Bitten: Dark Erotic Stories [Paperback]

Susie Bright (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2009

Susie Bright brings together love's darkest arrows in this shiver-inducing collection of 15 gothic erotic short stories,with original stories from legends such as author Francesca Lia Block and Supernatural screenwriter Sera Gamble. Delicate illustrations weave throughout the lush package, and printed edges make the baroque book an object to behold. Open alone or share with a lover and devour the mystical characters, forbidden sexual relationships, and private pleasures.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susie Bright is a respected author, activist, performer, lecturer, audio show host, sex guru, teacher, and mom. She founded the first women's erotica book series, Herotica, and edited The Best American Erotica series from 1993-2008. She resides in Santa Cruz, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (July 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811864251
• ISBN-13: 978-0811864251
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely compelling, September 9, 2009

By 

Skeptic - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitten: Dark Erotic Stories (Paperback)

I found "Bitten" almost completely compelling. Like, "reading it raptly until two in the morning" compelling. I'm not even a fan of supernatural erotica... and yet, despite the fact that the erotic buttons this book is pushing are totally not my buttons, it still got me to feel what the writers found erotic about this kind of fantasy -- and what the characters in the stories found erotic about this kind of sex.

Good porn -- like the porn in "Bitten" -- gets you feeling what the characters are feeling. Even if what they're feeling, and doing, is physically impossible. And Susie Bright has a unique eye for good porn... an eye that was wide open with the stories in "Bitten." They are unique. They are exceptionally well written. And to call them "vivid" is a grotesque understatement. Lore Sjoberg once wrote that iced mocha "makes me happy to be alive, in the literal sense that it forcibly alters my brain chemistry." These stories forcibly altered my brain chemistry. It was like being violated, in the best possible way. It was like a masochistic fantasy in which a pitiless, unnervingly perceptive top forces me against my will, not just to do shameful and terrible things, but to want them.

If you like dark, spooky erotic fiction, you need to run to your nearest bookseller and buy this book right now. And if you don't much care for dark, spooky erotic fiction but you're curious to see what the fuss is about, I can't recommend a better place to start.

(Excerpted from a review written on the Blowfish Blog)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, dark, and oh so tasty, September 9, 2009

By 

submiss (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitten: Dark Erotic Stories (Paperback)

This book is gorgeous. If you were browsing in a bookstore instead of online, you wouldn't be able to leave it behind. The silver-black edges and textured snake cover beg to be stroked, flicked, and taken, and the words inside live up to the promise of the beautiful exterior: gothic, mystical, sexy, exotic, and taboo. "Bitten" belongs at the bedside of everyone who reads--or wants to read, or wants their lover to read to them--dark, erotic fiction.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Little Note and Reponse from Editor, November 23, 2009

By 

Susie Bright "http://susiebright.com" (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitten: Dark Erotic Stories (Paperback)

First of all, thanks for all the kind words and critiques. You have no idea-- well, maybe you do-- how much it means to these authors to hear readers' detailed reactions to their work. We all worked so hard, under the most insane time pressure, to make something original that would actually add some weight and legacy to the often-overused description of "gothic" literature. It was a pleasure.

I recently ran into an old friend who told me she had intended to read the book but was frightened by something she read on this page that scared her. I had no idea what she meant. Then I found it.. there is a well-intentioned review of this book in which the reviewer warns that there are subject themes in this book that are upsetting "triggers."She then mentions some of the dark key words that might press your buttons. They're like spoilers for some of the tragic and suspenseful plot twists that some of the stories possess.

I'm being deliberately vague, because this use of "trigger warnings" on sexually frank literature annoyed me. If you go over to purchase Shakespeare's MacBeth, will you be warned that the story includes themes of murder, vengeance, suicide, violence of the most brutal sort, betrayal, etc.? Or how about the latest bestselling memoir that touches on incest, rape, abuse, addiction, etc.? Is anyone going to warn you away from Mary Kerr, because you might frighten the horses? No!

Great literature deals with dramatic themes. The authors I worked with were not gratuitous in their work, they're at the top of their craft. The characters in fact, generally triumph over their adversity, so you might say it's all comedy in the classic sense. It is not literary justice to warn people away from erotic writing unless you simply want to point out the obvious, which is that this is all about sex and human nature. It is not Winnie the Pooh. But even Pooh had a frightening experience with a bee hive. Without drama, there is no literature. This bugaboo about criticizing erotic literature for simply being dramatic, is really wearing thin.

I reassured my old friend that I would be shocked if anything in the book sent her into a nervous fit. She is a sophisticated reader and whatever her criticisms, needing smelling salts would not be one of them! ;-) Enjoy, and please keep writing... we really do read every word you say, like all the authors on Amazon!