For most people who do BDSM or any of its components, the motivation is fun and hot sex. For Bob Flanagan it was a way to exploit the body that was betraying him through illness and make himself as much of a master of it as he could be. Six interviews are the bulk of the book -- each accompanied with pictures from his life. This is also a brief collection of his art and an interview with his partner. Three years after this book, Bob Flanagan's body would give out and he would pass into a better world where I hope that the only "pain" he feels are those that are good for him. It is a moving and distrubing account of his struggle with illness and his attempts to make the world more aware of and accepting of others like himself.