Customer Reviews

Back to Basics: A Butch/Femme Anthology

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Back to Basics is Bella Books' first collection of short stories and this anthology sizzles with hot exchanges of long time couples as well as new found lust. Several of the 23 writers will be familiar to readers, yet over half are relatively new to published works. These stories are well written and delicious. Therese Szymanski has assembled a wonderful collection of erotica in this book. Back to Basics is also the first book from the publisher's new "Bella After Dark" imprint, a series of erotic romance titles that promise not to be your great aunt's Naiad stories. And more impressively, she has succeeded in leading the reader through a dialog on butch-femme issues with the story selections and their placement in the anthology. For example:

The collection opens with Karin Kallmaker's "The Butch Across the Hall," the highly charged story of Ronnie, a femme who is finally admitting -- and asking for -- what she wants. This very explicit tale marks a new aspect to Kallmaker's writing. However it still contains her signature wry wit and intelligent characters. Next is Barbara Johnson's "On the Road Again," a story that introduces Taylor Donovan (a butch Maryland state trooper who earns the book a place on my "books with lesbian characters named Taylor" list) and a truck driving femme named Rose. These woman are quite comfortable with their gender identity, yet they push one another to explore new dynamics in their first sexual encounter.

Jean Stewart (author of the Isis series) presents "Scoring" and addresses issues of appearance with a tough soccer playing butch who confuses some people with her "femme hair." However, an equally strong player from another team is not mistaken in her attraction. Amusingly, there are two entries that deal with lesbian writers at book readings. The editor's story, "The Fan" presents a femme author of main stream romances who pens lesbian love stories on the side and draws on her rich fantasy life for her writing. Or does she? And is contrasted with Jesi O'Connell's "Butch Between the Sheets," which is a delightful little scene that deals with a femme's response to a book reading by butch sexpert and author, Syl Salesberg.

Perhaps one of the most thoughtful "couplings" of stories is Kallmaker's "The Curve of Her" which features Louisa and Rayann from her novel Touchwood. For the first time, Kallmaker gives us a first person look at the world from the older butch, Lou's eyes. Set some two years after the novel, the couple are not only still very much in love and sexual with one another, they are growing together. Here, Lou discovers the power of surrender. This very sweetly romantic and erotic story is juxtaposed to Joy Parks' "Touching Stone."

Parks' story is a heartrending introspective monologue by a femme who thought she had fallen in love with a lesbian. She details the increasing grief of her life with a Stone Butch who is moving toward FtoM trans-ing. Discovering surrender is the last thing on this butch's agenda. And the story offers up wonderful observations from the femme that echo Kallmaker's first story. Written with an aching empathy this femme speaks of the women that will come into her life with these words, "I will know how to make a woman feel as butch on her back as she does in her boots. I will learn that it is my gentleness, not my weakness, that can make another woman feel strong. And I will touch them with everything I could never give to you." (175)

Julia Watts' "Found in an Antique Trunk" allows us to glimpse a relationship between two women in late Victorian America, via four letters. It is a wonderfully touching story that seems to remind us that there is very little "new" under the sun. Leslea Newman gifts readers with a charming entry from her Girls Will Be Girls anthology, called "A Femme in the Hand." I'd say more about this story except I don't want to spoil any of its fun. And there is a great deal of fun in these stories. Many of them have the kind of "got ya" twist that is a strong element in good short stories for this reader. The anthology's final entry, "requiem" by Elizabeth Dunn, suggests a poignant twist to the "personal is political" as a couple discover one another anew in the face of death.

One could almost wish that Szymanski included an introduction to discuss her selection and arrangement of the stories in Back to Basics. It is clear that she put great effort into both aspects of the editing process. However, the stories do speak for themselves. The editor has succeeded in creating an arousingly readable as well as interestingly thought provoking anthology. Furthermore, Bella Books is to be commended for the steadily improving quality of their cover art. This cover is sexy and pleasing as well. All in all, Back to Basics is a fine anthology of erotic stories that may be read on many levels. The collection is as thought provoking as it is arousing, and for a reader with little shelf space, this book is a keeper.

I buy erotic anthologies hoping that I'll like maybe three stories in all, and if I'm really lucky, one will have characters that I can feel for and identify with enough to get warm.

This anthology not only is longer than most, with more stories, I easily enjoyed all but a couple of the stories and more than one got me far more than warm.

It's like there are so many faces to what makes a butch or a femme, and such variety, that I could relate to situations or people really easly. I've found in a lot of these "best of" erotica anthologies that the sex is bizarre and the people even more so. But maybe that's me. They never seem to be the kind of lesbian I am, with a taste for a touch of kink, but a larger hunger for emotional connection.

What I know is that when a book says it's erotic it needs to turn me on and this amazing, thoughtful, well-written collection did just that. Over and over.

