Catching Up: Lesbian Lust

Lesbian Lust (Cleis Press) is my most recently published anthology, but that doesn't mean I'm all caught up. In April 2011 Lesbian Cops: Erotic Investigations (Cleis Press) will be coming along, and I'll be giving you some tasty tidbits when the time is right, but for now you'll have to make do with the mesmerizing cover image, and with the TOC and introduction for Lesbian Lust, below:


Contents
The Girl with the Bettie Page Bangs Sommer Marsden
Reunion at St. Mary’s Catherine Lundoff
A Midwinter Night’s Dream Fran Walker
Swollen Rachel Kramer Bussel
Camshaft Cutie Crystal Barela
August Crazies Miel Rose
Lovers’ Moon Ren Peters
The Office Grind R. G. Emanuelle
Not Afraid to Get Her Hands Dirty Teresa Noelle Roberts
Never Too Old DeJay
Lost and Found Andrea Dale
Canvas Kenzie Mayer
The Angel Connection C. B. Potts
A Story about Sarah Cheyenne Blue
The Weekend Delilah Devlin
Love and Devotion Jove Belle
Are You Gonna Be My Girl? Jade Melisande
Danger Sacchi Green


Introduction

Lust: it’s the engine that drives us wild on the way to getting us off, and lesbian lust is the heart, soul, and red-hot core of this anthology. Within this shared journey each of these eighteen writers takes us for a vividly different ride on the way to intense, fulfilling lesbian sex. In some of the stories, we claim our right to lightning-strike, no-strings, purely physical sex; in some, the emotional complexity and depth stir us as profoundly as the physicality; in some, erotic fantasies are played out in ways that tease the mind as well as the body; and a few defy any description or classification except that of superheated originality.
For me, the pleasure of reading and selecting these stories has been close to lust itself. Familiar, well-known voices whose very names bring on a tingle have outdone themselves, and newer writers with unexpected styles and perspectives have given me an erotic jolt of lust at first sight. There are stories here that push a wide range of buttons in just the way I like them pushed, along with innovative work that comes close to nudging even my own boundaries to the limit. Variety is also the spice of lust.
Within all that variety, there are some groups of stories with similar themes, but different presentations: sex and cars, for example. Fran Walker’s “A Midwinter Night’s Dream” is both surreal and gritty; Crystal Barela’s “Camshaft Cutie” is desert hot and humorous, and C. B. Potts’s “The Angel Connection” takes age and power differentials and turns them upside down in an all-girl repair shop. Taking the car motif in another direction, Ren Peters involves two longtime lovers in a threesome with a classic Porsche Boxster under a “Lovers’ Moon.”
Established couples are also at the center of DeJay’s “Never Too Old,” blending humor with true intimacy in a Provincetown sex toy store setting, and Cheyenne Blue’s “A Story about Sarah,” an atmospheric, poetic account of interracial lovers in the Australian Outback. In a very different vein, the partner of Catherine Lundoff’s protagonist in “Reunion at St. Mary’s” arranges to fulfill her schoolgirl fantasy with the former members of the girls’ hockey team. Other couples who know each other well but are still working out the nature of their relationships—with the help of plenty of sex—appear in Delilah Devlin’s “The Weekend” and Jade Melisande’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” In my own contribution, “Danger,” another couple’s chance encounter at a turning point in history brings back traumatic memories of their first meeting in the chaos of war.
Youth and maturity strike sparks in Sommer Marsden’s smooth and sassy “The Girl with the Betty Page Bangs” and Jove Bell’s “Love and Devotion,” with its Southern-noir atmosphere. The lush tropical settings of Rachel Kramer Bussel’s “Swollen” and Andrea Dale’s “Lost and Found” enhance the sensuality of their encounters, while Teresa Noelle Roberts’s “Not Afraid to Get Her hands Dirty” is no less sexy for being literally down-to-earth, and R. G. Emanuelle’s “The Office Grind” shows more action going on under the desk than above it.
Two of the most gripping stories push the edge in very different ways. In “August Crazies,” Miel Rose shows the BDSM world of power exchange with scorching detail, while illuminating the underlying complexities and vulnerabilities with tenderness and no less heat. Kenzie Mayer’s “Canvas” paints a darker picture, where sexual drive blends with artistic obsession until they become indistinguishable.
I’m asked sometimes to name favorite stories from the books I edit, but isn’t that like choosing between chocolate and champagne or apples and pomegranates? Lust comes in many flavors, all of them intense. In these eighteen stories you’ll find sweet sex, bittersweet sex, salty and sweaty sex, creamy-smooth sex and sex with crunch to it. Go ahead, take a bite and then another and another; I hope you’ll savor them all as much as I do.