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Existential Smut 1: Youthful Indiscretions
A young man writes erotic stories and shows them to a bookish friend named Lisa. After reading each one, Lisa offers light-hearted critiques, leading to free-spirited conversations about love and sexual desire. These stories (and Lisa's critique of them) can be silly, sad, sensuous, sinful. One reviewer described them as "exquisite, thoughtful vignettes that individually by turns inspire reflection, evoke startled recognition and collectively offer considerable insight into the tragicomedy that is the constant human search for connection."
The subjects of Volume 1 ("Youthful Indiscretions") are mostly about college life and slightly beyond. A college student spends an evening with his crush before she travels to Europe to study abroad. A college student's real-life encounter with a porn star causes his erotic imagination to go wild. A masturbation video by an unknown woman becomes an Internet sensation … and also an enigma. A man fails to seduce a beautiful woman and after he meets her years later, feels compelled to try again. A college girl invents a sexy game to seduce her boyfriend but in the process discovers unwelcome truths about him. An overconfident lawyer tries to persuade his beautiful fiance to let him take nude photos of her. Two sex-obsessed high school boys trade sexual banter at a miniature golf park but are secretly afraid of the opposite sex. A young man's erotic letter to a married woman invites her to partake of forbidden dreams. A woman plays a practical joke on a man during a one-night stand. The last sequence of stories, "The First Time, the Last Time" narrates the history of 11 relationships simply by describing the first time and the last time each couple had sex.
While the goal of these couple-friendly stories is both "titillation and reflection," they should appeal to fans of Scheherezade, the fiction of Milan Kundera, Philip Roth, Mary Gaitskill, John Updike, Susan Minot, Alberto Moravia and Candace Bushnell. As a bonus, this ebook contains sexy illustrations and two erotic essays (a "Pleasure Manifesto" and a look at the fiction of Marco Vassi).
The subjects of Volume 1 ("Youthful Indiscretions") are mostly about college life and slightly beyond. A college student spends an evening with his crush before she travels to Europe to study abroad. A college student's real-life encounter with a porn star causes his erotic imagination to go wild. A masturbation video by an unknown woman becomes an Internet sensation … and also an enigma. A man fails to seduce a beautiful woman and after he meets her years later, feels compelled to try again. A college girl invents a sexy game to seduce her boyfriend but in the process discovers unwelcome truths about him. An overconfident lawyer tries to persuade his beautiful fiance to let him take nude photos of her. Two sex-obsessed high school boys trade sexual banter at a miniature golf park but are secretly afraid of the opposite sex. A young man's erotic letter to a married woman invites her to partake of forbidden dreams. A woman plays a practical joke on a man during a one-night stand. The last sequence of stories, "The First Time, the Last Time" narrates the history of 11 relationships simply by describing the first time and the last time each couple had sex.
While the goal of these couple-friendly stories is both "titillation and reflection," they should appeal to fans of Scheherezade, the fiction of Milan Kundera, Philip Roth, Mary Gaitskill, John Updike, Susan Minot, Alberto Moravia and Candace Bushnell. As a bonus, this ebook contains sexy illustrations and two erotic essays (a "Pleasure Manifesto" and a look at the fiction of Marco Vassi).
350 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 10, 2023
2 people want to read
About the author
Hapax Legomenon
2 booksHapax Legomenon (a pseudonym) edits the Existential Smut series. He lives in the southern part of the USA. He began writing erotic stories after graduate school in the 1990s. He wrote all the stories for Volume 1 and Volume 2.
You can read the author's blog on his website which contains occasionally book reviews of books in the artsy erotica category.
Q:HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE STORIES IN THE EXISTENTIAL SMUT COLLECTIONS?
A: It varies. Several stories are comic or fun. Most are psychological and contemplative. The language can be sexually explicit, polite but never demeaning, laced with metaphor and wit. Many focus on private erotic feelings and the struggle to understand them. Most are told from the perspective of a young single male seeking love and exploring erotic desire. No violence, occasionally kinky, but mostly about heterosexual couples and how relationships wither or flourish. Although most stories are realistic, some are far-fetched and fantastic. Finally, the stories (and the overall story frame) are bookish and literary and raise questions about the nature of erotic fiction.
You can read the author's blog on his website which contains occasionally book reviews of books in the artsy erotica category.
Q:HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE STORIES IN THE EXISTENTIAL SMUT COLLECTIONS?
A: It varies. Several stories are comic or fun. Most are psychological and contemplative. The language can be sexually explicit, polite but never demeaning, laced with metaphor and wit. Many focus on private erotic feelings and the struggle to understand them. Most are told from the perspective of a young single male seeking love and exploring erotic desire. No violence, occasionally kinky, but mostly about heterosexual couples and how relationships wither or flourish. Although most stories are realistic, some are far-fetched and fantastic. Finally, the stories (and the overall story frame) are bookish and literary and raise questions about the nature of erotic fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 28, 2023
Thought Provoking
The vast majority of erotica (different from erotic romance) I have read over the yeas was clearly created with the primary intent of stimulating the libido. If a moral dilemma could be grappled with or a taboo fantasy explored within the course of the story, great, but first and foremost the writing was there to spike the libido. Nothing wrong with that.
This book is different. The stories and essays contained within may tickle the libido at times, but it’s the mind they spike. Through his unnamed narrator and character Lisa, Legomenon explores and debates the nature of erotica, its value as an art form, and whether it should even exist at all.
Some of the stories are light and others tragically dark. Some a tightly contained bundle and others open-ended and up for interpretation. Then there are the interludes that are tied to the stories that add another layer to the narrative, and a whole section of first time/last time flash fiction.
Honestly, there’s a lot going on in this book, and it’s hard to capture it’s essence in a brief review. I’ll just sum things up by saying I enjoyed it, it made me think, and I see myself revisiting a number of the stories after they’ve had time to roll around in my head for awhile.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The vast majority of erotica (different from erotic romance) I have read over the yeas was clearly created with the primary intent of stimulating the libido. If a moral dilemma could be grappled with or a taboo fantasy explored within the course of the story, great, but first and foremost the writing was there to spike the libido. Nothing wrong with that.
This book is different. The stories and essays contained within may tickle the libido at times, but it’s the mind they spike. Through his unnamed narrator and character Lisa, Legomenon explores and debates the nature of erotica, its value as an art form, and whether it should even exist at all.
Some of the stories are light and others tragically dark. Some a tightly contained bundle and others open-ended and up for interpretation. Then there are the interludes that are tied to the stories that add another layer to the narrative, and a whole section of first time/last time flash fiction.
Honestly, there’s a lot going on in this book, and it’s hard to capture it’s essence in a brief review. I’ll just sum things up by saying I enjoyed it, it made me think, and I see myself revisiting a number of the stories after they’ve had time to roll around in my head for awhile.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
March 27, 2023
The book is a collection of erotic experiences, I assume from the author to his female friend. Some are quite good and some I didn't understand. There is really no sex in the stories but they are good written and thought up fantasy's. After reading the male version story it's interesting to hear the female friends comments on what was written. A good book if you rwlly want to read something different.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews