I’ve been devouring the enormous pile of books I received for Christmas this year lately, so I haven’t picked up an erotica in a while. When I got a copy of Best Lesbian Romance 2011 from my friends at Cleis Press, I figured it was time to put down the Heinlein and pick up some smut!

Of course, from the title, you can probably guess that the seventeen stories the legendary Radclyffe picked out aren’t wall to wall sex, but there’s definitely some steamy action mixed in! It’s a great collection to read with a cup of tea or the girl who still makes your belly flip-flop after a decade together.

Charlotte Dare’s Rebound was by far my favorite story. Who can resist the story of two middle-aged woman meeting at bingo and fucking their brains out?? I guess the bingo part doesn’t sound that hot, but I loved this quick story about two women finding both love and lust a little later in life!

Dirty Laundry by Cheyenne Blue is also worth a mention. While it’s not one to read if you’re looking for something on the sexy side, it is a well-written story that takes place in an Irish convent and tells the story of two women forced to stay there who fall in love. I had no idea about this dark piece of Irish history and am grateful to Blue for introducing me to it.

Overall, this is a fantastic collection that reminded me how lucky I am. I’ve actually dog-earred a couple of stories in hopes that my girl and I will read them together at some point. This isn’t an erotica collection, although there are a lot of erotic elements to most of the stories. I mean, uncontrollable lust is one of the best parts of falling in love! This would be a good read for two women to share with Valentine’s Day right around the corner.

A few months back, I got a chance to review Erotic Bible to Europe, an interactive website featuring a detailed map of every sex toy shop, swinger party, lingerie store and more, that Europe has to offer.  Of course I was blow away by not only the brilliance of the idea, but the flawless execution.  But then again, the project was created by the fabulous Erika Lust, porn director extraordinaire, so honestly, I’m not surprised.  And now this awesome guide to everything frisky on the other side of the pond comes in book form as well!

Organized by region and country, this hot pink hardback is the book to get if you find yourself en route to anywhere in Europe – from Benelux to the U.K.  Each of the nearly 250 pages is filled with beautiful artwork and detailed accounts of what every shop has to offer, as well as pages dedicated to erotic museums, film festivals, and even one on how to translate a few super sexy phrases into 4 different languages.  Tres chic!

While this book is seriously classy and a total must buy for any Europe-bound bon voyage gift, I do have one frustration with it.  Unlike it’s internet counterpart, this bible is destined to become dated before folks even take it off the shelf.  Stores open up and close down all the time, making the carefully collected information null, which is a total downer if you’ve gotten excited about a place that no longer exists, or miss one that does.  I suppose that’s why it makes sense to have both the book and the site work together to make sure the selection stays as current as possible.  Another website plus is the database that allows users to add their favorite erotic establishments, creating an all-encompassing list that includes a variety of options.

Whether you go for the site or the book, this dirty bible is a must-have for travelers and Europeans alike!

Arsenal Pulp’s Hot & Bothered 4 is not a new book. Hell, it’s nearly eight years old at this point, but good writing is timeless and I love this collection of short tales of lesbian love and lust.

One thing I really appreciated about this book is that it took me back a few years to a time when I was just out of college and had few concerns outside of meeting girls & drinking beer. Carol Queen (<3 her!) opens the book with She’s Not A Lesbian – a story that didn’t really turn me on as much as it made me remember the days before Ellen was out. It hasn’t been that long, but much has changed my younger friends! Anyways, while Queen surely has the ability to put together a few words that’ll make you weak in the knees, I was more impressed with her ability to capture the passions of a relationship where one woman, to quote Kate Clinton, “can't say the word lesbian… even when her mouth is full of one.”

I also loved Joy Parks’ Little Black Dress and think all of my femme friends will love the way our heroine uses her lady ways to get exactly what she wants! Another notable tale is Tanya Davis’ Best Bandanna. While I was expecting a kinkier story, because that’s where my mind goes when I think of bandannas, it turned out to be a great story of first love at a summer camp that I’m guessing a ton of homos relate to. I know I do.

With over 65 stories that are no longer than a 1,000 words, you’ll find plenty of great reads in this collection that was edited by Karen X. Tulchinsky. There’s a good mix of sexy and cute stuff and if you love a quickie, it’s a fantastic addition to your bookshelves. I also love all of the cultural references, even those that are a bit dated, and in a silly sort of way this is a little piece of lesbian history for me.

Add Hot & Bothered 4 to your library today!

Two of my favorite things in the whole wide world are beautiful women and the great outdoors, so I kind of feel like Emma Delves-Broughton’s Kinky Nature was made just for me. It’s packed full of gorgeous girls decked out in their rubber and heels and will have the biggest couch potato lacing on their hiking boots and heading into the woods in hope of catching just one glimpse of these sexy nymphs!

