Fantastic Erotica: The Best of Circlet Press 2008-2012

by Cecilia Tan (Editor), Bethany Zaiatz (Editor), Clarice Clique (Contributor)

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Circlet Press, Fantastic Erotica presents the very best erotic science fiction and fantasy short stories published by Circlet in the past five years. Chosen by popular vote by the readership from among all the stories published by Circlet from 2008 to the present, these favorites are the cream of the crop.

A winner and two runners-up were chosen. N.K. Jemisin's "The Dancer's War" shows us the sensuous magic not of a stock fantasy medieval Europe, but of an Africa that never was. Bernie Mojzes "Ink" combines H.P. Lovecraft and Raymond Chandler into a surprisingly soulful story of sexual transformation. And our winner, "Ota Discovers Fire," by Vinnie Tesla pokes gentle fun at all the traipsing into exotic lands depicted in fantasy quests. Sometimes the traveler you meet on the road is nothing like what you expect.

Featuring stories by Frances Selkirk, Elizabeth Schechter, Kierstin Cherry, Angela Caperton, Sacchi Green, Kal Cobalt, Elizabeth Reeve, Kathleen Tudor, Monique Poirier, Sunny Moraine, Clarice Clique, Nobilis Reed, David Sklar, Michael M. Jones, David Hubbard, Shanna Germain, N.K. Jemisin, Bernie Mojzes, and Vinnie Tesla.

Genres: Fantasy, Erotica, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2012

About the author

Susie Bright says, "Cecilia Tan is simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature." Since the publication of Telepaths Don't Need Safewords in 1992, she has been on the cutting edge of the erotic form, often combining elements of fantasy and science fiction in her work. She is also founder and editor of Circlet Press.

RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence from GRW in 2013. She has been publishing Daron's Guitar Chronicles as a web serial since 2009 and her Secrets of a Rock Star series (Taking the Lead, Wild Licks, Hard Rhythm) is published by Hachette/Forever. In 2018 Tor Books will launch her urban fantasy/paranormal series, The Vanished Chronicles. In her other life, Cecilia is also the editor of the Baseball Research Journal and publications director for SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.

Reviews

[Brownbetty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly mixed bag. Categories I would put the stories into:

- Spec-fic with sex as a central part of the plot.
- Porn in a spec-fic universe.
- Speculative fiction around sex/erotica.
- I needed to come up with a scenario to justify my kink and I accidentally three cultures and a universe.
- I accidentally gave my porn OCs way too much backstory.
- I couldn't sell this porn but these guys were buying spec-fic, so I put a spec-fic hat on it.
- My speculative fiction chars are adults with sex lives.

These may not be well delineated and overlap somewhat, but some stories are very obviously one thing and not the others..

Some standouts:

Ink, by Bernie Mojzes: Noir Detective Eldritch Horror tentacle sex. You should already know if this is what you want.

The Dancer's War, by N. K. Jemisin: a sexy dance-off is a very poor description of this, but I'm not sure how else to do it. If you are familiar with Jemisin, you know that the world-building is dense and the characters are vivid.

A Woman of Uncommon Accomplishment, by Elizabeth Reeve: If you have ever wanted to see Mary Bennet pursue something she could be good at, and then have sex with let's call him Robin Goodfellow, this is for you. If you haven't, let me add as enticement that reference is made to Mary's 'venerable monosyllable.' I mean, I know Elizabeth Reeve, and I'm biased, but this is really a great story that takes joy in both Austen's style and Mary's liberation.

Ota Discovers Fire, by Vinnie Tesla: A sort of fantasy twist on 'repressed earth-man discovers sexually voracious alien girl.' It's a lot of fun, because the repressed 'civilized' man is a bit of an unreliable, or at least un-observant, narrator, and it's from his point of view.

In a slightly more "I'm not sure what I just read" category, Sunny Moraine, Francis Selkirk, Elizabeth Schechter, Sacchi Green, Nobilis Reed, and David Sklar wrote stories that were definitely spec-fic. Their porniness varied, but I'm sure tastes will differ.

Some entries, however, struck me as pretty unimaginative, with nothing fantastic except a few trappings, and did the collection a disservice by their inclusion. Enslaved is straight up "unwillingly(?) topped by my sexy mistress" in which someone is wearing a leather bodice. Everything proceeds as you would imagine. Fences seems to be a story about seducing one's straight neighbour by gardening in short-shorts, with the element of the fantastic being that a superflu has handily disposed of Short-shorts' and Neighbour's respective spouses. (Actually, it is possible there is a metaphor for living with HIV that I am missing? I don't think so, though.)

Despite a few disappointing offerings, at $1.99 it was entirely worth it.

