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First Time: an anthology about lost virginity
Four dozen writers retell the intimate details about how they lost their virgnity in this touching, hilarious and shocking collection out from Unknown Press
This enthralling assembly of short stories, essays, and poems never ceases to entertain. Everyone has a story about their first time, these writers take it to the limit, in this full length collection spanning 216 pages, complete with some illustrations from editor, Bud Smith
contributors include: Nicole Adams, Karley bayer, Allie arini-Batts, William Seward Bonnie, Mark Brunetti, Wolf Carstens, James Claffey, Marsha Calabro, Ryder Collins, Wanda Clevenger, Heather Dorn, RM Engelhardt, Matt Galletta, Sam Garret, Mina Gorey, Lisa Hirsh, Chuck Howe, Chris Jamieson, Jason Neese, Dawn Nikithser, Ashley Perez, Benjamin Poage, RL Raymond, Frank Reardon, Alex Reed, Paul Corman Roberts, Joe Saldibar, Gus Sanchez, Ryan Snellman, Bud Smith, Irene Stone, Nathanial Tower, Meg Tuite, Aurora Killpoet, Robert Vaughan, Karelia Stetz-Waters, Alex Johnson, Aaron Dietz, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Lylah Katz, Lynn Alexander, Elly, Shelley Hirsch, Marvin Waldman, and John Yamrus
This enthralling assembly of short stories, essays, and poems never ceases to entertain. Everyone has a story about their first time, these writers take it to the limit, in this full length collection spanning 216 pages, complete with some illustrations from editor, Bud Smith
contributors include: Nicole Adams, Karley bayer, Allie arini-Batts, William Seward Bonnie, Mark Brunetti, Wolf Carstens, James Claffey, Marsha Calabro, Ryder Collins, Wanda Clevenger, Heather Dorn, RM Engelhardt, Matt Galletta, Sam Garret, Mina Gorey, Lisa Hirsh, Chuck Howe, Chris Jamieson, Jason Neese, Dawn Nikithser, Ashley Perez, Benjamin Poage, RL Raymond, Frank Reardon, Alex Reed, Paul Corman Roberts, Joe Saldibar, Gus Sanchez, Ryan Snellman, Bud Smith, Irene Stone, Nathanial Tower, Meg Tuite, Aurora Killpoet, Robert Vaughan, Karelia Stetz-Waters, Alex Johnson, Aaron Dietz, Misti Rainwater-Lites, Lylah Katz, Lynn Alexander, Elly, Shelley Hirsch, Marvin Waldman, and John Yamrus
216 pages, Paperback
First published August 20, 2013
5 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Bud Smith
17 books487 followersBud Smith is the author of Teenager (Tyrant Book), Double Bird (Maudlin House), WORK (CCM), Dust Bunny City (Disorder Press), among others. He works heavy construction, and lives in Jersey City, NJ.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 20, 2013
Do I want to hear about how a bunch of my favorite writers did it their first time? You bet! Am I curious about how they'll make it literary? You bet I am!
And, I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed seeing so many of these diverse ways of covering the subject--not to mention the diverse sets of stories. Naturally, there are many ways to lose your virginity and this book covers 98% of them, it would seem.
I particularly liked Bud Smith's honest-feeling piece, Sam Garrett's horror story involving Sailor Moon, the ever-poignant and classy works of Heather Dorn, Irene Stone's lovely voice, Joe Saldibar's storytelling, and so many more. I'm sorry to all the fantastic writers I have not listed, because the list could go much longer. There is a lot here. And it's sometimes steamy, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes shocking, always interesting.
And, I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed seeing so many of these diverse ways of covering the subject--not to mention the diverse sets of stories. Naturally, there are many ways to lose your virginity and this book covers 98% of them, it would seem.
I particularly liked Bud Smith's honest-feeling piece, Sam Garrett's horror story involving Sailor Moon, the ever-poignant and classy works of Heather Dorn, Irene Stone's lovely voice, Joe Saldibar's storytelling, and so many more. I'm sorry to all the fantastic writers I have not listed, because the list could go much longer. There is a lot here. And it's sometimes steamy, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes shocking, always interesting.
January 31, 2023
3.5 stars. I was intrigued by this anthology—I like loss of virginity stories, and I like the editor, Bud Smith. I wasn’t familiar with any of the contributors (besides Smith.) The book needed a proofread—lots of textual errors. Overall the book was entertaining but not stellar.
April 13, 2024
This felt... really scuzzy.
May 30, 2016
This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.
This novel is a collection of essays, stories and poems about the first time the authors had sex. I only bought this ‘novel’ because one of my favourite authors had written a piece for it. Sadly, it didn’t turn out anything like I hoped, not to mention the humping bunnies on the front cover
By the feel of things, I think the authors had a wide scope of what they could write. For me, I hate poetry. I especially hate random poetry where I can’t work out any of what is going on. Other examples were of not-true stories. What is the point of writing expository fiction if your reader can’t connect in any way with it?
It’s stupid of me, but for some reason I thought this would be a collection of stories about queer people’s first times. I figured this because two of the authors that I knew had works in this book were gay, and I liked their other pieces. So as such, this ‘novel’ wasn’t for me. I’m not interested in the first times of straight people, generally these seem to be boring. Queer people (and I know I am generalising here) have more interesting first times, or first meetings, because half the time they don’t know what they want or if their partner will be willing, available and accepting.
Honestly, I read about half this book, picking and skipping authors that I wasn’t interested in. There is no way I would have read it in its entirety. I will be freeing it into the wild in the hopes that other people might get something out of it. If you’re queer, I’d recommend the Letter Q instead for relatable fiction. Let’s give this one 2-3 stars and call it a day.
This novel is a collection of essays, stories and poems about the first time the authors had sex. I only bought this ‘novel’ because one of my favourite authors had written a piece for it. Sadly, it didn’t turn out anything like I hoped, not to mention the humping bunnies on the front cover
By the feel of things, I think the authors had a wide scope of what they could write. For me, I hate poetry. I especially hate random poetry where I can’t work out any of what is going on. Other examples were of not-true stories. What is the point of writing expository fiction if your reader can’t connect in any way with it?
It’s stupid of me, but for some reason I thought this would be a collection of stories about queer people’s first times. I figured this because two of the authors that I knew had works in this book were gay, and I liked their other pieces. So as such, this ‘novel’ wasn’t for me. I’m not interested in the first times of straight people, generally these seem to be boring. Queer people (and I know I am generalising here) have more interesting first times, or first meetings, because half the time they don’t know what they want or if their partner will be willing, available and accepting.
Honestly, I read about half this book, picking and skipping authors that I wasn’t interested in. There is no way I would have read it in its entirety. I will be freeing it into the wild in the hopes that other people might get something out of it. If you’re queer, I’d recommend the Letter Q instead for relatable fiction. Let’s give this one 2-3 stars and call it a day.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews