Customer Reviews

Fast Girls: Erotica for Women

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Erotica for women". That phrase usually causes me to pass a book by. I'm a guy through and through, and one stereotype on which I proudly stake claim is that my erotica has to be very visual and very descriptive! Would a book that states its "erotica for women" feed that need? In this case, YES. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! The stories in this collection are highly charged and they create that unmistakable `I'm getting horny' feeling. They're so good that you almost stop daydreaming about the stories, and start thinking about what it would be like to run into some of these writers!
`Temptation' is the perfect story to start off! I've always been of the mind that the best erotic stories are the ones where you can replace the characters in the story with yourself. In `Temptation'... I'd gladly trade my soul in this life AND the afterlife to be Miguel! Other stories that had me wishing I had Aladdin's lamp:

`Waxing Eloquent' - only in L.A. style loving.
`Winter, Summer' - sexy, shocking, with a surprise.
`Panther' - animalistic & sexy.
`Communal' - my second favorite story and if I could go back in time, I would live in a college dorm like this one.
`Flash' - title says it all.
`Confessions of a Kinky Shopaholic' - Sophie Kinsella eat your... ummm... heart out.
`Princess' - this story puts the "X" in taxi.
`Chasing Danger' - how far would you go to apprehend a criminal?
`Whore Complex' - OK Rachel... *whew*

Aside from writing goose bump causing erotica, Rachel can also pick the right stories to put in a book. I truly think you will be pleased with this current collection. If you aren't, check your pulse and call me. And one more thing... this is easily one of the sexiest covers I've seen in a while.

I found working my way through _Fast Girls_ a delectable experience for more reasons than one. Sure, I had my personal favorite stories. It is not unusual for a story by Donna George Storey to be one of my favorites in any given anthology, and "Waxing Eloquent," with its nuanced subtlety intertwined with an almost surreal-seeming fantasy--pulled off, to me, with unquestionable aplomb--was no exception. I found "Winter, Summer," by Tristan Taormino truly mesmerizing. Since I have historically felt no sexual interest in women, a story with F/F sex in it that I find the slightest bit hot (certainly I can and have appreciated such stories in a literary sense, just not usually felt turned on by them) is one I find extraordinarily impressive--and "Winter, Summer" was one. I laughed out loud several times as I read "Married Life," experiencing it as shining with what I've found to be author Charlotte Stein's trademark charm and subtle humor. "Playing the Market," "Flash!," and "Princess" all had me panting.

But it wasn't just the heat of the stories, which I did experience consistently, that I appreciated about this book. It seems to me that regardless of how one personally experiences each story in this anthology, the genuine encompassing of heart, body, and mind is evident in all of them. This is erotica exemplary of what it has the potential to be: conveying sex as transcendence, sex as understanding, sex as connection, sex as art. Even if a story doesn't happen to reflect one's particular erotic sensibilities, arousal is just one of the ingredients these works have to offer. Some of the stories that didn't so much press my erotic buttons, if you will, stayed with me in other ways, impressing upon me something else or something bigger the way writing has the potential to do. If I didn't find it arousing, I still found it extraordinary.

I highly recommend _Fast Girls_ as an anthology that showcases the quality and creativity that may currently be found in erotica.

Fast Girls is an erotic novel that's 198 pages long with twenty stories inside (Amazon's page count is incorrect.) The book focuses entirely on the theme of strong women getting exactly what they want. While the word "fast girls" is usually slang for a negative term about women, Rachel Kramer Bussel takes it back by focusing this entire book on women who are strong-willed and go after whatever they want - whether it be a man, a hot experience, or sex toys.

There are a couple of less interesting stories, but honestly, I'd say that's only two of the twenty, and the rest of the stories are erotic. There were at least seven or eight amazingly erotic and engaging stories as well, so I really can't complain too much about the two I didn't like. Of course, with any erotic anthology, you are bound to not like one or two. That's the price you have to pay by making the book appeal to large audiences.

One of my favorites was "Married Life" by Charlotte Stein. In this story, a woman who has a very large sex drive is driven insane by the fact that her husband only desires sex about once a month. When she finds that he's been writing erotic in her spare time, she's aroused, angry, and amazed by the topic that he's writing about. Later on that night, she indulges him in the fetishes she writes about, and a new sex life for the two of them is about to begin. The author did a great job describing the plot while still making it really erotic. It's a longer story, but the entire story is really captivating, and you what to find out what is going to happen.

So overall? A very sexy compilation that you should certainly pick up. The book is intended for women because all of the stories are told from a female point of view (or third person point of view), but honestly, I could easily see any guy getting off on any of the stories included in this collection.

