the spanking) While I'm sure it'd be important for bottoms to be comfortable with the idea of spanking, it isn't really a topic that would warrant an entire book. Instead, as it is with a top, they need to know the instruments to use, how to judge a good spanking, how to give a good spanking, and lots of other ways to spice up their spanking scene. For that reason, the book, while possibly educational for those who desire to be spanked, is mostly intended for reading of those who want to give a spanking.

The book does a great job of giving you good advice for giving a good spanking. It covers a large variety of topics. The book does focus completely on spanking - it doesn't go into details about dominance/submission or anything aside from spanking. It talks about using different impact toys than just the hand, but it is completely focused on spanking. It uses some kink-language, but it also describes all of the language beforehand, so even the biggest novice would be able to read and understand the entire book.

Even for those who enjoy kink on a regular basis, I think there is something to be learned by reading this book. I ended up learning quite a bit about the warm-up and cool-down of spanking, and I enjoy spanking the boyfriend on a regular basis. Plus, the positions chapter gave me a ton of different ideas on spanking positions that I'd NEVER considered.

Lady Green writes in an easy-to-read manner. The writing doesn't seem to talk-down to the reader, but she does go from beginner to advanced material. It doesn't seem to be written towards either an advanced nor a beginner - it seems to just present the facts exactly how they are, and whatever skill level you are, you just pick up on the facts and information that is important to you. There's a slight bit of reassuring that spanking is a normal pastime, but for the most part, it's all information about actually giving a spanking instead of just taking about the stigma surrounding spanking. (Which is amazing if you consider this was published in 1996 when things weren't quite so open.)

So what does this book cover? Basically everything you will need to know about wanting to give a spanking. The chapters are set-up to basically take you step-by-step through the act of giving a spanking. This includes the reasoning and enjoyment behind spankings, the anatomy of the butt that makes spanking pleasurable, how communication and mood is important and plays into your play, how to do a warm-up properly, different impact toys and how to use them and what sensations they provide, different positions for delivering a spanking, aftercare and why it's important, what to do in case something goes wrong (seizures, bleeding, other safety information), fun things to add to your spanking to increase pleasure (butt plugs, ice cubes, etc.), how to find other play partners, how to clean and sterilize your toys, and how to combine bondage with spanking.

The most unique chapter out of this book is the chapter on positions. I've never thought about different positions for spanking. It isn't just the regular "on all fours" either. There are ones such as having the one being spanked bend over and put their head between the spanker's legs for stability while they are spanked over their back. The only thing really missing from the positions chapter was pictures! I was disappointed. The text did a great job of explaining the positions, but I feel like some pictures would have helped even more.

Something worth mentioning: This book focuses entirely on spanking the butt. No information is given about hitting someone on another part of their body.

The Compleat Spanker does a good job of explaining the art of spanking. If you have a partner who wants to be spanked, if you want to spank someone, or if you just plain want to get better at what you're already doing, the Compleat Spanker will provide the information you need to make your spanking more pleasurable. (Including an anatomy lesson as to what spots on the butt are most pleasurable and tied to orgasms!)

I still like the book, but I've found no reason to re-read it. The book is a short, fast read, and it has good information in it, though, so I find no reason NOT to recommend it.