Sundays are all the rage these days, from Melissa Febos to Elise Sutton. Take it as a sign of gender role change, take it as a sign of female empowerment, take it as a sign of embracing a subculture that only years ago was considered monstrous and taboo. Richard Perez’s novel PERMANENT OBSCURITY explores the world of dommes and “dominas,” particularly from the point of view of two aspiring East Village artists who enter it partly out of curiosity, partly out of desperation.

This is by no means a politically correct book, even when it comes to BDSM culture; the story has to do with drugs, which, as some know or not, do not mix with that world, or should not mix with that world. And this is partly the point of this warning. Changing gender roles does not give anyone the license to abuse others; with power comes responsibility. So perhaps the most obvious question this story raises is: How can you dictate to others when you can’t control yourself?

The narrator of this story is Dolores. And she and Serena are best friends; they are both young. They both have drug problems. It’s Serena, the more self-assured of the two, who accepts ads on Craigslist for willing male subscribers. Dolores, although dominant by nature, is in conflict and cannot be identified in that way, and that would make her the most in-between character:

“Oh right,” Serena giggled. “I forgot how you hate being a top.”

He said it sarcastically, but I thought it was true. I mean, it was more responsibility than I wanted.

Usually. “(P. 142)

The story of PERMANENT DARK revolves around empowerment vs. be powerless; and it underscores the debilitating and soul-sucking quality of addiction, which undermines any possibility of control. And this is the biggest dilemma in the arts. Addiction of some kind seems to come with the territory. Who and what are artists, poets, writers if not addicted and compulsive people?

The central premise of PERMANENT DARKNESS revolves around the dream of defining one’s own destiny. At the beginning of the book, Dolores and Serena act as a fetish photographer and model to produce a design for a Los Angeles publishing house, and from there a seed is planted: some possibility of a future project, which evolves into the idea of ​​a film. Not just an unlikely fantasy, but a real possibility. If only Dolores and Serena could contain their neurotic need for self-sabotage. To put their plan into action, they rely on what is familiar to them: posting an ad on Craigslist, but this time for a writer (who also becomes an agent / author of the destination). With the writer on board, script approval at hand, they seem to literally be in command of their own real-life narrative. (The only thing the writer does not deliver is the end of the story, which, significantly, he promises to deliver “in person”).

By hook or by crook, Dolores and Serena get the supplies they need to fulfill their plan: reinforced camera, lights, moving van, media. But then fear and mindless dragon rears its ugly head. What are they doing? Why do they do it? It’s a question that artists continually ask themselves. Now add doubts and drugs to the equation. Then add massive drugs to quell doubts and self-criticism and what you make up is a recipe for disaster, which is how this story unfolds. The Dominatrix movie starring Serena, filmed and co-directed by Dolores, becomes a horror / farce show with the script of Marquis de Sade, Eric Stanton or David Lynch.

PERMANENT DARKNESS may not sound like a pleasant story and in many ways it is not; However, what makes it enjoyable is the narrative voice of Dolores, an impulsive and often comically conflicted character, unaware of her own darkness and the depth of her own self-destructive nature. Some have called this a black comedy and, in turn, it is a lot of fun. But in the world of the arts, where despair and addiction reign, it is a warning to anyone who can let control slip, both aspiring dominatrixes and artists alike.