Binocular Vision on 'Quintessentially Q' by Pepper Winters

"A society is not a static thing, an object, a single entity. It is a system, an ever-changing network of interlocking relationships wherein the whole is - and sometimes qualitatively different from - the sum of its parts." (Starhawk, 1982)


I just finished downloading the third book in the 'Monsters in the Dark' series by Pepper Winters. It is called 'Twisted Together'. I am actually stalling my eagerness to read it as I am still thinking about finishing this blog on 'Quintessentailly Q', which is the second book in the series. So, I better get into it before tangling the third one.

I must say that it is not very often that when you read a book in the genre of romance, although BDSM, you find yourself challenged to analyse the underlying culture that the book springs from.

Already her first book 'Tears for Tess', invited me to look closer to the popular culture behind the narrative than just entertaining myself. Just scroll back to a previous blog posting. This one is the continuation to it from a more literary angle.

In her second book, Pepper Winters (what an excellent name for an author) certainly is 'dreaming the dark'.

It starts from the attitude. That attitude might challenge the reader to reacquaint her/himself with the original Thomas Hardy classic about a maiden with a same name, in a controversial situation with her Victorian society. She was a good girls at that, just like our Tess. A girl with understanding of what is considered right action. A girl with a strong will.


I remembered very little of the book from my university days, except the fact that I failed the test question about the name of her son, Sorrow. I remembered it was Misery, which would have been quite fitting as our Tess certainly is in such a situation for the most of the 'Quintessentially Q'.

Quincy, on his part in on the hunt, like what we all enjoy the type A males are supposed to be, protecting their possessions, their women from other type A criminals. It reminds me of the 'Deer Hunter' or maybe the moose hunt, all blood and core.

I certainly remember what goes down on a hunt. It was part of my childhood in Lapland. The real life hunt, where men stalk the moose for hours, maybe days, even weeks, kill them with one shot and bond over letting and tasting the blood and cutting the meat. Our lust for primitive hunter instinct must come from that long gone excitement of hands on hunting and providing. Pepper winters can really make the reader react to that. It is fearsome.

The moral dilemma of the book is clear cut, a man's deeper instinct versus decency and high morals in acting the right way in our civilized society. It is also about the underlying system that is not so clear cut but more about what is the driving force at any given moment to get what you want.

In our society it is money and power. And what is the most profitable trade in our world today? It used to be prostitution and pornography but human trafficking has overtaken that dubious honor in the last decade. What is that saying about our world?

So, I got up and picked a few of my most favorite feminist non-fictional classics off the bookshelf.

'Dreaming the Dark' by Starhawk was one of my absolute favorites. The appendix of her book still presents the most striking academical analysis of the medieval society that produced the witch hunts as a way to qualify the rightfulness of the Church's violence against those who opposed it's power. It also was the way to illustrate the hate of women in a deeply sexual way as a system of power over and man representing the emerging rational scientific way of life over the natural organic way of women's lives.


'Malleus Malificarum', the book on how to recognise witches is a perfect example on how that violent practice lead to a violent culture supported by the majority.


In her book 'The Death of Nature', Carolyn Merchant dissects the medieval and through the renaissance society in changing from the natural order to the mechanical frame of mind which supported the modern power over cultural framework.

What I remember from 'Gyn/Ecology', a controversial book by Mary Daly is my utter shock in realising the multilayered violent cultures in our world. She described it as a 'House of Mirrors', where the violence is reflected from each wall resulting in total confusion about what is right and what is wrong action.

So, what is the popular literature trying to say to us about today? How is the modern romance literature depicting our deeper fears? How is this mirroring our life? Is it just that while the deeper animal instincts are getting the better of us, we are trying to prove that in some cases this overwhelming violence can be overcome by decency and grace.

Well, that is what 'Quintessentially Q' is telling me in its way of handling the storyline. It is giving me hope in that someday it is possible to change the violent culture and heal the ever widening gap between right and wrong action. We might even need books like that to work through the real life confusion and the real fear about our own safety in this seemingly secure world.

I am still reluctant to start the third book. What if she is making it worse? Well, never mind, the show must go on and the authors must play by the rules.
So, see you at the other end of 'Twisted Together'.


References beyond Quintesentially Q:
Daly (1981) Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism.The Women's Press
Hardy (2013) Tess of the d'Urbervilles. iBooks. (First published in 1891)
Kramer & Sprenger (2011) Malleus Malificarum. iBooks ( fist published in 1437)
Merchant (1980) The Death of Nature; Women's Ecology and the Scientific Revolution. HarperCollins
Starhawk (1982) Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex & Politics. Beacon Press

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Contemplating the Place of 'Tears for Tess' by Pepper Winters in the Popular Culture

I went to see the movie 'The Counseler' the other week with my daughter. Why did I do that? Look at the poster here and immediately you will know. I chose by the cover, like I do when reading books:


What's there not to like. The casting of the best Oscar winners, nominees and wanna bees. Directed by one of my favorite directors and scripted by a really well considered screen writer and from a very famous book, which I had not read, mind you.

Do not judge a book by its cover, I say.