[Tommy Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I don't have lots of erotica on my eReader, so there aren't many other books against which to contrast this one. About the only thing is Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction about which I wrote a very short review last month.

Beyond Binary was okay. My main complaint was that it was tepid considering the promise of its title. It was also short on, well, actual fucking. But, then again, it didn't bill itself as erotica per se.

Fantastic Erotica is, on the other hand, billed as erotica. It's also billed as being fantastic. Does it deliver on both counts? Yeah, it does.

In terms of being fantastic, it covers a wide range of generally fantastic-ish genres. Vampires? Yep. Angels and demons? Yep. Steampunk? Yep. Sci-fi? Elder Gods? Pirates? Yep, yep, and yep. Lesbian pirates? Oh lord, yes!

So, yeah, it covers a wide range of genre, which I loved. No two stories are really alike. Each one is a treat of a different sort in terms of genre.

The sexual variety is lacking compared with Beyond Binary. You have F/M, F/F, and M/M. There's one gender-bending story. There are no groups that I remember. There's a little bondage and S&M but not a whole lot. This made me drop my Goodreads rating to four stars. (Wish I could have just docked it half a star.)

Which leads to the question of erotica, namely, is there much fucking going on? Yes, there is. Each story has lots of explicitly described fucking. And are they well-written descriptions of fucking? Yes, yes they are. (Well, okay, I thought the writing in one of the stories was amateurish, but just in one.) The collection reads as quality fiction to me, just quality fiction in fantastic genres with lots of fucking.

And, honestly, what more do you want. (Other than a little more sexual variety.)

[Vinnie Tesla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A couple months ago, I snuck into Circlet Press HQ and grabbed a galley copy of this collection using the ol' Sop to Cerberus technique. It's my first appearance in print, after several ebooks, so I was keen to get a look at it.

I'm not going to try to persuade you that my contribution is any good. But some of the others are excellent, so I want to tell you about a few of my favorites.

Bernie Mojzes's Ink is as good as everybody's saying--an unlikely mash-up of genres that manages to be funny, shocking, and touching all at once. It's like a shaggy dog joke that ends with a gentle kiss instead of a punchline.

Lawman by Angela Caperton is an alternate-history superhero story with a sharp satirical edge.

Catch and Release by Sunny Moraineis a poignant and surprisingly effective transposition of an Arabian Nights story into an SF setting.

Wood by David Sklar is a delightfully atmospheric story about a witch, a stolen penis, and what first appears to be revenge, but turns out to be more complicated.

There are many other excellent stories I haven't gotten to yet, but I need to rotate my laundry, and who wants to read summaries of nineteen different short stories anyway?

The book as a whole is a vertiginous range of settings, moods, and sexualities--strange, sexy and surprising.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the Faint of Heart - The Best of Circlet Press 2009-2012 Review

Oh my god where to start. Most of my forays into erotica have been with manga and graphic novels, with every intention of reading more Cleis collections and novels. That said, I have read quite a few paranormal romances, and those I like steamy. So it's no real surprise that I liked this collection from Circlet as much as I did. It's amazing. Not just because the SFF elements are strong and make the stories especially appealing to me, but also because of the vast array of relationships shown within. There is M/M, M/F, F/F, and M/Eldritch Horror all bound within the pages of the collection, with various levels of kink. So, yeah, amazing.

For fans of SFF who area also fans of excellent smut, this collection should be a must. There is just so much to like, as long as you don't mind that the collection is inclusive. The stories are sexy, the characters empowered, and while not all of the stories are extremely happy, most of them have enough to keep them sexy and not depressing. Even the story with the Eldritch Horror is erotic and fun, in its own way, which is quite a feat. And most of the stories are just so cute, so sexy, that this is a collection to be savored.

It is also to the collection's credit that it brings together a range of stories both in the characters that are paired as well as the kinds of stories included. Fantasy and science fiction of all sorts, and ones focusing on flings, on longer term relationships, on dance, on mystery, on curses, on parties. The sex is as varied as the genres, and makes for a compelling read with each and every story. I really can't speak highly enough of this book.

Particular favorites for me were Dancer's War by N.K. Jemisin and The Pirate from the Sky by Sacchi Greaen. The entire collection was filled with exceptional stories, but those two mixed fun and world-building and I will admit to being a bit more fantasy-focused when reading these stories. The science fiction was quite good as well, especially Rescue Wounds by Kal Cobalt. But everything worked, and everything was sexy, and I just want it all.

And, in the end, the book does deliver a bit of everything. There is enough for fantasy fans, enough for science fiction fans, enough for fans of M/M, of M/F, of F/F. Perhaps there could have been a bit more than just two person pairings, but that's a rather small complaint, and might be something for another collection (please!). But for fans of all of the above there is nothing better, because each story is different, is unique, and each story is great. So my highest recommendations for this book, and a 9.75/10.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compilation of 19 erotic tales from Circlet Press, all selected by readers. The subjects are varied and the stories are all, without exception, beautifully written - descriptive, compelling and very, very sexy, covering all combinations of fantasy erotica.

