RKB: I've had kinky experiences as both a top and a bottom, and I am just fascinated that people will come out about bottoming but not about topping, at least outside of BDSM circles. We've had the film Secretary, but no Boss, if you know what I mean. I think some people with those sadistic urges aren't sure what to do with them, so I wanted to find stories that delve into that mind-set and show that being a top isn't about cruelty or wrath or violence. Nor is it nicey-nice or simply ”playing.” I’m not trying to soften anything up, but simply to show the very human, powerful, and intense ways being a top moves us. I want to eroticize tops but also take a peek behind the armor and façade they sometimes wear and get at their motivations. The stories manage to be totally, breathtakingly hot, while also showing that the pain inflicted is wanted and welcome pain—that it’s about the interplay between top and bottom, not just a top imposing his or her wishes on someone else.

As I write in the introduction to He’s on Top, for many people, erotic dominance is about the give and take, the back and forth, about power that’s “freely given” by the bottom. Knowing that makes the stories all the hotter for me. Donna George Storey writes in “Yes” about this very thrill: “You can push her over the edge and catch her at the bottom, soft and safe in your arms. You can watch her dance and be inside her all at the same time, because you are the music she’s dancing to now, faster and faster.”

Cleis: Which collection was easier for you?

RKB: Definitely She's on Top. The stories seemed to come more easily and were creative, diverse, and explored so many levels of power. I especially like Teresa Noelle Roberts’s “Mark of Ownership” because it takes a topic that in real life I’m a bit squeamish about, cutting, and turns it into something both erotic and incredibly emotional as two players say goodbye to the sexual side of their relationship. She shows how hurting someone within the context of BDSM can be a gift to both parties, and that often sadism is often tougher on the giver than the receiver.

But even though it was a little more challenging to coax out the stories for He’s on Top, it was definitely worth it. In some ways owning up to their dominant nature is more difficult for men because they’re taught that if they’re “tough” and powerful, and tap into that kind of dominant energy, then they’re really just macho, obnoxious jerks. Yet the impulse to wield erotic control crosses gender and can transcend gender roles, which is why I wanted to edit a pair of books rather than just show one half of the equation. I got some disturbing, sexist story submissions of the “Get over here, bitch!” variety that showed me exactly what I didn’t want in the books. But the stories that made the cut, written by both men and women, really show a range of ways to wield power.

Cleis: Did you learn anything about the nature of dominance while editing the books?

RKB: I found upon reading the submissions and especially rereading the books in their entirety that there's a real tenderness to these stories. People hear the word "dominant" and associate it with meanness, and in actuality I think it's harder to be a top than a bottom in some ways. Tops have to be extra cautious about letting ourselves go to those truly dark places. Even with a willing partner, it can be a challenge. I discovered, or perhaps relearned, that being a top takes cunning, savvy, and a very dirty mind. It means knowing what your partners want, and what they don’t, and figuring out how your wants fit in with theirs and expressing that in a way that may not be culturally sanctioned but can be so incredibly erotic. To see the love and emotion imbued in topping rendered so exquisitely was a real thrill. These authors just got what I was trying to do and managed to make their stories both incredibly sexy and emotionally moving.

Cleis: Who’s your intended audience for these books?

RKB: It’s funny because at first I thought it would be dominants seeing themselves reflected in these stories, most of which are told from a first-person point of view, but I actually think submissives will really like the books too because the kinds of things these characters share—the vulnerabilities, the plotting, the planning, the outright arousal at the prospect of making someone else obey them—aren’t always things subs are let in on. Tops often act like they’re totally in control, like they’re not also quivering on the edge of desire, and here, bottoms can witness them doing that.

Even if you’re not a BDSM practitioner, I think you’ll enjoy these books. I certainly got very aroused reading these stories, even for the third time, and I hope readers will too.