Janus 8 sees a new editorial team take the helm and a complete change of tone for the magazine. Following the publication of issue seven, George Harrison Marks stepped down as editor to set up Kane and the new team decided Janus should place more emphasis on spanking as punishment. This more serious approach was reflected in photographs illustrating the anxiety of culprits waiting to be punished and fiction that went into great detail about the formalities of corporal punishment. At this stage the magazine did not have photostories as such, simply sets of photographs that featured across the whole issue. The colour plates of the two nervous ‘schoolgirls’ that appear throughout the magazine are delightful, as are the three simple black and white ‘over the knee’ sets. As far as fiction goes ‘I Did It My Way’ describes a couple’s ‘long and varied experience of mutual whipping’ and the sense of anticipation they create prior to proper punishment. In ‘Schoolgirl Shoplifter’ Samantha atones for her crimes with a bare bottomed caning and ‘Affair of the Bottom’ describes a widowers spanking relationship with a young waitress. Readers’ letters comment on the likely abolition of corporal punishment, a caning in Grange Hill and several recollections of punishments from yesteryear.

Friday’s Child/ Secret Lives/ Training With Heather/ In Hot Water/ Contacts/ Spanking the Niece/ Readers’ Letters