About John Savage

Hello,

I guess it’s customary for someone to include information about themselves on their website, so here it is.  The following was written as a biographical sketch for Strict Publishing website, the publishers of my current novels.

John Savage is one of the main figures in the history of the highly erotic and esoteric field of Bondage and Discipline.  He came after the legendary John Willie, and before the period exemplified by the photography of Jay Edwards, et al.  Just as Jay was an important link in the progression of bondage techniques leading up to the anything-goes extreme B&D of today, so was John Savage.  The bondage he created and photographed represented a step beyond that of John Willie: more complex, tighter, more escape-proof.

John began by copying the work of John Willie but was soon adding his own touches.  This is typical of the progress in the field.  Both Jay Edwards (a very well-known bondage expert) and Dave Annis (probably the best strict bondage photographer today) have stated that they began by copying John Savage’s work, then adding to it.

1sav013John Savage, circ 1980

John Savage is one of the main figures in the history of the highly erotic and esoteric field of Bondage and Discipline.  He came after the legendary John Willie, and before the period exemplified by the photography of Jay Edwards, et al.  Just as Jay was an important link in the progression of bondage techniques leading up to the anything-goes extreme B&D of today, so was John Savage.  The bondage he created and photographed represented a step beyond that of John Willie: more complex, tighter, more escape-proof.

John began by copying the work of John Willie but was soon adding his own touches.  This is typical of the progress in the field.  Both Jay Edwards (a very well-known bondage photographer) and Dave Annis (probably the best strict bondage photographer today) have stated that they began by copying John Savage’s work, then adding to it.

John began in 1969 with an article written for Barbara Behr of House of Milan. He was soon tying and photographing amateur models, sometimes selling the products freelance, but then working with Tao Productions to create a line of bondage magazines with such titles as “Best of Bondage,” “Taskmaster,” “Bondagemaster,” and the politically incorrect “Teenagers in Bondage.”  (None of the models were underage, despite the title.) In the early 80’s he edited, wrote for and photographed a magazine series called “John Savage’s Notebooks.”  These long-ago magazines today command a high price, if you can find them.

In addition to magazines, he produced some of the old 8mm “loops,” and later VHS videos, the most famous being “Making Danielle Talk.”  He has worked with Barbara Behr, Bob Bishop and F.E. Campbell.  It was through his friendship with Frank Campbell that he became involved in the writing of B&D novels.  Frank was one of the most prolific B&D authors, having been credited with 100 books written for HOM.  As Frank became older and had trouble typing, he began dictating books on audio tapes.  John Savage then transcribed those books to computer disk for the publisher.  Then came a time when Frank no long wished to write.  At that point John began ghost-writing Frank’s novels.  In fact, the last ten novels credited to Frank Campbell were actually written by John Savage.

Today, John’s total of books comes to just over one hundred, and he’s still writing.

After Frank’s death, John began selling novel under his own name to House of Milan.  He also wrote for Sandpiper Press, Olympia Press and Bon-Vue, all being published as paperbacks.  For a while he dropped out of the marketplace but then came back when ebooks became popular.  He is currently writing B&D novels for Strict Publishing, and occasionally non-B&D books under different names.

As to the man himself, he was born in 1943, is married and has two grown children and three grandchildren (so far).  He is a Viet Nam era veteran.  His main career has been in computers, ranging from programmer to systems analyst.  He still programs computers and enjoys it.  His B.S. and M.S. are in computer science, but in addition, he has a PhD in, of all fields, astronomy!  This is the reason for the nickname “Doc” Savage being stuck on him (“Doc” Savage was a well-known fictional character from the 30’s).  Today he lives in Solana Beach, California, enjoying his hobbies of astronomy, fishing, spoiling grandchildren and fast sports cars.

To flesh this out a bit more, here are a few covers from the magazines I shot for and edited:
Eventually I plan to scan all the magazines and put there covers on this website.  Meantime, here is the cover from the best selling video “Making Danielle Talk:”The vast majority of photos I took were in black and white.  The reason for this was simple.  I could develop black and white film easily in my own darkroom, and the magazines of the time were mostly black and white, with only color covers and middle insert.  In fact, the first magazines I did were totally black and white, even the covers.

Here are a few of those photos.  I will be adding more from time to time.