https://www.amazon.com/Best-Lesbian-Erotica-Year-3/dp/1627782869/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543190819&sr=2
This is really more of a prelude to the tour, which will include posts by each contributor to the anthology. Some will post on their own web sites, while some will send me their posts to include here. There will be story-behind-the-story tales, steamy excerpts, and possibly some surprises. The schedule and links are listed way down below, although I don’t have all the final links yet, so checking back is advised.
Notice: Any commenters on any of these blog posts will be entered into a drawing for a free ebook copy of this anthology.
I edited this anthology, which is in fact the twenty-third in the iconic Best Lesbian Erotica series from Cleis Press, so of course I didn’t choose a story of my own for it. What I can offer instead is my introduction, to give you some idea of what you’ll find inside the book.
Introduction:
We open a book hoping to be taken somewhere—to faraway places, into the lives and inner thoughts of intriguing characters, into times past or even unexplored depths of ourselves. If the book is classed as erotica, we also expect to be intensely stirred both sensually and emotionally. The beauty of an anthology is that we can be taken in multiple directions, and meet an assortment of characters with a wide range of viewpoints.
The drawback is that with short stories we often wish for more time with these characters, these sensations, these adventures. But writers with a special gift for short fiction can still draw us deeply into the brief length of their work, with multidimensional characters, vivid settings, intriguing story arcs, and, of course, sex as intrinsic to the story as any setting.
I’ve been lucky enough in two previous volumes of this series to be the editor who gets to read the flood of submissions and decide which of the best, in my opinion, should be included. I could never fit all of the very best into the limited space of a single anthology, so I try for a balance, and as wide a variety of themes and styles as
possible, especially those I haven’t seen before. Originality is high on my wish list.
Here are some hints as to where the stories I chose will take you, and what you may find there. Could there be a better start than the fantasy-fulfillment story, “Jinjutsu,” set on a plane high above the Pacific en route from Tokyo to Honolulu? And what could feel more real than longtime lovers waking in the “Morning Fog” of San Francisco? How about touring the South of France in “Perfume,” or a massage in a Moroccan public bath in “Fuck Me Like a Canadian,” or a cabin “Where There’s Smoke” in the snowy North Country, or the surveillance area above the ceiling of a
Las Vegas casino where “Oliver: Twisted” begins?
New York City figures in at least three stories, playing different roles. In “The Auction,” the city is an artsy background for socialite fundraisers. In “Trying Submission,” it’s an upscale background for a decidedly non-upscale character. And the Harlem of 1931 in “Sweet of My Heart” is the home of a Peace Mission’s free meals where even a dance hall girl could be fed.
While most of the stories have contemporary settings, two more are set, at least partially, in the past. If you’re old enough to have been swept up in the rock and blues bands frenzy of the ’60s and ’70s, you may catch the significance of September, 1970, and even if you aren’t that old, you’ll find out in “Jani-Lyn’s Dragon.” And in “Still Marching,” old friends who met and parted twenty-five years ago at a march for abortion rights in Washington DC bump into each other at a present-day march in Philadelphia.
There are various themes included in the anthology. I had quite a few submissions featuring coffeehouse encounters, but “Husher” is the one I chose for its deft and evocative style. There were also several submissions involving cancer, something I hadn’t seen before, and others referring to trauma from past abuse; I went with “Fearless,” which included both, along with a beautifully uplifting conclusion. Of the several stories I received featuring differently abled or neuro-atypical characters, I settled on “Trying Submission,” with a vulnerable character who lingers vividly in
my mind.
On another tack, “The Night Shift” proves to be just the right time for accidental phone sex. Then the familiar professor/former student theme of “Rules” travels in unexpected directions and gets as steamily entertaining as they come, while the queer bookstore in “Rainbow’s End” provides an ideal place for a hesitant would-be writer to find just what she hardly dared hope for. And in the beautifully balanced “Yin and Yang,” a contemporary ballet dancer and her lighting-technician lover make the perfect team, while the writing, alternating between lyrical and straightforward, makes the perfect presentation of their story.
Yes, all of these stories include hot, intense sex, in its many-splendored manifestations. I’ll leave you to discover those, scene by scene. A word of caution: you may not get jet lag from this journey, but a suitable recovery period between stories is highly recommended. Trust me.
So, are you ready to take your own journey through these blog posts, and potentially through the seventeen stories?
Schedule of Blog Posts:
December 1
Sacchi Green
Introduction
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 2
Pascal Scott
The Night Shift
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 3
R. D. Miller
Perfume
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 4
T.C. Mill
Fearless
http://tc-mill.com/2018/12/04/on-loss-and-anger-and-being-unafraid-fearless-in-best-lesbian-erotica-vol-3/
December 5
Victoria Janssen
Still Marching
http://victoriajanssen.com/2018/12/still-marching-a-tale-of-our-times/
Anna Watson
Sweet of My Heart
December 6
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 7
R.G. Emanuelle
The Auction
http://rgemanuelle.com/2018/12/07/the-auction
December 8
Scout Rhodes
Morning Fog
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 9
Emily L. Byrne
Rainbow’s End
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 10
Mags Hayward
Yin and Yang
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
Valerie Alexander
Ninjutsu
December 11
valeriealexander.org
December 12
Xan West
Trying Submission
https://xanwest.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/the-alchemy-of-d-s
December 13
M. Birds
Where There’s Smoke
www.mbirds.ca/journal
December 14
Raven Sky
Fuck Me Like a Canadian
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 15
Sommer Marsden
Hushed
December 16
Lea Daley
Rules
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 17
Nan Barret
Oliver: Twisted
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
December 18
Nat Burns
Jani-Lyn’s Dragon
sacchi-green.blogspot.com
Sacchi, I'm testing the comments. Folks are having difficulty leaving them, is what I've been told.
ReplyDeleteThis was using the Name/URL option
DeleteI've heard that too, but your test came through.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think it must need a google account. Drat. One of the Dirt Road Books owners (where they're going to publish a collection of my own work) has been building a real web site for me, but the platform she tried first is too expensive, so she's looking into doing it with google. That will probably have the same problem.
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