Everyone will no doubt have their personal favourites; I agree with the editors that 'Ota Discovers Fire' by Vinnie Tesla is the stand-out piece, but I also loved the contemporary setting of 'The Beauty of Broken Glass' by Frances Selkirk and the fairytale adaption 'Mirror' by Clarice Clique.

A fabulous collection of the weird and wonderful, there's sure to be something here for everyone.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ota Discovers Fire by Vinnie Tesla had to be my favorite story in this collection, though all of them were pretty amazing. Wood by David Sklar, Rescue Wounds by Kal Cobalt and Ink by Bernie Mojzes are just a few others that struck a chord that resonated well past the first reading with their originality.

[Cammy]

Okay, I'm game: http://io9.com/5969540/this-erotica-b...

[Nicola Montague · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be in my bunk.

[Heron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly hot collection of wildly diverse stories.

[Squirrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid collection of speculative erotic stories definitely made even brighter with the inclusion of a story by NK Jemisin. I'd call this an accurate introduction to the breadth of fiction that Circlet Press publishes. So it ranges from androids to fairy tales to eldritch monsters, and from hetero to queer. The best stories make the sex an integral part of the world building such as "Catch and Release" and "The Many Little Deaths of Cicilia Long."
Apparently the last story, Ota Discovers Fire was rated a fan favorite but was one of my least favorite. In it, a young upper class man learns how to use his magic because he hooks up with an indigenous woman who can transform into a wolf. Yeah, it's the magic [marginalized ethnic group] trope. That, combined with the author's description of matted hair as locs and more than one mention of the woman's public area as dark made this story feel more exploitative and tawdry than the rest.
Also FYI there is a story, "Fences," about a global pandemic that hits badly in 2021, especially as it's mostly used as a way to get two people to hook up without really delving into how things would change. Like yeah there's no water bill, but who is running the water treatment plant with so many people dead?

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great collection of sci fi and fantasy erotica! Some of the stories were more compelling than others, and I can see why the winners and runners up were chosen as such. I enjoyed the diversity of the settings, themes, tropes, and lovers.

[Sara Testarossa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comments are on the stories I've read so far. I will likely add comments on the other ones when I read them (the five-star rating is preemptive but I have a strong feeling it will still apply - Circlet publishes some excellent writing).

At the Crossroads by Monique Poirier - This story is beautifully written, and sexy as hell (and heaven, and everything in between). I loved the characterization of the protagonists, especially the demon. I have a soft spot for characters like him. I was really pleased with the rich worldbuilding, which came across naturally and was wonderfully detailed, especially for a short story. It also helps that this story includes some of my favorite themes/tropes - someone of a lower station with low self-worth being treated fairly well by someone of higher station, angel/demon interactions, and paranormal/magic induced lust. Excellent story

Ink by Bernie Mojzes - utterly fantastic story. This is the first piece of Lovecraftian fiction that I've read/listened to, and got me very interested. I love his writing style, and this piece was strange and beautiful. And sexy. The noir detective themes blended well with the supernatural.

Pirate from the Sky by Sacchi Green - So beautifully written. This story takes a combination of several topics that I'd find entertaining on their own and makes a wonderful tale where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Exciting, creative, and sexy.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um...it really picked up at the end...weird. For a work of it's type it was of good quality. Some of the stories certainly 'did it' for me than others.

I enjoyed the really strange stories. "Wood" and "The Eldritch Horror" are good stories in their own right. Also the story about the 'plain sister' in one of the Bronte novels was funny. You never can tell.

[Jaymee Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice range of stories that's a great intro to Circlet Press' oeuvre, a great way to celebrate twenty years (congrats, Circlet!). Usually anthos are hit-and-miss with me but I don't think there were any stories in this one that I thought was a dud--I have my favourites, but none of them are unlikable.

[Nekomata · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may have had some decent stories, but I couldn't make it past the few that had atrocious editing.

[Spike Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hit and miss...

[Lynne Nunyabidness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collections can always be a little tricky, and the quality varies. But overall, I really enjoyed this collection, which genre-crossed scifi, fantasy, and erotica. Some of the stories harken to ones we already know, such as Lovecraft and Austen, while others take us to new worlds. The erotic aspects range from the tender and vanilla to the mechanical and weird (in the Weird Sisters sense of the term). Among my favorites in the volume those involving the Eldritch Horror, one of Pride and Prejudice's more neglected Bennet sisters, a post-apocalyptic poolside rendezvous, a blinded demon rescued from Hell, and a Chinese pirate queen.