Winter: the season when sensuality goes full-on cozy in defiance of the cold. What could be more luxurious than curling up in a pile of pillows with a hot drink and a hotter read? If you’re looking for something as steamy and sweet as hot chocolate, we’ve got just the thing– the newly-released Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Vol. 5.
Curated and edited by award-winning erotica author and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, it’s published by Cleis Press, the largest independent sexuality publisher in the U.S. This edition serves up 21 sizzling tales that explore many areas of women’s desire and sexuality– including queer and nonbinary sex, kink, fantastical encounters, sex work, married sex, and spontaneous hookups.
With the easy access to porn and erotica offered by the internet, it’s easy to forget that creating, curating, and purchasing erotic media by women, for women is still a radical act. Women’s sexuality is ignored, shamed, and packaged for the male gaze in our culture, and it’s still a challenge for women simply to embrace their right to their own fantasies and desires, let alone to shape the form they take. And it’s an even more radical act to take time out from the demands of others to enjoy time to ourselves, indulging in something that’s just for us. It’s cause for celebrating that this series exists, thrives, and pays women authors.
A collection like this, that strives for diversity of voices and experiences, means that not every story will necessarily be arousing to you– but that’s okay. Every one of the pieces in this collection is vivid and imaginative, presenting a glimpse into a complete world and a unique woman’s perspective. Some of them will become your go-to favorites for getting turned on or reading aloud to a partner, but consider the rest of them an invitation to look inside someone else’s desire, into a scene or a sexuality outside your own.
It’s fascinating to see other sexual mores and lust languages, and to understand how other women love and make love and plain old screw. The authors included are sex workers, educators, performers, adult film stars, novelists. They live around the world and represent different sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, ethnicities. The settings of the stories range from a dusty basement to a sleek sex club to 17th century ship to a silk aerialist’s sling high above the ground.
Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel
There are some standouts in the collection that are especially well-written and striking in their premise or the lushness of their prose. “One Last Gang Bang” by adult film star and producer Joanna Angel is a memoir taken from her own experiences and describing with unbridled joy and enthusiasm the on-screen gang bang she arranges and controls to celebrate her 37th birthday. The book’s closer, “Spin” by Lauren Emily, is an exhibitionist lesbian duet that literally elevates the queer sex at its center, and gives an aerialist performer’s experienced view of the world of the circus arts.
Loretta Black’s “If the Ocean” conjures up a magical-realism-flavored fantasy tale of a young woman’s encounter with a mermaid that’s notable for its queerness, flipping of gender expectations, and ideas of what a real-life mermaid would actually be like (hint: it’s not Ariel). “After Midnight” by Balli Kaur Jaswal explores the often-tedious realities of being a phone sex operator in India, and imagines what would happen if one of them took it as an opportunity to set the terms of her own sexual fulfillment. And anyone who’s exhausted by this administration and fantasizes about a woman in power will get wonky for “At the Pleasure of the President” by Sabrina Sol.
Fans of short-form erotica will love the variety of stories and writing styles, and those who aren’t used to literary sex will get a delightful, decadent introduction into the art form. Written erotica is often a more comfortable point of entry for women who are shy or unsure about seeking out explicit art that caters to their pleasures, and this collection is a perfect gift for any bookworm who wants to heat up her shelves.
Best Women’s Erotica of the Year Vol. 5 is a steamy and multifaceted addition to the world of women’s erotic literature, and one that’s sure to make you want to cancel your plans and go to bed early– with 21 women to ensure your sweet dreams.