While I loved all of the bare bodies on display, my favorite images were those where the girls were extra kinky. There’s just something about a pale beauty decked from head to toe in black latex with a pair of impossible heels juxtaposed against the gorgeous green of a forest floor… You also won’t catch me complaining about flipping through pages of girls bound to trees.

Cover girl Ulorin Vex makes a number of appearances throughout the book and I have to say I’m pretty smitten with this girl. I’m embarrassed to admit I had no clue who she was, but people who follow fetish modeling a little more closely will likely recognize her. I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for this lady in the future.

Delves-Broughton does an amazing job of capturing a dream world full of stunning women in this Goliath book. If you’re the type of girl who loves to leave scandalous books out for guests, this would be a great buy for your coffee table, especially for $25 bucks.

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down with an erotica collection, so when I received Please, Ma’am in the mail I decided to make some time for myself and dig in! This Cleis Press book was edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and I always love the results when this lovely lady is involved. I’m always pleased with the wide variety of taboo subjects she manages to work into one sexy book!

This book contains eighteen stories of male submission including D.L King, Graydancer and Bussel herself. Things start off excellently in Teresa Noelle Roberts’ I Live to Serve. This was my first time reading about anyone wearing a chastity device and I have to say it was surprisingly hot. The two main characters have a really loving D/s relationship and we get to see it played out over a dinner party as the sub serves his lady and her colleagues.

I also loved Sommer Marsden’s Thrift Store Whore for it’s bratty punk feel. After picking out the ugliest dresses she can find, Gia leads Bean back to the dressing room for a little gender play and a lot of XXX action. The fact that everyone knows what’s going on only makes it hotter for them. This story really stood out because it had a different feel that a lot of the others. A lot of male submission pieces tend to feature men who dress in suits and attend power lunches, so it was nice to hear about the kind of guy I would have run around with in my early twenties.

While I’ve only talked about a couple of stories, Please Ma’am is packed full of tales that will have your heart and mind racing. I also suggest imagining the gorgeous leather clad lady from the cover in story after story. Boy would I love to run into her in a dark alley!

Tristan Taormino wasn’t kidding when she named her latest book “The Big Book of Sex Toys!” The book is huge! Well, not huge as in you can barely carry it to your coffee table, but massively packed full of more knowledge than you can shake a dildo at (and don’t worry, you’ll learn exactly how to shake it just right).

While this beautiful hardback book with tasteful, full-color images and easy to navigate organization gets 10 points for being stylish, smart and sexy, that’s really just the surface. To sum it up – this book is a book about sex toys that is so much more than a book about sex toys.

From the first page, Taormino’s relaxed writing and wit take the taboo out of the topic and lets the reader really explore sex toys from the ground up – starting with breaking stereotypes and (my personal favorite) a quick brush up on genital anatomy. I love that Tristan (sex writer/educator extraordinaire) makes sure to work from a solid foundation before moving on to materials and toy types. I mean really, you don’t want to be explaining clitoral vibes to someone who has no clue where their clit is…

When Taormino gets into the heart of the book – going over each type of sex toy out there – is where her real work begins. Along with the types of toys, she makes sure to explain how to incorporate each type into partnered sex – completely with specific position instructions. You don’t get more thorough than that without her coming into your house! And each type of toy has suggestions on what actual toy to get, along with a rough price estimate.

More beginners’ guide than expert manual, this book goes from the basics of dildos, vibes and anal toys to light bondage, sex furniture and swings, hitting everything in between with vibrant pictures and easy to understand explanations.

As much as I really enjoy and recommend this how-to handbook, there are a few downsides that were a little difficult for me to miss. The biggest one for me is that the entire book seems to be hetero-normative. I’m not sure I saw even one mention about sex that wasn’t between a man and a woman. While I definitely get that it was probably written primarily for an audience that has type of sex, as a queer chick, I found myself having to extract the information and modify it to work for the ways that I have sex, which was a little frustrating at times.

Secondly, though I really appreciate that Taormino offered specific toys to buy and named them by name, I wonder if that is going to date the book. Will it still feel current five years from now? I can honestly say I’m not sure. The information is all accurate, yet the latest toy inventions and developments won’t be there. I’m not even sure if that matters, but it seemed a worthwhile concern to put out there.

Overall, this is an easy-to-read gem that’s classy enough for coffee tables and still sexy enough to bring into the bedroom.  It’s a must have for anyone that wants to explore the wonderful world of sex toys.

Get your read on!

It’s banned book week and I thought I’d celebrate with a list of my five favorite smut collections! If you’re a big fan of the first amendment, I suggest you check out my list and then check out the ALA website to learn more about the ridiculous books that are challenged in our public libraries year after year.