It is the same when I first tried to read 'The Fifty Shades of Grey' by E L James. The book that made the concept of sadomasochism normal. I only got to the chapter five and was getting bored. Now I know why. It reminded me of the first book of the 'Twilight' series in its style. It was disturbing. (At the time I did not know that it started as fan fiction to the series). Instead I ended up researching and updating the popular culture of sadomasochism by reading 'Sadomasochism and Ardent Love: A Reader's guide to Fifty Shades of Grey' by Edward Shorter


Why would I do that? I am very interested in this subject matter. If you google me, you find that I have done a lot of research on pornography, prostitution and the history of ideas of the concepts of human sexuality during the last 30 years in several languages.

Sex is normal. What I find interesting and often disturbing is the way it is presented in the popular culture and how that presentation is influencing the audience.

OK! So, I came out of the movie theatre after seeing 'The Counselor' really disturbed. With questions of why would Ridley Scott want to direct such a movie? Is it his statement of life? Maybe it is about our society? What is it about Mexico, that makes it such a suitable place to be used as a background to movies and books like this? And the same with the actors. Bratt Pitt, the philanthropist? What's with that?

It is a cold, cold world we live in when films like this are considered for Oscars despite that whatever happens in them can actually happen in real life.

For me it is the question of placing them in the right expectations with the audience. This movie clearly was not. Mark Dinning, in the Australian 'Empire' magazine (December issue) likes the film or maybe not. "It will frustrate. Or reward. Your choice", he writes. Well, I am really frustrated.

Maybe now that I really think about this. The movie reminded me of 'The Fifty Shades of Grey' in its handling of the subject matter. That would be its aim to shock, when there is really nothing to be shocked about. We are talking about the power over relationships and money. The dominants can be whoever.

'The Tears for Tess' by Pepper Winters, which I just finished is different. The writer is Australian. I like that. The book is being considered for 2013 Scandy Awards for the best erotic novel. It is a well written example of the romantic genre of BDSM with a twist about moral issues. I really like that.

The book is a fine piece of writing, witty and interesting, if you are interested in the subject matter. And it is her first novel! It reminds me of three movies I've seen with similar kind of handling of the subject matter:

Firstly 'The Inferno' of 1999, staring Jean-Claude Van Damme. With very interesting way to depict the futility of death while looking to regain your own humanity.


It really puts across the point of the human life having no value when one of the characters just raps the ever piling bodies in a clad rap and slides them down a Mexican canyon with no remorse or judgement while toasting the death with his water bottle.

The second one is 'Dirty Pretty Things' (2002), starring Andrey Tautou. The movie is written by Steven Knight and it's subject is the trafficking of the human body parts with the backdrop of the illegal emigration to Britain.


I found it very captivating although it was not a romance with a happy ending for the hero and the heroenna like I would like to have had. I am a romantic.

The third one is the resent Steven Knight movie 'Hummingbird' or 'Redemption' (2013) starring Jason Stratham. It is also about human trafficking and the moral issues of violence with the backdrop of the homelessness and the mobs of London.


I find myself drawn to contemplate on the human mind of how it can compartmentalise violence and sex. It is really interesting how when the sex and violence is not confused in the gaining of money or power in books and movies, it is easier to absorb and people like me can find it entertaining and at the same time rising questions about the human behaviour in tight moral situations.

Comparing 'Redemption' to 'The Counselor'', I find that it's unpretentious way to handle the subject matter clearly beats the try hard pretend philosophical banter of the other movie. Maybe it is the difference of the male brain and the female brain in how we interpret the movies, when we see them. But I like unpretentious, particularly when depicting violence.

It is like one of my all time favorite movies 'The Escape from Absolom' or 'No Escape' (1994) with Ray Liotta still tops my list of enjoyable male brain movies because of its straight forward aim to be what it is and nothing else. And with no sex, thank you.


It is based on the 1987 book 'The Penal Colony' by Richard Herley. There are others but this one is still my favorite.

Going back to 'Tears for Tess' then. I have been reading the reviews and the comments about it in the social media. They are excellent, particularly coming from the women. Well, clearly it is a female brain book.

There is the common question with the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' of why she came back for more. The answer seems easy. The next book in the series is being published in the middle of December. So obviously she and Q, the dominant were not done with the moral dilemma. And they are in love, of course. The book is a romance although pretty graphic as such. So, a no brainer.

To tell you the truth, I cannot wait to read the 'Quintessentially Q' when it comes out.

What I am afraid, however, is that Pepper Winters is aiming at publishing a trilogy when I can only see two sides to the immediate story.

What I would like to see as the third segment is an original screenplay by her for a movie with Tess and Quincy explaining their legacy to their 18 and 16-year old children, 20-odd years in the future. It should be directed by Steven Knight and starred by Stratham and Tautou. I would like to see how they handle the moral dilemma and win. It would be a romance, of course.

As I see it, it is good to dream of a better world where people can live in peace without violence and sex can have all its expressions people are comfortable with without double morals or double standards getting on the way.

Many people believe that what we get is only limited by our imagination. I would think that good storytelling can contribute to good outcomes and bring unpretentious positive images into our world.

So, I suggest, let's do it more.

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