Dying for It: Tales of Sex and Death

by Mitzi Szereto (Editor / Contributor), Tobsha Learner (Contributor), Jendi Reiter (Contributor)

Sex and death have always been connected. The French call orgasm "la petite mort" (the little death). In Shakespearean England, "to die" also meant to have an orgasm. The Victorians believed a man's climax depleted his physical strength and moral resolve and brought him closer to death. Likewise, the sex act drained women of their vitality. We are as keen to examine sex as we are death: put the two together and you have an explosive, daring literary venture into the taboo. Dying for It: Tales of Sex and Death satisfies with an exciting and entertaining variety of expressions on the two most intimate human acts. Contributors include novelists from across the literary spectrum: Lauren Henderson; Vicki Hendricks; Adréana Robbins; Tobsha Learner; Niall Griffiths; Lisette Ashton; and the editor, Mitzi Szereto.

Genres: Anthologies, Erotica, Sexuality, Fantasy, Horror, Short Stories

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

OFFICIAL ACCOUNT
Mitzi Szereto (mitziszereto.com) is an American-British author, anthology editor, and short story writer whose books encompass multiple genres, most recently in true crime, including her latest release Women Who Murder: An International Collection of Deadly True Crime Tales as well as her popular series The Best New True Crime Stories. Her work has been translated into several languages. A contribution in her anthology Getting Even: Revenge Stories received the Crime Writers’ Association Short Story Dagger “Highly Commended.” She has the added distinction of being the editor of the first anthology of erotic fiction to include a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Mitzi has appeared internationally on radio and television and at major literature festivals, and has taught creative writing around the world, including universities in the UK. In addition to having produced and presented the London-based web TV channel Mitzi TV, she portrays herself in the pseudo-documentary British film, Lint: The Movie. Follow her on social media @mitziszereto.

Reviews

[Chrissy]

Only read "Death Dealer" by Kelley Armstrong

4 stars
For my personal taste this spent a little too much time on sexy-times, especially for a short story where there's only a limited amount of pages to tell a story, but that was to be expected in an anthology that's titled "Tales of Sex and Death". Actually, I didn't precisely feel like there was too much sex in the story, more like it was the right amount of sex, but not quite as much as I wanted of everything else. I would've preferred more about the magic system/world-building instead, like what exactly Jack is. My curiousity was definitely peaked, but then it wasn't quite satisfied. I did enjoy the concept and set-up for this story and the arrangement the first-person narrator Dani (a tarot reader with a psychology degree) had with the demon? spirit? attached to her tarot deck. I wouldn't be opposed to spending a little more time with these characters, exploring their morals, who they are to each other, etc. That's probably never happening though, so my questions will remain unanswered.

[DKSDGM · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wish there was an option for 0 or negative stars. These stories were completely psychopathic and disturbed. This is why I'll never run out of clients for therapy. I bought this book because I'm a big fan of Kelley Armstrong and she is one of the contributors to this anthology. Her story was actually enjoyable is creepy, but I really do not ever want to have to read anything else by the rest of these authors. At work at least I get paid to hear about people's messed up thoughts and actions. Yuck. I gave it a fair chance and read the whole anthology. Next step is to use the pages as kindling in the fire pit. I do not want it staying on my shelf wasting space.

[Aine]

Read:
"Death Dealer" by Kelley Armstrong