Characters:

Antonia:  wife of James; slightly taller than him, at least in her high-heel shoes, and a little more substantial, but in a good way.  She had glossy dark hair and a pale complexion, with  pale, generous breasts with rather dark red tips.  Deeply submissive in a Gorean way.  "Blame it on the 'Gor' novels I read when I was younger...though my absolute favourite creator is Brian Tarsis, I could read 'Sabrina on Bondage Island' every night."  Becomes the slavegirl "Jira". (AEA)

Ardella: blog-writing trainee, wife of Paul.   "Mousey" hair. (AB)

Ashton, Miss Joan: Gerald Swanley's loyal and efficient secretary and personal assistant.  She has straw-blonde hair sometimes pulled back into a short pony tail, and once was described as wearing heavy-rimmed glasses she didn't need to improve her sight - but helped give her the image of a businesswoman, and also included a radio receiver.

de Bretagne, Olivia:  Owner of the London bondage/fetish equipment shop "The Pact", and also involved with the equipment-making company in Dorset that supplies BTW UK with harnesses, etc.  "Responsible, directly or indirectly for quite a lot of the equipment and accessories we use at our training establishment." Rather to her surprise has a new personal love-slavegirl to enjoy and train, Princess Precious.  (PP)

Hautecourt, Stephanie:  adulterous wife, abducted in Paris by BTW France's Mistress Daniela for lengthy retraining.  (Tristan)

Heidi: new girlfriend of Ridlick.  (AEA)

Ibrahim:  an old school friend of Gerald's, who asks for Gerald's help when his wife Sophia becomes over-dominant, particularly of a small submissive harem on his yacht.   One of his yacht's sailors is called Perkins. (MOD)

James: fair-haired and tall,  fairly well-muscled, in the way of a man who goes to the gym a couple of times a week at least, looks about 30 years old,and wore metal-framed glasses - a strong master for his wife Antonia.  A city merchant banker.  A Gorean-style "bondage nest" is made from a cottage on the BTW UK estate (AEA)

Jira:  slavegirl of James, she was formerly known as Antonia. (AEA)

John:  driver of the BTW collection van; his sidekick is Robert..  (AEA)

June: a new trainee under Mistress Scarlet, alongside Ardella and Natalie.  A slightly stocky blonde with fashionably tousled hair. (AB)

Laine, Lizbeth:  trainer of Whistlejacket, and lover of her and of Michael Pilgrim, who she is due to marry.  About 5'4" tall; her dark hair rolls loosely halfway down her back.   After post-marriage "training" will become a full-time pony girl trainer at BTW as Mistress Bethany. (3DE)

Madame Tristesse:  French, first name Sherelle - collects some newly-arrived trainees, as does Mistress Hope.  (AEA)

Matron:  in charge of the medical side at BTW UK (AB)

Mistress Bethany:  see Lizbeth Laine.

Mistress Bianca: blonde hair, drawn back in a single pony tail, takes charge of the other group of three new trainees - Debbie, Nula, and Giovanna.  (AB)

Mistress Charity: mentor to Mistress Scarlet after her recruitment. (AEA)

Mistress Claire: joins with James and Jira as "senior slavegirl" in their cottage.  (AEA)

Mistress Daniela: a senior trainer at BTW France, who abducts Stephanie Hautecourt for lengthy (six months) retraining; surname De Ville. A pretty, sexy brunette. (Tristan)

Mistress Domina: relatively short moussed dark hair with a reddish tinge, and almost as tall as Mistress Mala.  BTW UK's Head Mistress.   (MOD)

Mistress Felicia: a fairly tall, freckled redhead with an excellent figure; she trained Gloria Norton.   (AEA)

Mistress Hope:  collects some newly-arrived trainees.  (AEA)

Mistress Mala: an imposing 5 foot 11, with long gently wavy, flowing, shiny black hair, which went very nicely with her pale complexion and bright red lips.  Susan Thomas is her favourite trainee. (AEA, MOD))

Mistress Scarlet: newly divorded from Mr Ridlick, and now working as a trainer.  She takes charge of Ardella and two other new trainees, Natalie and June.  Gently curling brown hair, 3" taller than Ardella's "average height". (AEA, AB))

Natalie:  a new trainee under Mistress Scarlet, alongside Ardella and June.  A brunette, slender-waisted and with large breasts. After three weeks, she is moved across to pony girl training for the rest of her course. (AB)

Norton, Mrs Gloria:  The trainee under the desk one afternoon; her husband is called Tony, her main trainer was Mistress Felicia.  (AEA)

