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.
Bitten
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Book Description
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.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Skeptic
Format: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)
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)
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By submiss
Format: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.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I will spare you yet another tendentious discussion of the difference between erotica and pornography, except to say when you read "Bitten" you'll understand the difference between good and exciting writing about sex and sexuality and tedious, repititious, monotonous porno descriptions of oral sex and the old in and out. Susie Bright, the editor of this lively and imaginative collection asked of her potential contributors that they send her "Perverse fairy tales,Erotic spirits, Sexually compulsive haunts,The baroque savage,Bohemian, post-punk, Dark Wave, an obsession, sacred taboos, a mystical view of the sexual body, Elizabethan, Victorian, Cajun, Latin, African, and Catholic tastes. "Give me," she asks "lugubrious passion, unrelieved thirsts, the lushness of black, the velvet hammer, Noir effects, 'A marked preference for dark colors and sentiments'Sexy-spooky, ethereal carnality, Daily horror as subversive social critique, The erotic arc of the unconscious, The bawdy kitsch and cocky comedy of horror." [I've altered the punctuation and line breaks here, because the solicitation in the introduction is presented as the poem that it is]. By and large, she gets a good deal of what she asks for. The very first story, "The Devil's Invisible Scissors"sets the tone. Gina is a professional 'demon' who snips the souls from her potential lovers as she seduces them. The second tale,"Resurrection Rose," offers us an erotic description of a coupling between a woman and a plant: "The rose's branches rustle furiously as the roots stretch to meet her, one giant crimson thorn extended. Vines creep across Lucy's skin; coarse leaves tease her belly and nipples as her robe drops away.... Read more ›
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By CDT
Format:Paperback
It's rare for the stars to align for one to first read a foundational work of erotic horror, with one of the latest. The former, M.G. Lewis' THE MONK, earns its still-scandalous reputation. The latter, BITTEN: DARK EROTIC STORIES, edited by Susie Bright, should earn its own reputation -- for pleasure.
In this age of fewer restrictions on publishing erotica, it takes more to move and shock, but the same Gothic conventions hold. God and the Devil are sensual beings, with pressing wagers on our carnality. Innocence and ignorance are hazardous to one's health. If a story featuring demonic soul-eating and angelic sex could be called wistful, then Sera Gamble's The Devil's Invisible Scissors qualifies. It's a great story for the beginning of an anthology; it orients us that there will be passion, wisecracks, a simultaneous touching upon the profane and infinite, and much lubricity. Cross-Town Incubus by E.R. Stewart has the same mix of modern mores and old school thrills.
Some stories, such as Anne Tourney's The Resurrection Rose, make themselves felt immediately: It's a lush tale of floral decadence on the order of Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter. Jess Wells' The Rookery, Patrice Suncircle's Master Sarah and Tsaurah Litzky's The Witch of Jerome Avenue are also stories that have echoes of tales told through the ages... except for the steam and the sweat they generate.
There are three stories I'll read again, for their beauty: The Resurrection Rose, Greg Boyd's Pandora's Other Box and Lay Me Out Softly by Francesca Lia Block. Their modern-day fairy tale slant is distinctive, adult and memorable, and their language, inventive. There's one story I'll have to ration like the aforementioned chocolate, from Allison Lawless.... Read more ›
In this age of fewer restrictions on publishing erotica, it takes more to move and shock, but the same Gothic conventions hold. God and the Devil are sensual beings, with pressing wagers on our carnality. Innocence and ignorance are hazardous to one's health. If a story featuring demonic soul-eating and angelic sex could be called wistful, then Sera Gamble's The Devil's Invisible Scissors qualifies. It's a great story for the beginning of an anthology; it orients us that there will be passion, wisecracks, a simultaneous touching upon the profane and infinite, and much lubricity. Cross-Town Incubus by E.R. Stewart has the same mix of modern mores and old school thrills.
Some stories, such as Anne Tourney's The Resurrection Rose, make themselves felt immediately: It's a lush tale of floral decadence on the order of Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter. Jess Wells' The Rookery, Patrice Suncircle's Master Sarah and Tsaurah Litzky's The Witch of Jerome Avenue are also stories that have echoes of tales told through the ages... except for the steam and the sweat they generate.
There are three stories I'll read again, for their beauty: The Resurrection Rose, Greg Boyd's Pandora's Other Box and Lay Me Out Softly by Francesca Lia Block. Their modern-day fairy tale slant is distinctive, adult and memorable, and their language, inventive. There's one story I'll have to ration like the aforementioned chocolate, from Allison Lawless.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Guilty Pleasure
The mini stories are interesting, mysterious and JUICY! Some better than others but over all always a fun book to go to in between my novels.
Published 6 days ago by Sydneymog
1.0 out of 5 stars
Wouldn't even give it one star
This was a literary compilation of crap. Many of the "Stories" were half-ended and seemed to be only a vehicle to write a bunch of (poorly done) hot, lurid sex... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Laura Stevens
1.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible!
Not at all whatI expected and I would recommend it to no one. I prefer different subject matter in my reading.
Published 1 month ago by Jeanne Baptiste
1.0 out of 5 stars
hated it
i did not like these short stories. they are strange and creepy. i regret that i wasted my time reading them.
Published 2 months ago by Tlbboonies
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Dark
This was an incredible find. If you're into MESSED up stories, this is the book for you.
I personally didn't find most of the stories as a turn-on but if anything it was... Read more
I personally didn't find most of the stories as a turn-on but if anything it was... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Silvy
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ups and downs
This book is a lovely way to get a taste of a bunch of different authors, but unfortunately for me, many pieces were not to my tastes
Published 3 months ago by Hilary Green
1.0 out of 5 stars
not a fan
I really was not impressed with this book at all . It wasnt appealing to me in anyway it took a while to get into it
Published 3 months ago by nicole tomlin
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bitten
Different, but I kept reading it. Some stories left thinking...what?. Not sure if I would read the next book if available.
Published 3 months ago by cleta jones
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring stories!
Not one story in this book was entertaining or exciting in any way..very poor collection of works! I never even finished the last story..lost interest.
Published 3 months ago by Tammy L. Prevatt
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a bunch of garbage!
I'm no prude but all these so-called erotic stories were badly written and the authors be ashamed of themselves for having them published; they should read classic love stories to... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Abby
