All Comments on 'Balance of Power'

Excellent writing, conveys through dialogue two really horrible entitled self-centered women, with the wife being absolutely the worst. If I rated this on likeability of the two female characters, it would get 1*, but as a story and piece of writing it is definitely 5*****.

Very good story. You made Natasha into a seriously deranged bitch who got off way too lightly.

Great story. Takes the sissy troupe in loving wives and makes a really good story with it!

A waste of my time reading this and your time writing it.

What a total waste of time reading this garbage⭐️

Crazy. Surreal. Well written. No doubt the husband was a cuckold. But somehow covers this sordid material in an entertaining fashion. The two women are so unrepentantly deranged. Not my usual cup of tea but lol some hilarious dialog. Was like looking into a Bizarro alternate reality. I must be naive. Do marriage like this actually exist. Yikes. My wife and I established early on that we would have each other's genitals on a pike if either of us stepped out. Mutual assured destruction. Has never been an issue in 32 years.

First willing/accepting cuck story I would read again, mainly I think because he played no part in the story. I do wonder how a woman gets that deranged, but a very amusing ride and lots of think in that story, loved it.

I didn't read it! I usually wait for comments for a very good reason.

Another story that is so hard to rate. The writing is fantastic. Your ability to work pure dialogue is just amazing, but the plot was hard to swallow. I just can’t imagine being in a relationship like that. And because of that, I have very little sympathy for the husband. I’m happy that his balls dropped at the end of the story and he was able to escape, but to have been there to start with makes him hard to like.

Wow, great story! Thanks for writing.

I like this author: he's really gifted. So far my fav is The French Exit despite all the negative comments. Balance of Power is kind of addition to The French Exit with all these references that it's not cheating if both wife and husband know about the wife's affairs and agree with such an arrangement, plus the MC is paying back to his wife for all the humiliation and disrespect which we wanted so much in The French Exit. Thus, I can see a connection, but The French Exit is so much better with the characters' development and the plot. As far as the plot in Balance of Power is concerned, I find it a bit confusing: the MC is portrayed here not just as a wimp but as a man who had an inclination to be feminine and submissive, but who finally(???) found his balls. I don't think it's convincing. The writing, though is very good as always.

It felt very incoherent lacking the kind of consistency that you need for an arc. In the end you just felt nothing for Nat or Ang and very little for Marty. Actually the final dig that they were really lesbian man haters seemed a bit off, when you consider how much they liked cock and that it was this like of cock that caused the end of the relationship.

I always have enjoyed stories where the little guy gets just a little bit of his own back, this had a nice steady slow build up that I enjoyed

This brilliant story should be rated much higher, but is not because too many people don’t like the characters. Even though we all read stories with comments about how the husband should man up, cut off the cock cage, go to the police, etc. Well this man did it!

He finally figured out that he needed more from the marriage-respect for his contributions, his own choices, his personal success, and to have the children he wanted. Whereas his wife reminded me of Hooked’s Traci, a woman who thinks she should have whatever she wants in life just because she’s hot, and her husband should wait on the sidelines until she’s become an old crone and can’t give guys erections anymore, just by walking in the door.

Rarely is a story so well-told simply through dialogue-the history and evolution of the relationship, the conflict and dissatisfaction of both partners, and the satisfactory ending for the husband and the reader. Quite the character arc for the husband.

*****

Well written story. 5 Stars from me. Really liked the flow of the story. The ending seemed a bit rushed, but every story has to end.

One recent commentator said "A waste of my time reading this and your time writing it" and another said simply "What a total waste of time reading this garbage." I wish the writers had explained why they so hated the story, when so many, including myself, had found the writing worthy of a 5*. For some, perhaps the stories have to BTB to be acceptable. Character development, reality and good dialogue make stories worthy of reading regardless of the outcome (although i stop at stories that encourage violence, particularly cheap violence).

