Herotica 6: A New Collection of Women's Erotica (Herotica (Down There Press))
The sixth anthology of erotic fiction edited by Sheiner continues the recent tradition of writing and evaluating pornography from a female perspectivewelcome reading to anyone who finds such an approach interesting or important. This time out, Sheiner has chosen to concentrate on partnerships, and in her introduction she explains that her concern was to provide an answer for the inevitable question: So how do women keep sex alive in committed relationships? All of the contributors are women, of course, but since a significant number are also lesbians, bisexuals, and sadomasochists, it should come as no surprise that many of the relationships portrayed herein are unusual. From Lesbian Bed Death (a comic medical diagnosis of a sexless gay marriage) to Three Note Harmony (mnage ... trois with a rock band) to Simple Gifts ( a wife buysand givesher husband a strap-on dildo for their anniversary), most of the entries are written in a tone lighthearted enough to save them from pomposity. A few others (such as Mourning the Peasant) plunge quickly into a deep pool of icy sobriety. There is basically something here for everyone, though, with one piece (The Adventure of Marriage) even offering a paean to (standard) matrimony.  --Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.