Fast Girls is a collection of stories of women who know what they want and aren't afraid of taking it. Men are taught to embrace their sexuality while women are often taught to suppress theirs. This book turns that stereotype on its head, with tales of sexually realized and enlightened women ready to take their pleasure. From sex on the first date to shameless pleasure with long term partners, all the way to an experiment in prostitution, there is something that will appeal to any woman and plenty of stories to appeal to the 'fast woman' in each of us. Be prepared to read one-handed and reclaim your inner slut in the best possible way.

From a historical perspective, male-dominated cultures have attempted to regulate and even suppress female sexuality. In "Fast Girls: Erotica For Women" the tables are turned in twenty short stories written by superbly gifted writers and deftly compiled by editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. This impressive collection of stories features memorable women who defy social conventions while exploring the often hidden depths of their sexuality in a diversity of contexts that range from communal showers, to sex clubs, to the utilization of 'adult toys'. Racy, erotic, and altogether entertaining, "Fast Girls" is highly recommended reading -- but for adults only!

20 stories, all on a similar theme--but varied enough that you never feel you're reading a different version of the same thing. The writers have some very different voices.

The point of the theme, "Fast Girls," is to celebrate strong, sexual women, so it's no surprise that the stories were uplifting. They made me feel great about having great sex! I prefer my hot sex scenes to be wrapped in a strong plot, too, with a setting and a definite mood, and these stories delivered that for me. As the editor says in her intro, "I didn't just want to read about slut after slut after slut. I wanted to read about women who in some way defy the conventional norms...[not] being shocking for shock's sake but following their passions, seeking out what it is that they need to be truly pleasured. What I love about these fast girls is that even as they are daring and dynamic, they have a thing or two to learn about sex and themselves."

Some stories were sweet, and some very intense, some even humorous, but there's not a dud in the whole book. In spite of the strap line of "erotica for women," I'm sure men would like this too. (I even tried it out on a man, who agrees.) The stories are primarily, although not exclusively, heterosexual.

As a side note, I got the paperback version, and (as a booklover) I just have to say that it's a very handsome book. Good cover, high quality pages, even a pleasing font!

I'm not a woman (of any pace), but this book was so emphatically for me as well. Story after story, Fast Girls brings us the fierce but delicate pleasures of desire, adventure, urgency, epiphany, and satisfaction. In Jacqueline Applebee's piece, the tenderness and three-dimensional humanity of real people playing with stilted video conventions is as moving as it is hot. Saskia Walker's joyous "Communal" celebrates the feverish intensity of vicarious passion and the places beyond, with the sensuousness that always speaks so captivatingly in Walker's voice.

"Waiting for Beethoven" is a banquet for those of us who love to be seduced by the exquisite interplay between art, sex, and emotion. In this piece, Susie Hara has created a self-contained world as perfect as a sonata. "Flash!" by Andrea Dale takes us to a sweltering level of excitement, as a professional voyeur gets her turn in front of the camera. This tale, like all these tales, reminds us that the psychological factor is supreme.

Donna George Storey, for instance, knows that. Ever brilliant at turning a complex situation on its head, she elicits magic from cynicism in "Waxing Eloquent." And since it's magic words we want from our erotica, I will now utter some more: Tenille Brown. Rachel Kramer Bussel. Elizabeth Coldwell. D. L. King. Charlotte Stein. Kristina Wright. Read the table of contents--fast--and let yourself go. You're in good hands. So many pairs of good hands.

I always enjoy getting a RKB anthology for review. She has such a talent for picking engaging, well-conceived stories. In Fast Girls, there wasn't one story that didn't have some degree of 'turn on', even when it was a little surprising. I'm pretty open-minded, but the eroticism of "Panther" was a shock considering the focus of the story has never been part of my fantasy life. And I have to say the "Married Life" was a nice switch (hehehe) from the typical dom male story line that's so prevalent in a lot of erotica these days. Even still, Rachel's own "Whore Complex" is one of faves in this collection; a brilliant little vignette on the joys of being owned. Fast Girls is packed with tales... 20 in less than 200 pages. But whether a story is barely four pages or goes beyond 10, that action is fast, sometimes furious and always hot. These are great stories to read aloud in bed, too. ;)

So I'm fairly new to erotica, until my current boyfriend I was pretty innocent, so coming into the world of toys, porn, role playing is fairly new. I was a little unsure about how I'd feel about reading erotica. I was blown away. Each story is so engrossing, tantalizing, and satisfying. I found myself hoping that each story was true! Each story left me with something different: a new fantasy, a new appreciation for the women that wrote it, and a small sense of pride for being an individual with a healthy sexual appetite. Now I'm marking off chapters for my boyfriend to read and take notes ;)

I just read FAST GIRLS: EROTICA FOR WOMEN, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press). It's an excellent collection of short stories about strong, confident women in control of their sexuality and their fun.

Fast Girls are bold, free, confident and in full control of their lives and their beds. Fast Girls doesn't mean naughty or slutty...unless they want it to.

For my full review, check out [...].

--Maria