The Best American Erotica 1999 [Paperback]

Susie Bright (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Best American Erotica | Publication Date: February 16, 1999

From Susie Bright, America's most outrageous and outspoken chronicler of the nation's sexual practices, comes this eagerly awaited new volume of the crème de la crème of erotic literature of 1998. Edited by Bright, whom the San Francisco Chronicle describes as "the X-rated intellectual" and The New York Times hails as "the voice of sweet reason and literacy," this sixth annual edition of a bestselling series is sure to satisfy old fans and leave newcomers begging for more. The Best American Erotica 1999 cuts across the sexual spectrum to provide an anthology of the most arresting and provocative writing of the year.

Contributors: Elise D'Haene, Anne Tourney, Kelly McQuain, Richard Collins, Michael Thomas Ford, A. M. Homes, Thomas S. Roche Cecilia Tan, Jack Murnighan, Kevin Killian, Marian Phillips, Robin Sweeney, Ben Neihart, John Mason Skipp, Donald Rawley, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Tsaurah Litzky, Michael Bronski, Edo Van Belkom, Edward Falco, Keri Pentauk.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is this sex in America? Let's hope so. The Best American Erotica 1999 is a melting pot of inventive selections that run the gamut from bittersweet stories of youthful passion to Henry Miller-esque vignettes of cosmopolitan lust. There are detours along the way to raunchy merriment, steamy liaisons, erotic sorrow, and many other landmarks in the erotic landscape, both fresh and familiar.

Explore the bittersweet of yesterday and today, growing up with Elise D'Haene in an excerpt from "Licking Our Wounds." If Kirk-Spock fantasies are getting to be old hat, take a titillating peek into an amorous Boy Wonder's diary in Kelly McQuain's "Je T'aime, Batman, Je T'adore." The erotic imagination of America wouldn't be complete without a rock star fantasy: Ben Neihart's "The Number One Song in the Country" delivers, in spades. Cecelia Tan suggests an answer to the age-old question of what women do in bed together--and provides some ingenious toy ideas for those who already know--in her thrilling "Penetrations." And celebrating our ever-increasing Internet usage, Robin Sweeney's "Picking Up Daddy" provides an exhilarating narrative about nervously meeting and amorously greeting a lover met online.

The fabric of America's erotic life--twosomes, threesomes, same sex, opposite sex, gender benders, realistic sex, outrageous fantasies, revenge fantasies, dainty love stories, no-holds-barred one-night stands, and more--is well chronicled in this anthology from sexpert Susie Bright. --Cheryl Trooskin

From Publishers Weekly

The latest entry in this series, now in its ninth year, offers something for just about everyone. Old boundaries are clearly irrelevant: straight, gay, bi or transgender are typical, often with variations pawing for attention in the same story. One trend is a kind of literary cross-dressing: in "Cowboy," Adelina Anthony invents an oversexed gay Latino stud who gets a big surprise from his latest conquest, while in "Backhand," Ernie Conrick writes about a young female tennis player who is challenged by a sadistic Navratilova type. Some of the stories are told in the second person (a shortcut to reader intimacy): these are either satires, like "When to Use" (selected from Nerve.com), by Stacey Richter, or breathless monologues, like "The Whole Bloody Story of My Life," by Shaun Levin, and Jamie Callan's "Talk About Sex: An Orientation." (The publisher seems to have taken the latter title literally: the collection contains a reading group guide.) Novel excerpts don't always click as well as the complete stories, but perhaps they work as foreplay. "Driving Lesson," from J.T. Leroy's Sarah, hardly needs more hype, but here it is alongside selections from Jane Smiley, Francesca Lia Block and Maggie Estep. Story locations run the gamut: at home, at work, in a wet suit, on the subway, in a trailer park, in dirty motels, underwater or on a deathbed. Bright knows that sex writing is subject to fads and fashions, but never goes out of style here she presents evidence of how it "gets messier every day."

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (February 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684843951
• ISBN-13: 978-0684843957
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,186,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm an author, editor, publisher, performer, sex and culture critic, teacher, seamstress, and pumpkinhead.

I live in Santa Cruz, CA.

My blog is: http://susiebright..com.

My weekly show on Audible:
"In Bed With Susie Bright": http://www.audible.com/susiebright

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get turned on!, May 27, 2000

By 

Tanja L. Walker "Tanja L. Walker" (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best American Erotica 1999 (Paperback)

Like all good short story anthologies should, "The Best American Erotica 1999" delivers a wide variety of stories within the given genre to provide readers with enough food for thought to fill many banquet tables. Nearly all of the stories turned me on to some degree, but just as important, some made me laugh ("Is Your Husband Obsessed with On-Line Pornography," "Three Obscene Telephone Calls"), some made me want to cry ("Licking Our Wounds," "Doctor Fell"), some made me, well, you know ("Penetration'" "Picking up Daddy," "The Balm that Heals"). The one disappointment was "Tell Me What it Is." The writer of this story presented us with interesting, complex characters, but the ending seemed abrupt and made no sense. But in a book of over 20 short stories, it would be nearly impossible to like every story. That is the beauty of a short story anthology, though. If there's a story you don't like, just skip to the next one. But in this case, readers of this anthology probably won't be skipping many stories.

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars very disappointed, did not finish book, was not worth buying, July 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best American Erotica 1999 (Paperback)

I was very disappointed in this book. I still have not finished it because there is nothing erotic in these writings. The Pearl that was written many years ago is a much better example of written eroticia. I'm sorry that I purchased it.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Erotica for Literature Buffs, April 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best American Erotica 2002 (Paperback)

Here is Erotica for grown-ups, for people who think sex, besides being something to get hot for, is also something worth thinking about. In the vein of writers like Philip Roth, Henry Miller and Mary Gaitskill, this collection gives erotica its intellectual due. Sex is serious--as well as funny, hot and sad. Erotica is given the depth and complexity it deserves. Bravo Susie Bright! You are a genius!