No Mercy: Short Stories
Not an introductory text for lesbian lifestyles, Pat Califia's latest collection of leathery erotica probably has a built-in readership among aficionados of the S/M underworld. Even those who don't share her kinks will find her among the most original and skillful writers in the field, with a flair for gender-bending scenarios and a particular talent for the one-line putdown--usually of demanding lovers who can't tell their riding crops from their cats-o'-nine-tails. In "Too Much Is Almost Enough," a submissive femme dubbed "Jasmine" by her lover Wolfe is encouraged to share her charms with Wolfe's friends in a sexual rite of passage. In "Incense for the Queen of Heaven," a young butch bottom finds solace in the oddly hairy arms of one of her rejecting lover's previous cast-offs. As usual, Califia also offers a taste of vanilla in "Frankie and Johnny," a '50s romance complete with poodle skirt and slick D.A.No Mercyoffers dark and graphic radical sex with a political subtext and a revealing afterword by Califia.--Regina Marler