With A Rough Tongue: This is my favorite collection of erotica of all time. The stories challenge gender and lesbian sexuality in a way that’s totally engaging and super duper sexy. Plus, it’s from Canada – and you know I love me some Canada.

X – The Erotic Treasury: If you’re looking for a gift for your favorite perv, you can’t go wrong with this gorgeous collection edited by the amazing Susie Bight, it even comes with a protective slip case. Besides looking great, it includes stories by some of my favorite authors including Carol Queen and Bright herself.

I is for Indecent: I’ve enjoyed each of the Erotic Alphabet collections that I’ve read, but this one really stands out for me because I found it really challenging. There were things in here that really pushed the boundaries for me and I loved it. Not every story did it for me, but as promised, this one will offend and titillate. Not a bad combination in my opinion.

Homosex: This Simon Sheppard collection is packed full of hot gay erotica and I think that’s great. However, what makes this one of my favorites is the fact that Sheppard has managed to tell a history of gay men in America through these sexy stories.

Burning AngelHow could I make this list without including this amazing photo collection of the Burning Angel girls. There are no annoying words to get in the way of your enjoyment, just 365 pages of tattooed girls. Joanna Angel and the crew are fantastic eye candy and fans should really own this book.

Learn more about Banned Book Week over at the ALA website.
-The Porn Librarian

Picture via The Chicago Queer Books Meetup

While The Porn Librarian may be the obvious pick when it comes to readers here are HMFH, all of us smut peddlin’ gals are actually avid readers.

I learned about masturbation from a Betty Dodson book. When I was younger, I found it in my house and just had to see what exactly “the joy of self love” was. Life pretty much changed after that.

But who learns about jerkin’ off from reading a book?! Bookworms, that’s who! People that immerse themselves in page upon page of words – be they narrative, non-fiction or just plain nuts. Books have always had an effect on me. Whether it was finding out info I didn’t know, or just escaping to a different life, I really relied on books to get me where I needed to go. Hell, I still do.

This morning when I saw Sinclair Sexsmith’s awesome post on Carnal Nation about how queer books saved his life, I just knew I had to write about how queer books have affected my own life and which ones have a particular place in my heart.

While I will readily admit that I had a very easy coming out experience compared to some of the nightmares I’ve been told, I think most people that come out as queer are looking for allies and safe spaces where they can be themselves with no disapproving stares or fear. And I think that sometimes it feels safer to find that in a story than in the real world, especially if you are without support.

I would be remise to start my list with any book other than Leslie Feinberg’s “Stone Butch Blues” – a fictional memoir that chronicles the life of Jess Goldberg, from confused child, to butch, to trans man and everything in between. I may not have identified with Jess’ gender identity questions, but hir honest, raw emotion and determination to be true to hirself kept me glued to the book. Really, it was the first look I had at trans/gender-queer identity other than the friend that originally lent me the book.

I was so connected to “Stone Butch Blues” that I wrote my undergrad thesis for Women’s Studies on it – Any Way You Want It, That’s The Way You Need It: Gender Identity and the Journey Home in Leslie Feinberg’s ‘Stone Butch Blues.’ That’s right… I quoted Journey in the title. FTW! While I knew I wasn’t the only one that was affected so profoundly by this book, when I told The Porn Librarian about this blog post early today, she asked me to mention “Stone Butch Blues” as topping her list. Great perverts think alike.

Back when I was in college, I shared a little sublet with a bunch of folks that had friends coming in and out of it all the time. My next absolute favorite queer book was left behind by a roommate’s friend that I was sleeping with at the time. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe she had just bought the book and accidently left it at the house; and I, of course didn’t end up reading it till years later, though it really would have been the perfect book to read at that time. I’m talking about Michelle Tea’s “Valencia” – a dykey memoir of Tea’s first few years living in San Francisco.

Chock full of raunchy sex, whirlwind queer romances and lots of angst and drama, “Valencia” quickly spurred a longtime love for Michelle Tea, as well as a longing for a romantized version of queer urban life that I can more or less say that I eventually grew into at some point. Reading”Valencia” made me feel like it was ok to write self indulgent, dirty stories that ended with girls fucking in the bathroom at the bar. And I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s all I ask of a book.

About a million queer books have influenced my homo development over the years, but as I don’t want to write a novel myself, so I’ll just give them little shouts out now that I’ve swooned over my top two favies. To start, I was never really one to love classics. I’ve never read anything by Jeanette Winterson and only one book by Rita Mae Brown, but I do have a total soft spot in my heart for anything young adult – especially young adult coming out books. I love em! Over the years I seem to have amassed myself a little collection which includes radical queer baby dyke manifestos like “Sister Safety Pin” and “Punk Like Me” in it, as well as standards such as “Annie On My Mind.” And we can’t forget about comics by Ariel Schrag, about her high school experience and falling in love with girls all over the place. I really wish I read then when I was in school myself. Sigh. All of these books have created the person that I am today and each and every one of them has a catalogued space in my brain.