Standout stories: the opening with Karin Kallmaker's "Butch Across the Hall" (other contribution "Curve of Her" is more tame but still a major wow!), M. Christian's "Coming Out of Left Field," D.L. White's "Pandora's Box" (screaming heat!), and Elizabeth Dunn's "requiem" (which ends the book with a powerful vision of how the worst nightmare can open the door to what really matters). I could list nearly every story in the book and just say "hot!" because they are. The only story that gave me trouble was "Three to Tango" which was written in a tag team kind of style, and seemed to jerk from person to person.

I notice that the publisher, Bella After Dark, is new, but sign me up for every book they produce. If they stay this good I might be able to survive being single.

Like another reviewer I am consistently disappointed by many of the lesbian erotica anthologies out there. I like one or two stories, at best, and the rest are so out there they do nothing for me. I like women. I like erotic stories about women who like *women*. Butch and femme seems to me is just one way of being a woman. I didn't find a singl moment with anything less than a celebration of the feminine, even in all its butchly glory. I also liked that there were no stories where violence was masked as a sex act with fake "oh it turns me on to need stitches and sit on a pillow for a week" scenes. I loved the stories about couples, how the roles work for them, how it sparks their sex lives. I will be able to pick this collection up for years, choose almost any story and revisit a passionate encounter as if for the first time. Good writing, real women. I hope there will be a Back to Basics 2!

I normally don't buy anthologies. As other reviewers have said, it is rare to find more than 1 or 2 stories that I like. I am also not into the butch/femme thing.

However, I knew and like several of the authors, so I decided to give this one a chance. I am so glad I did. Although some of the stories were dry and slow, most captivated me. Made me laugh, made me cry, made me think.

This anthology is a keeper if only for one story, Karin Kallmaker's 'The Curve of Her' which has the two beloved characters from her novel 'Touchwood'.

The book starts out with the fabulous 'The Butch Across the Hall' by Karin Kallmaker, it is the perfect selection to begin the collection by setting the tone beautifully (and it's really hot!).

Some of the terrific authors in the anthology -
Barbara Johnson
Therese Szymanski
Julia Watts
Peggy J. Herring
Laura Dehart Young
Amie Evans
Jean Stewart
MJ Williamz
Leslea Newman

Other stories that left a lasting impression were from L. Elise Bland, Elizabeth Dunn and Joy Parks.

A stand out story 'Escapade' from Carol Rosenfeld was simply awesome - I highly recommend it - very emotional.

I *loved* this anthology, and I don't even identify butch or femme. There is a wonderful range of voices in it, lesbians all, and the butches still claim being women (fancy that!) and some of them even let the femme touch them back (wow!). Out of a half-dozen anthologies I've read in the last year, this is the only one where it's not just OKAY for the femme to touch the butch's genitalia, the butch encourages it as part of their exchange. A butch in a b/f couple I know recently said she was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her liking to be flipped. I loaned her my copy of this anthology to reassure her that femmes doing butches isn't as rare as it seems in stories these days.

There are couples and one-nighters and a taste of menage a trois. A few stories are erotically-charged but have more impact as literature about b/f in the lesbian community. (Compared to the "Best of Lesbian Sex" series, this anthology says more about ***LESBIAN*** sex than the last 3 of that series put together.)

I was particularly struck by "Touching Stone" the first story I've read where a femme's feeling about her lover going stone and then FtM are explored. Every other story I've read about it seems to assume the femme will be hunky dory that she can no longer give lesbian sex to her lover, or any kind of sex for that matter, like she'll *of course* be happy to do all the receiving, isn't that a femme's dream? This was a very eye-opening story that shows poetically a femme's attempt to deal with her changed lover. It gave me a few things to think about.

For the shy reader, my other favorite story was by a writer I thought too vanilla for me, Karin Kallmaker. "The Butch Across the Hall" is a humorous, sexy story about a woman's first time with a butch and the butch's toy. I loved how it dealt with all the stereotypes that ran through her head as she considered what it meant (and didn't mean) to use one. Not the least bit preachy. And the line "Hasn't anyone ever made you feel beautiful before?" seemed to encapsulate what this anthology says about the butch-femme dynamic.

There are a number of first-time published writers in this anthology, which is a daring and rewarding effort on the part of the editor. A definite YES from me, and like another reviewer I hope for a volume 2.

Does it get any better? Not really.
This is a great collection of stories for solo pleasure or to read to your lover. Everything from sweet and tender to raw and gritty is covered.
You are sure to enjoy.

I bought this with a couple other books to get the free shipping. The other books i bought were excellent. I did not like it at all, I read a couple of the stories and I had no interests in reading the others. i would not recommend this book, unless you like bad porn.