Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns: The Romance and Sexual Sorcery of Sadomasochism

If you are new to the scene and want to become familiar with the majority of the techniques that you may wish to try then this book is an excellent guide. To begin, it walks through the terminology, the basic mental and emotional elements in SM play, an overview of "scene" and how S & M relationships can be negotiated. Once the book has prepared you with the basic elements of how to enjoy S & M play, it moves into actual techniques: a safety overview, waxing, bondage, flogging, spanking and humiliation. It finishes with a discussion of how to build, transport and hide your dungeon "toys".

Even if you are an experienced scene player, it is unlikely that you are conversant with every possible type of play, so this book serves as a helpful reminder of the basic techniques. While it does not cover the more extreme types of play - water sports, blood sports or mummification, it is comprehensive in it's coverage of the most standard types of play.

Although this book is written by a hetero male dominant and a female submissive, the words of wisdom contained are applicable to everyone. I personally found that having both partner's perspective was very helpful when trying to construct my own session.

If you are looking to get into S & M, this book is a great start to begin play at home. Miss's Abernathy's Concise Guide to Slave Training is an excellent next step. And once you are feeling confident in your private relationship, SM 101 by Jay Wiseman will give you enough credibility to feel comfortable in visiting "public" scene events.

With 25 five star reviews another is hardly necessary. But this book is everything it should be. its funny, its informative, its approachable and its fun! Easily the best "how to" book on D/s SM ever written.

"Screw the roses" covers most topics in SM play: bondage, spanking, humilation, flogging, types of whips, gear, contact groups, medical issues, safety issues, post-scene comforting and mental aspects. It goes into details on all of the less extreme practices. It treats the more extreme things such as breath play or cutting much more briefly, pretty much warning people off them.

It is full of practical advice and good safety tips. These are punctuated with amusing and erotic personal anecdotes that help keep the reading fun and light. One of the things I most admire about "Roses" is that safety is practically a mantra repeated through out the book. Overall a must have book.

When I was first learning about SM, I was full of the usual stereotypes and misinformation about it. IMHO, to understand and appreciate SM, it is essential for one to realize that SM turns everything on its head. 'Nothing is what it seems', so to speak. Screw the Roses, Send Me the Thorns does that better than any other book I've read on the subject, and it does so with abundant love. After reading a few pages of Molly Devon and Philip Miller's book, my unfounded fears about what SM was began to melt away. The book is written with so much love and playfulness that one cannot help but see and feel it. And once the fear from all those inaccurate myths is dispelled, there is room for the *delicious* fears with which safe, sane, and consensual SM abounds. And the loving playfulness is contagious! For these reasons (in addition to those discussed by other reviewers), I highly recommend this book, *especially* for all novices. It is my very favorite! Read, learn, and enjoy.....yummmmm!!

The deeper I got into this book, the more often I found myself saying "YES!" in agreement with Philip and Molly's philosophies about doing SM. This, along with SM 101 by Jay Wiseman is truly a "must have" book if you're serious about wanting to learn what SM is all about.

The book covers virtually every facet of play from descriptions of what each "type" of SM players are, looking out for the "wannabes," negotiation before playing, bondage techniques, flogging, spanking, and even humiliation.

Illustrations and photos are sprinkled liberally throughout the text and help to make the information that much more easy to understand and follow.

Since this book is now a few years old (I understand an update is forthcoming), the resource section is a bit outdated. Otherwise, this book is outstanding!

I have just recently entered this alternative lifestyle and wanted more information. Rather then badger my freinds with questions, I picked up this book. I devoured it. It disspelled any fiction that I had and gave me the cold hard facts.

Answered all questions I had, alleviate any fears and left me with nothnig but anticipation to put forth my newly acquired knowledge.

I would recomennd this book to anyone who was also looking to delve into this lifestyle or even for the passing curiosity people.