Sinclair Sexsmith said in best at the end of his essay:

I have queer books to thank for that, for teaching me my story could and should be told, that my desires are worth the fight and the struggle and the work, that there are people like me out there, and that we make beautiful, beautiful sense of our complicated worlds.

So, thank you books, not necessarily for saving my life, but for definitely making it more interesting.

xoxo
-J.D. Bauchery

It’s been a while since my last book review, but I actually have a reason besides laziness this time. Today, I am reviewing not one, but two erotica comps from Cleis Press. A couple of months ago, they released Girl Crazy and Boy Crazy – two collections of coming out erotica that tell of first time gay encounters. It only makes sense to discuss them both now.

First up, because I’m a girl who loves girls, I’ll begin by tackling Sacchi Green’s Girl Crazy. Let me just say that I was surprised by the variety of tales told in this one. I was expecting a bunch of cute and relatively innocent stories about BFFFs (Best Friends Finally Fucking). While there were a number of them, and they were pretty good in general, I was glad not to read 17 consecutively.

Stories like Maggie Cee’s Femme Into Me, the tale of a budding (and kinky) Butch/Femme relationship that repeats the line “She Fucked The Femme Into Me” over and over again, were not what I was I was expecting. I found myself pleased and turned on as I poured over the pages.

If you’re looking to relive those innocent days when you found yourself wondering what your best friend’s hand on your knee really meant, the first story is super cute. Sommer Marsden tells the story of two friends who give in to their desires one hot summer day in Spitting Seeds.

If you’d rather read about boys, you’ll definitely love Richard Labone’s Boy Crazy. This collection of firsts has the same feel as Green’s, but with more testosterone.

My favorite story is The Viking by Ron Wolfsham. It’s the story of a young twink who finds himself at a frat party and ends up spending the night with a football player he’s dubbed “The Viking” due to his red hair and massiveness. It was super hot, but I also loved it because the Viking turns out to be a good guy who happens to love cock and football. It’s nice to see this story play out like a fairytale and I have no problem admitting that!

Overall, both books are a lot of fun. I love the mix of cute coming out stories and tales of torrid first sexual encounters and recommend either, depending on your personal tastes.

Add Girl Crazy or Boy Crazy to your library today. I’ve got both!

Summertime is all about cashing out on your stored up vacation days and hitting the road in search of sun, fun and perfect weather. And what better to get you ready for your trip than “Do Not Disturb,” Rachel Kramer Bussel’s anthology of hotel sex stories. There is just something about a freshly made hotel room that begs to have its sheets tossed on the floor in a fit of passion and its sign hung on the doorknob.

Whether it’s the escape from real life or just the excitement of getting busy in a completely new and different place, hotel sex really is the best. Sure it means you get to take a shower together then toss your wet towels on the floor with abandon, but more so, it means you get to really work those imagination muscles and be whoever you want to be without having the fantasy wrecked by that pile of dirty laundry in the corner, or that bathroom that really needs to be cleaned. These twenty stories of getting hot away from home bring the thrill of those crisply made beds and mini shampoo bottles to your biggest sex organ (your brain, of course) and will easily have you thinking of taking planes, trains and automobiles just to get away and get it on.

From hotel bar rendezvous and fucking the staff to eagerly anticipated birthday threesomes and mirrored ceilings, this book covers all the bases of bringing hot hotel fantasy to the page. While my favorite stories (which I’ll get to in a minute) all took place behind locked doors upstairs, the one that caught my attention the most was Teresa Noelle Roberts’ “Tropical Grotto, Winter Storm,” a wild romp inside the deserted water park of a resort hotel in New England during a blizzard. The disconnect between icy frozen roads and tropical waterfall fantasy sex was enough to make me grin uncontrollably. Well that and I’ve been to a similar resort, so I can picture it quite nicely.

The favorite stories I was referring to earlier explore two very different ways to spend time holed up in a hotel room. The first is Alison Tyler’s “Tightly Tucked,” which extols the virtues of taking full advantage of your vacation and just chilling out – and saying screw it to the partner that won’t let that happen. Who needs her when there is a super sexy housekeeper that’s more than willing to forget about making those hospital corners? Fuck sightseeing. My other favorite story, Stan Kent’s “From Russia With Lust,” is a kinky solo stay in Moscow where a business man fuels his desire with a direct view into a neighboring room. It gets even better as the couple realize he’s watching… but I don’t want to spoil the whole thing.

So if you’re sitting in your bedroom, or lying on a beach not far from your own hotel room, this book is sure to get you in the mood to hang your own sign on the door and get down to business. Bon Voyage!

Add this awesome book to your collection!