Leathermen: Gay Erotic Stories [Paperback]

Simon Sheppard (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008

Leathermen illuminates the kinky subculture of men who wear leather and the men who crave them. These intelligent, well-crafted, and steamy stories expand readers’ horizons and stretch the limits of imagination with some of the edgiest erotica being written today. Tales of delectably sordid adventures in sex clubs, back-room bars, and bathhouses, as well as private sex parties and first-time forays into the world of leather, take readers on a hot and heavy journey through this definitely un-hidebound world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Simon Sheppard is a noted author and erotica writer whose works include Hotter Than Hell, Rough Stuff, In Deep, and Homosex: Sixty Years of Gay Erotica. His short stories are also featured in Hot Cops, Truckers, Cowboys, and Best Gay Erotica 2008, to name a few. He currently resides in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Cleis Press (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573443220
• ISBN-13: 978-1573443227
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,588,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good combination of literature and BDSM erotica, October 10, 2009

By 

Brooklyner (NYC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leathermen: Gay Erotic Stories (Paperback)

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer (groomRN): to me, this collection offers a reasonably good combination of literature and eroticism. If you're looking for "sex-sex-sex" type of stories, with little character development, then this is not the book for you. Almost all the stories are quite well-written, and a number were also really hot. I didn't find anything depressing or sad about these stories either; if anything, they just felt real and not "over the top", and quite a few (even the two stories with the main character being HIV-positive) were full of hope. No overly hardcore BDSM sex scenes, mostly fairly reasonable, and more or less realistic. Not too "softcore", however: if you like BDSM stories, this should have enough to satisfy most.

My favorites include:
1) The best story, in my opinion, was Thom Wolf's "Community Punishment: The Story of a British Rent Pig". Quite brilliant story-telling, and incredibly hot. A probation officer has to deal with a young, 16-year-old arrogant delinquent. He feels quite attracted to the youth, but cannot allow anything to happen. The time passes, and 3 years later, he finds out that the youth became a bottom /masochist hustler. They meet again, and this time, the cop chooses to follow his "impulse"... Some fairly hardcore (at least, psychologically) and involving BDSM scenes and overall a thrilling story. I just wish it were much longer, a novel with such plot and intriguing character interaction would be great.

2) "The Village Person" by Simon Sheppard: an HIV-positive patient experiences a great "charity" safe sex while being very sick in hospital, with someone dressed in leather. Unexpectedly, he recovers, and becomes an active (and safe) SM player. At some "leather party", he meets someone who looks just like his "savior", from that hospital scene...

3) "Bootlegger" by Thomas Roche. A very short but very hot story, with intense BDSM flogging scene: a male prostitute decides to work on a wrong /someone's else territory...

4) "Sharkskin" by Colin Penpark. A weird story about a model/actor with a huge fetish for men with acne... Some comedic elements, but still quite erotic in certain places.

My favorites are very subjective, but I believe that most BDSM gay erotica readers would find at least a few good stories in this book. The only serious drawback of almost all stories in this collection is that they're so painfully short. Character development and plot is often there, but the stories frequently stop just when it gets really interesting. There are 17 stories here, all jammed in just about 200 pages. But it also shows that quite a few contributing authors are really talented: it's hard to write an involving erotic story, in just a few pages, but they managed to do that. Recommended to all those who like m/m BDSM with some character development and realistic feel to it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More literature than eroticisim, February 23, 2009

By 

groomRN "Erik" (Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leathermen: Gay Erotic Stories (Paperback)

If you're buying this book purely for the erotic value, you might be a little disappointed; I was. The stories tend to be strange, like the authors are trying too hard to impress the reader.

Some of the stories are indeed erotic, but not enough for me to enjoy this book. Instead, I left many of the stories feeling depressed and decidedly unaroused.