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The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica
Erotic Anthology
I’m a pretty
tough customer when it comes to erotica. It’s like masturbation: you
know how to do yourself best! That said, there is so much literary smut
out there, it would be remiss of us to not review it for you. The folks
at Carroll & Graf are responsible for all the Mammoth books, many
of which are erotic anthologies. Maxim Jakubowski is the editor of
many, including The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica. This is the 2005
edition.
This tome includes work by many of the usual suspects: Patrick Califia,
M. Christian, Cara Bruce, Rachel Kramer Bussell, Cecilia Tan, to name a
few. The good news—and possibly the bad news—is that there is something
for everyone. Which means if you only like BDSM stories or bisexuality
or Silhouette Romance-type stuff, you’re better off seeking out books
that specifically cater to your proclivity. This is more of a sampler;
use it to see which flavor of printed kink gets your motor running or
perhaps broaden your erotic horizons.
Themes and topics run the gamut: crossdressing, hallucinatory
homosexual loss of virginity, dominance, hard-bitten crime plots,
college-age sexual awakenings, a whole lot of “first time” experiences
with every imaginable sex act. The revelatory nature of some stories is
somewhat cliché, simultaneously embarrassing and arousing.
Settings span the globe, from the Australian Outback to Japan, London
to San Francisco, Greece to the not-too-distant future.
There are 45 stories, every single one of which were previously
published, many appearing in Scarlet Letters; Leather, Lace and Lust;
and Clean Sheets.
M. Christian’s sci-fi tech noir tango with necrophilia will thrill some
and surely leave others flaccid, but at least he’s adventurous. It’s
tough to make death sexy, but he does a bang-up job. Tara Alton’s
slutty, slangy “The End of Daphne Greenwood’s Travel Career” had me
squirming. Cara Bruce is still writing of jarringly dark, drug-addled
sexual encounters. Sage Vivant’s “The Key” is classic couples erotica
straight out of Penthouse Letters. Alison Tyler’s “Ten Minutes in the
Eighties” was touchingly reminiscent. The longest piece in the
collection, Mike Kimera’s “American Holidays,” is an intricate
character study of the myriad ways people’s lives are entwined. There’s
a whole lot of sex in it, but somehow it just flows with the story. I
enjoyed that one quite a bit.
Oddly, with the exception of the obviously fictional, such as the
sci-fi and futuristic pieces, many of the stories feel voyeuristically
autobiographical. It would be interesting to find out who writes about
what they really know—and enjoy personally—and who doesn’t. Whatever
the genesis of these fictions, it’s clear that office sex and one’s
initial encounter with BDSM enjoy high rotation in peoples’ fantasy
lives.
The stories are all a turn-on in their own way, but collectively they
make for a somewhat schizophrenic masturbatory adventure. I suppose the
way it would work best if you’re hoping that reading erotica will
enhance your sex life would be to read one story at a time. Trying to
process a number of them in one evening gave me fitful dreams. Treat it
like a smorgasbord: graze through the offerings and choose the most
appetizing. I guarantee there is more than enough here to sate your
hunger.
[Written Aug. 2005]
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