Mistress Talia: a sadistic domme

Sensuous Magic: A Guide for Adventurous Lovers is another great book from Pat Califia*.

This is not an in-your-face type of book, as many other of Califia's writings are. Rather, this is a gentle introduction to BDSM. This book is not leatherdyke-specific as most of Califia's writings, rather this is addressed to any one, of any orientation, including those not into BDSM at all.

The book begins with descriptions of several fantasy vignettes to gently ease the reader into the subject matter. Next, Califia discusses the importance of communication and negotiation before getting into the physical techniques and psychological effects of bondage. An introduction to sensation play is followed by instruction on whipping and flogging. Finally, Califia discusses sex specifically, and how it fits into BDSM scenes.

The appendices include a lot of resources, which is a good thing, as this book is really not a detailed how-to manual.

It's written in an informative and non-judgmental manner, remaining mild enough to not be too shocking to a newbie.

This is a book to read with your spouse or lover, to begin exploring your interest in domination and submission with them.

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^*The author formerly known as Pat Califia is now Patrick Califia-Rice, a FTM transgendered man whose journey is summarized on Wikipedia. I have always connected to the author's work from the perspective of a leatherdyke. I simply cannot wrap my mind around the idea that a man wrote them and find myself uncomfortable using male pronouns in reviews of these writings. I also feel that it would be both inappropriate and offensive to refer to the author by female pronouns. I've postponed writing reviews of the author's works, although they are some of the best and most profound writings within the BDSM community, over my discomfort with figuring out how to address this issue; however, these writings are important enough to me personally, and my own journey, that I really wish to discuss them, thus I compromised by avoiding using pronouns entirely in reviews of the author's works.