The best treatment for whites like this is to beat them, fuck around? Beat them and beat their lovers. Women who get the physical treatment don’t continue he cheating. It’s even worth any jail time, ask my ex

Odd plot .... definitely over-the-top in so many ways .... but quite a good story for what it is. You don't have to understand a person's proclivities (even fictional ones), nor like them, nor respect them (which I do not), to enjoy a well-crafted work of fiction. 5 stars.

I liked the style, focusing the plot through dialog. Nat and Ang were incredibly selfish people, putting themselves on their own pedestals, dismissing anyone not worshipping. That said, I truly enjoy when entitled people use their money use it to buy their way around the law, and pay victims to sign NDAs so they can continue their reprehensible behavior.

Selfish bitch got just what she deserved.

What a pair. They are like a femdom Amos and Andy.

Should have been written as a BTB.

And then what? This was far to Looooooooooooooooooooooong a read. Boring. Just repeating the same stuff over and over again. (Unsure if you saw the Python bit in that.) It was good as in it shows what an entailed person thinks but the script needs to be tightened down a great deal. She wanted more and more from her marriage agreement and never listened to her husband needs. Its about her wants and his needs, two totally different things, but oh so similar!

Interesting presentation as a dialogue where a primary character never appears. It’s hard to grasp haw a lawyer, someone educated in negotiation, would underestimate her opponent as badly as Nat did Martin. I mean, she never really knew what her husband did for income, yet assumed that her money would be his primary motivation. What law firm would elevate someone with so little forethought to partner? Is the office a cardboard box?

Fucking brilliant! *****

Nueva lectura...wow

You can't really love someone and enjoy hurting them

Not boring at all. A page turner and very well written. How would such a relationship be classified? From the outside it seems sadomasochistic. Or an extreme form of cuckoldry. Or both. Does anyone know of real relationships like that?

She was an evil bitch and he really was a wimp. However it was an interesting story if a bit unusual.

I like how you created the parallel of Marty/Charles and Aisha/Natasha. Early on there's a part where she says that Martin is an 8/10 in looks but 9.5/10 personality and Charles is a 10/10 looks but 5/10 personality, and then Ang says that Natasha is a 10/10 looks (or something similar). There's a lot of little things like that that explore how she rejects herself as a long term partner.

You can't claim to love someone and take pleasure in hurtingthem

Bitches like this are why boxcutters were invented.

All kidding aside, this was another well written story. Your characters are definitely despicable. I honestly can't believe a man could ever tolerate being humiliated like that, though, especially for 10 years.

I’m sorry but this was such a laugh to read, I'm sure you didn’t write this as such, but it’s how I saw it.

To me the plot was good but it was just so silly in the way that you wrote it

Hands down one of the best ‘dialogue stories’, I have ever read. The comments remind me of an old saying; casting pearls to the swine.

"Why should he be calling the plays in our marriage?" - She says she's the bread winner, so she should call the shots. Would she accept him calling the shots if he was the breadwinner?

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"there is no way the two of you bring the same amount to the marriage" - So what?In many, if not most, traditional marriages the man brings more into the marriage, yet their wives would never accept being submissive.

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Lost a star for the meh ending. I assume that she followed his wishes, but it should have been explicit, maybe show a session with Dr. Dorman. Some info on his "little" business would have been nice, see how wrong her disrespect was, maybe he makes more than she does!

After finishing this, I had to go back and check the intro again. The part about this being a marriage with genuine love, affection and regret. I laughed out loud. And then started wondering how is it possible for a writer, with such a good grasp on language, to not understand the meaning of those words. There was no love and affection in this story. What kind of deranged person would think of this relationship dynamic as affectionate??? There was pure, unfiltered sadism on one side. The desire to hurt someone for your own gain. Getting off on it. And a dangerous dependency with an unhealthy dose of inherent submissiveness on the other. None of these translates to love and affection! Also barely any regret. She regrets her ploy didn't work for sure. But not her actions. I've noticed a pattern of authors not really realizing the nature of their own story's characters and actions in these. I don't know why it happens but it does.

Very good exploration of a dominant/submissive relationship....with a big slice of delusion on both sides. Love, if it existed was very one-sided. 5 stars.

