TO LOVE TO SERVE TO OBEY (1999)y Vi Johnson

Among the many factions in the "scene" is the division between the Old Guard and the New. The OG traces it's roots back to the second world war and the whole leather and motorcycle culture that emerged from it. The Next Generation seems to have come of age during the rise of the internet and cheap PC's. The OG has a tendency to call the NG the "stand and model" crowd, while the young upstarts look at the elders as relics from the past.
But suprisingly little is known about the OG. At a time when any leather bar was subject to police harrasment, most of the OG found it prudent to keep as low a profile as they could.The OG was almost entirely gay. In some big cities, the police even had anti-gay vice squad units.
TLTSTO gives us a rare glimpse inside a world most know about only from reading Anne Rice novels. But if you expect one filled with eloquent slaves clad only in golden chains you will be in for a big disappointment. Vi Johnson lived the life of a thousand bondage videos and it isn't always pretty. This was before "erotic submission" became the source of material for countless daytime talk shows.
The book is written in the form of a diary. It covers the years 1980 through 1997, although some years are better documented than others. What began as an instruction from one of her dominants has produced an amaz ing document.
Vi talks freely of her relationships with two Mistresses. The first, Mistress Katherine, acquires her as a loan from Jill, her life-long partner. She remains with this woman for nearly two years. This woman was also a professional Domme. College-educated, Mistress Katherine is a fascinating woman who runs with a very elite crowd. At one point, a foreign dignitary offers her a suitcase of money for Vi.
Later she transfers her loyalty to Madam Jean, a well-to-do Hollywood housewife. She stays Jean's part-time slave for nearly ten years. Reading through this section of the book becomes very difficult as Madam Jean's treatment of her boarders on abuse. At one point she even threatens to kill her.
What adds believability to this book is it's depiction of the not-so-pretty side of the OG world. We see Mistress Katherine sinking into the stupor of a pot-fueled despair. Vi even goes on for several pages about a scene that nearly cost her life.
The book has a number of touching moments. Vi talks a lot about the death of her mother, one of the major influences in her life. At the close of the book are many sympathy notes she recievced from various friends and organizations. A few times she notes the passing of a friend, allowing us to realize just how much her own life has been affected by the passing of time.
One complaint about this book is the large number of people mentioned in it. Dozens of characters appear and disappeare in the course of the 300 pages, making you wish she'd put a play list at the beginning. Of course, the original intent of this was a private diary, avlible to only Vi and her Mistress. My other complaint is, even with all the names changed to "protect the guility", it wouln't be too dificult for some one with a good knowledge of what's been happening in the BDSM world to sit down and figure out who the people are she talks about.
It also would've been nice if Vi had spent more time talking about herself. She does mention her interest in photography at the beginning, but that rapidly fades into the background. She spends more time on her "vampire" obsessions, where she even goes so far to have fangs implanted into her mouth. About her life partner, Jill, she has little to say.
TLTSTO is a good look at a lifestyle that has been around a long time and seldom documented. It's also a refreshing dose of reality in a literature field dominated by fantasy.