Customer Reviews

The Best American Erotica 2006 (Unabridged Selections)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There ought to be at least a few selections in here to please nearly everyone - along with some that only a select few will truly enjoy. I give credit to the the compiler that she included not only some well known authors but a few lesser knowns as well.

Call me a prude but some of the selections went beyond my "comfort zone". I like pushing the boundaries (who wants the "same old, same old"?) but there were some selections that I just couldn't relate to, including a story about an encounter with a transvestite. Not to my taste.

But that is really a minor quibble. All in all, there IS plenty of good erotica here, although much of it is NOT traditional. It reflects the gender bending and alternative sexuality of our times, crossing boundaries, etc.

If you're open to that, this one is worth a look.

[...]

1. Every year, Susie Bright attempts to orchestrate an ensemble of stories that represent every taste, or almost every taste, but that's an impossible feat, as demonstrated by reviews of pervious collections. Another thing to note is Susie solicits nominations for each year's collection, so I hope reader/reviewers at Amazon will nominate selections for upcoming editions of BAE.

2. The job of a writer is to entertain readers while holding a mirror to the society he or she lives in-which can make a lot of people uncomfortable. Writers of erotica or writers whose work appears in erotica collections are no exception-or shouldn't be. Erotica is fluid and multi-dimensional, like all literature, and the writers whose work appear in Best American Erotica 2006 offer the complexity of our human condition, sexuality included. BRAVO!

While every single story in this book is good, I have my favorites: "Mille," "Under the House," "Full House," "Drunkie's Surprise," "Ukiyo," "The Clay Man," and "The Nasty Kind Always Are."

The last mentioned, written by Steve Almond, dick-lit maestro that he is, made me gasp at the end. Almond created a story that manages to be social satire while also being downright sexy-and in this case, shocking. I was taken aback.

Sera Gamble's "The Clay Man" is now one of my favorite short stories in the world. I first heard about The Golem watching X-Files. He came up again in graduate school. I intend to read Gamble's story again and again to figure out how it works so well. Let me just say the premise is clever, the protagonist is intriguing, the relationship between the two sisters is complex, and the writing is really-really good. The overall implications of the story venture into deep, uncomfortable terrain.

"Ukiyo," by Donna George Storey, is another well written story that is lush with eroticism and Japanese culture. What I loved best about this story was its ability to take me somewhere I'd never been and experience customs I knew nothing about-all through a writing professor protagonist.

I'm not sure where Susie Bright found Kweli Walker, but I'm grateful she did. Who knew "gumming" a man could make for such a fun and sexy read. The voice in Kweli's story is bawdy and bold, and I loved the mentoring relationship that takes place between the protagonist and the stripper. Excellent stuff!

"Full House is another terrific read by a terrific writer. David Sedaris is always marvelous.

"Under the House" is another story that takes readers to dark and disturbing terrain. Its subject matter pushes the envelope and blurs the line between right and wrong, taboo/socially acceptable, and I dig ambiguity like this. The writing, again, is terrific. Actually "Under the House" is an excerpt from a novel, The Curse of the Inappropriate Man, by the writer, Lynn Freed, which I plan to get sooner than later.

Last but not least, "Mille" is another novel excerpt from Helen Walsh's, Brass, and the excerpt reads as beautifully as a prose poem. I finished reading it then went back and read it again right away.

In fact, I've no doubt I'll read several of the stories in Best American Erotica 2006 again, not only for the sheer enjoyment but to learn something as well.

Peace.

I bought this for my boyfriend for fathers day. He loved it. We took turns reading the different stories to each other. Most of the stories were great, although a few went into areas of sexuality that didn't do much for either one of us. There was a great variety, however, and I think probably a story for everyone. Highly recommended!

I guess I was expecting something quite different, but this collection of supposed "best" stories of the year left me, excuse the pun, limp. I think I could crank out better stories without breaking a sweat. Just shows that the best erotica was written in England a century ago.

Good erotica is extremely difficult to write. By good erotica, I don't mean the pornographic type liberally laced with swear words where the only physical action is the body movements standard in all varieties of sexual intercourse. I mean sexuality that titillates the deeper, more intellectual reaches of your mind. Where subtlety is used rather than raw sexuality and there is some mental ambience to the sex. In other words, the reader thinks a bit rather than simply panting.

A few of the stories in this book achieve that level, whereas others are simply raw. The stories cover all types of sex: hetero, lesbian, gay and group. There is some S & M, but it is fairly refined rather than grossly raw. Some of the stories manage to create an atmosphere that reaches a par with the sexual aspects. The best one at establishing an ambience is "High Risk" by Bob Vickery, where the thought of two men engaging in sex while standing on a steel beam hundreds of feet in the air really creates the picture in your mind. The two men balancing dangerously on the beam rather than the actual sex act.

The best story is "Stalin's Mustache" by Will Heinrich where a man (Aloisius) wakes up with a mustache on the end of his male member and that makes him sexually irresistible to all females. It is similar to the classic tale of King Midas, and he beds thousands of women until he accidently catches the mustache in a zipper and tears it off. (Ouch!) After that, he is once again quite ordinary and happy. The sex is a simple plot tool and generally understated and this story was my favorite one in the book.