I don't know about this story... these women are sociopaths. I mean, Natasha is down right evil, to the point where her evil friend is like, "Yes, I love watching you torment your husband, but I could never do that..." the inference being that it would be a bridge too far for the evil henchwoman to be as evil as the evil ringleader.

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It's just a story, so I let a lot of things slide, but I think these characters were so gross and so filled with negative emotions that the ending falls flat because there's no catharsis. Some of that is due to the nature of the perspective of the story, but some of that is just... "living a good life is the best revenge" doesn't really work if we are an outside observer and we can't really empathise with the person (Marty).

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Overall, it was a good story and I think it was great that you were able to do a dialogue story that didn't suck. I've seen so many bad ones, it's astounding. But I do feel like it fell flat at the end. The best parts of the story were the two crones reminiscing about their torture of Martin, but you kept heaping it up and up until we get to the end and it just goes... "pef". Like a fart that almost was.

Interesting story. I think everyone is looking for more in the story than there is. It's simply two self entitled bitches.

seemed kind of incomplete 4/5

This is a story where there can be no sympathy for any of them. The ending caught me off guard. Enjoyed it, but could only give it 4 stars.

Underneath all the abuse and the forced sexual rape (what else can you call it when you have two people hi have knocked your self esteem and self worth so low after already having those issues and then stating through actions that if you didn’t do these things then there would be no “us”) multiple times, this was a well thought out and very emotionally charged situation. The anger I felt towards these psycho entitled bitches is off the chart and I think we all have known women like that nether cheerleaders or prom queens, etc. I think that this story would have been even better if it/turned out that his little business and the reason he was being interviewed was because he sold his business for an outrageous amount of 💰 and went from a nobody to one of the wealthiest people in the country. It would have shown just how much she didn’t pay attention to anything he said even though they would sit down every night and discuss what happened during their days. It also should have not ended so quickly after the nite was read. Still an excellent read that I was glad I came across it.

Needs a final. Chapter. Her tring to fetch him back. If she does not try he was not worth it in the first place

sorry, but I didn't appreciate the way the story was told, I found it clashed with the story length.

A gem! Thank you.

Maybe people should read your profile and that way understand your POV.

Damn! His wife and her friend really redefined nastiness in the worst possible way.

Both were clearly narcissists.

The wife clearly misunderstood how her husband genuinely loved her, his acquiescence to her was from love not submission.

I was curious regarding his business, I somehow felt it was a lot more substantial then she understood.

What a pair of bitches. Cheating wife was treated much too well.

Completely enjoyed the story, well written.

The self-centered women are unfortunately more common than you'd think, especially in major urban areas. I've seen it with my own eyes here in a major west coast US city.

As far as the characters, Ang got her come-uppance.

Good.

This story should be rated more highly.

It’s so creative, being the story of the demise of a marriage told through the dialogue of two characters over time.

The characters are very well-drawn, to the point where you might find yourself walking around in circles, yelling at them and cursing them.

And so much happened in just a few pages!

Thank you, Patrickson, for an enjoyable read!

I worked with a woman like Natasha. She ended up living in her car.

Two people...she is a sick, demented, whore who cucked her husband, degraded him, turned him into a gay, female impersonator, who willing did sick, revolting , sxxt. He was just as sick and willingly degraded himself. Two sick people make one sick story. One star.

This story definitely should be rated higher. You are a very good author - each of your stories is unique (I particularly like the French Exit - one of my all time tops on this site). They are a departure from the standard loving-wife format, and offer a different take on the topic that takes the reader in a direction not expected. Thanks for taking the effort to continue to develop these storylines.

Just re-read the story and still enjoyed it.

The MC came out of left field and bowled her over before she realised herself on the ground.

I enjoyed the aspect of the story where her responses were on a weekly basis with her friend.

I particularly liked the last part where the MC recommended the relationship with her girl.

Sorry Folks, but although I give this one a 3 Star ⭐⭐⭐ rating... It was almost unreadable. Primarily, due to the writing jumping here and there in the commentary. Perhaps a bit of editing and a few phrases to tie the jumping scenes together, more coherently.