Aroused: A Collection of Erotic Writing Book

The thing that most impressed me about Best Fetish Erotica is that it truly contains stories about fetishes. Not a couple of stories about fetishes with the rest centering on virgins giggling about handcuffs. All of them are kinky stories about people with real fetishes, and the ways they affect both their sex lives, and day-to-day lives.

Most of the stories are lighthearted, or have a darkly humorous twist. Jerry Stahl's wonderfully hilarious Girdle Boy, is the tale of a man's love for that restrictive undergarment. Lisa Montanarelli's, The Whore Gene, ponders the concept of prostitutes having a genetic predisposition to a money fetish. Thomas S. Roche's, Smoked, shows a deep understanding of what needing something can do to a person sexually and emotionally. Jenesi Ash's, Santa's Little Helper, explains that giving in the spirit of the season can also mean receiving. Jen Collins's, Office Hours, yearns to be read aloud. Greg Wharton's, That Grin, may tickle your fancy, if tickling is your fancy. Joy James', The Magical Little White Skirt, wonders if it's the skirt, or what's under it that counts. Raven Kaldera's, Machine is an intimate portrait of a sex machine. M. Christian's, Blow Up, takes a different approach to a rubber fetish. Cara Bruce's, For Sale, reads almost like an especially graphic and funny episode of Seinfeld.

Several stories are more somber and dramatic. In Stephen Albrow's, Never Judge a Book, an ex-girlfriend's lingerie spurs a man into exploring his own sexuality. Both Monah Li's, Catholic Spanking and Myriam Gurba's, Dolores, explain the religious start of corporal punishment fantasies. Tom Piccirilli's, Horsepower is a bittersweet coming of age story. Alison Tyler's, Blades, explains the combination of two fetishes. Marcy Sheiner's, The Naked City, looks at voyeurism through inherited binoculars. Susie Bright's, Selfish Fetish, is an unnerving essay about fetishists themselves. Rachel Resnick's, Man and Woman: A Study in Black and White, is a mostly intellectual story, but still explicit. Though lacking in back story, M.I. Blue's, The Vegetarian still serves up a light lunch. Anne Tourney's, Director of Dolls, manages to be cerebral, disturbingly erotic, haunting, and viciously witty in a similar way to the writings of Angela Carter.

While I didn't find all of the stories to be arousing, or especially memorable, there's enough variety that most people will probably find they enjoy the book as a hole. Sorry, I meant, "whole."