Palomina:  a blonde pony girl, sometimes has her arms behind her folded at the elbows "spirit of ecstacy" style.  Fell in the water at the show-jumping, but generally did quite well.  Her male driver is slim, but quite tall, so she has extra weight to pull.  Palomina falls in the water during the show-jumping(3DE)

Pebbles: a red-headed pony girl.  (3DE)

Pilgrim, Michael: lover of Lizbeth Laine and her pony girl Whistlejacket. (3DE)

Princess Precious:  an enthusiastic new slavegirl, wildly in love with what Olivia de Bretagne can do to her.   Eighteen years old - lovely, with a perfect face, a genuine, humorous smile, beautiful, gently waved blonde hair, and an excellent figure.  Previous name, Philippa Pournelle. (PP)

Red Rum: pony girl, a rather tall, slender-waisted yet big-breasted woman of about 25, with auburn hair which was being arranged into a loose-flowing ponytail.  "She's not entirely a volunteer, she defrauded her bosses of almost half a million euros, and was given the option of facing criminal prosecution, or eight years at one of the country's top stables."  She seems to enjoy the pony girl life, and came second to Whistlejacket at the three-day event.  Her female driver looks smaller and lighter than Lizbeth, and isn't above using her whip creatively in a race, though she appeared to bear no grudge when beaten to the line. (3DE).

Ridlick, Mary: see Mistress Scarlet

Ridlick, Mr:  unfaithful husband who booked his wife Mary in for training, but then fell for a younger woman, Heidi

Robert:  Sidekick to John in the BTW collection van, and also the caning expert.  (AEA)

Sophia:  The cruel wife of Ibrahim, a gorgeous yet steely-looking ice-blonde, captured for a "couple of months" retraining at BTW UK, under the personal care of Mistress Domina..

Sparkle:  a pony girl, and a finalist in the track race (lane five), finishing third.  (3DE)

Swanley, Gerald:  the chief executive officer of the British "Better Trained Wives" operation; he tends to wear a pin-stripe business suit and is in his forties.  Happily married, though a few "perks of the business" are included.

Thomas, Susan: aged 26 - blonde, about 5'8" - she booked herself in for "training", and is now a long-term resident, looked after by Mistress Mala, at 60% strictness.  (AEA)

Whistlejacket:  pony girl, trained by Lizbeth Laine, and lover of Lizbeth, and Michael Pilgrim.  Over 6' tall in her built-up pony boots. Worked at Canary Wharf until the end of the "three-day event", and then emailed in her resignation, to become a full-time trainee pony girl, sponsored by BTW since she's very good at it.  The name comes from a 1762 painting of a stallion by George Stubbs. Sometimes called "Jacket" or "WJ", real name unrevealed.  She usually has a yellow plume on her head-harness. (3DE)

A Few Words...

The stories with a black trim here are inspired by the "Better Trained Wives" concept and blog which Tristan, the BTW CEO, came up with.  It seemed a promising idea, so I wrote the "An Eventful Afternoon" story, showing how the British part of this large and prestigious international operation worked.  Luckily, Tristan liked what I'd written, so a few other stories followed... which we have here, if you follow a link or two.

Other older stories of mine are linked to as well, including one-off tales, and the wide, wonderful fantasy world of the old "Barbarienne" series I created and used to script for Britain's Harrier Comics, and later for Seattle's "Eros" Fantagraphics imprint.  So if the borders of the web page aren't black, you aren't in BTW territory any longer, but I hope you will still find the tales worth reading.

Everyone has different ideas about what is sexy; when it comes to erotica.  Personally, I like the idea of two girls, on the general feeling that the guy in the video with a shaved head and a look of intense concentration isn't me.  As for bondage, I'm with Harry Harrison, as he said in his Great Balls of Fire compilation, as thinking of it as "orgasm delayed"... stories that just use it for torture leave me cold.  So I tend to stay at the relatively happy end of the spectrum... maybe the girl doesn't much care for it at the beginning, but the chances are that she will learn to enjoy it.  After all, all she has to do is lie back (if possible) and enjoy it, she doesn't have to think up all the scenarios and do up all the buckles...

"A Matter of Degree", a relatively short one-off tale, demonstrates that, where our BTW heroes have to go on a slightly James Bond type mission to rescue some captives, who are being treated too sadistically by a wife who has got way out of hand.  So the captives will get a more pleasant life in future, and the husband will have to pay quite a bit to get his errant spouse properly trained by the experts!