Five-Minute Erotica [Paperback]

Carol Queen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2003 | Series: Five-Minute

Here's another entry in our wildly popular series of very short stories that can be enjoyed, start to finish, in less time than it takes to brew a cup of tea. This new anthology of pleasingly brief tales features contributions from some of the best writers of erotica today. While most of the stories feature heterosexual sex, Five-Minute Erotica also offers a good mix of fantasy situations, including lesbian encounters and ménages à trois.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carol Queen is a writer and educator with a doctorate in sexology. She is a former columnist for Playboy and the author of three previous books and editor of seven more, including Five Minute Erotica. She is an owner of Good Vibrations, a women-owned sex toy and book emporium, and she lives in San Francisco, California, where she also directs the center for sex and culture. Visit her at www.carolqueen.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (September 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762415606
• ISBN-13: 978-0762415601
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #646,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Erotica > Adult Fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quickies, November 2, 2007

By 

Sir Charles Panther "Life is hard. It's hard... (Alexandria, Virginny, USandA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Five-Minute Erotica (Paperback)

You always know where a smut story is going to end up; you just don't necessarily know the path it will take. So, when you're promised a story will get you there in five minutes, there is no time, no time whatsoever, for anything but moving directly to the wham-bam. So, don't expect too much in the way of character development, backstory, motivation or setting. There is no time for intrigue, seduction, or suspense, no time at all for denouement and deeply meaningful epilogue. You won't even get clothing descriptions, unless it's a reference to something that's being removed. What do you expect in five minutes, after all?

This book delivered completely.

It works, and works rather well. This stuff is short and sweet, and you know what you're getting up front. The book reads fast, and you can wolf this whole thing down in less than an hour if you really get into it. Some stories here were achingly predictable and equally trite, but there were no bad stories, no turn-offs, nothing unsavory or offensive. This is outstanding bedtime reading, whether you're having one or five.

Carol Queen's intro specifically says the stories are aimed at hetero women. I did not get that vibe from reading the stories. The author representation is 66% female. Interestingly, there are a number of stories by both male and female authors writing to the other gender's point of view; and they worked, for the most part.

You've got 35 stories in 121 pages. For the smut-nerds out there, that's 3.45714 pages per story, with the longest story coming in at a whopping five pages and the shortest being Cecilia Tan's unfortunately introductory, numbing, strangely non-erotic, one-sentence one-pager writing exercise on seduction. There's a short--of course--introduction from editor Carol Queen. And there are little author thumbnail bio's at the end, which are interesting reading themselves.

I don't really see this collection as an addition to your sex life, not unless you take these vignettes out for an emulatory spin. If so, I offer my heartiest approval and moral support. But, sitting in bed and reading these aloud; they just don't have the development and lushness of prose that would suit the charged reading of classic lyrical erotica. Save this for deSade, Pauline Reage, etc. Now, this collection as a personal warm-up to then attack your significant other? Yes, most definitely; I encourage this in all forms.

And what of the content? Overall, it was pretty straightforward, with just a little bit of accessible fringe. There were a couple of threesomes, both of which were well done, one of them replete with interesting grammatical construction and evocative vocab. There was one spanky story. But no BDSM, no water sports, leather, latex, farther-out fetish play or anything too far from the "normal" curve. There are a couple of lesbian and gay stories, for good measure, but the content is overwhelmingly hetero.

There are a couple of power-transfer-themed stories, including "Power Game" and "Captain, May I?" They're not bad, but relatively tame. There's even a delightfully naughty alien abduction entry, which I thought was quite enjoyable. There was a bit of the mainstream naughty romance novel in "The Fever." "The Magician's Assistant" was very good, a quick study in reflection, with no real contact or action at all, just a mature and confident woman musing on the possible and the likely; I particularly liked this one. I also very much enjoyed "Restaurant Opening," about a bored and under-appreciated wife who gives a delicious gift to another diner. Then there was "Subway," about a quick and anonymous encounter in a temporarily stopped and pitch-black subway car, also quite good.

But yes, there was disappointment, too. You know, despite this book's content and the fact that it's a paperback, this is no pulp book. But why does the presentation often strike me that way? There are paragraphs missing indentation, incorrect pronoun usage, verb tense inconsistency, inconsistent use of quotation marks, and more. My copy had over a dozen instances of dropped lines, the equivalent of a carriage return smack in the middle of a sentence.

Where is the editing? The "For You" story has slushpile lines like, "...my hands take your soft blouse apart" when it's clear "my hands open your soft blouse" is meant. Then comes the nonsensical "...the tension becomes voluptuous," and a passage talking about "...moving my wide-mouthed sucking lips..." I know what is being related here, but this is just awful. The "Under the Camel Light" story has a passage where the narrator says, "I straddled my legs..." What? The "Disco Nap" story notes an erogenous zone "...behind your kneecaps," when "behind your knees" was the clear intent. All together this is nothing but bad editing followed by bad technical editing and proofing. This is shoddy publishing; Running Press, give me a call, and we'll talk competent editing services.

Bottom line: This is a quick read, one story at a time, or the entire book in a single heady rush. There are no bad stories, and some decidedly more imaginative than others, all of which move more than quickly enough to seize and hold your attention. There are surprisingly frequent editorial mistakes throughout, but none of sufficient magnitude to detract from the varied and interesting erotic matter at hand.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short and Sweet Sex Stories, July 27, 2005

By 

Allison Hobbs, Author of Insatiable & Pandora... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five-Minute Erotica (Paperback)

Five-Minute Erotica is a book of 35 short stories. As are the stories, the cover is tasteful and quite sensual. I particularly enjoyed DEAR MARLA by Gretchen Christian, a story of a man whos sends an email to the love of his life, which graphically details the pleasure he derives in pleasuring her orally. Mmmm. Get the book and I'm sure you'll agree.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, January 14, 2007

By 

naturopathicnd (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Five-Minute Erotica (Paperback)

This is good, it isn't overly racy...it is a little conservative and on the tame side, but also very polished and sophisticated.

I think that experienced readers of erotic romance novels would not be satisfied with this collection as the stories are three to four pages each and therefore don't build to a suspenseful crescendo. For readers searching for a tasteful introduction to erotica, this has some beautiful work and there is something for everyone and every age between it's pages.