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Hotel
Hotel. The very word conjures a sense of transience.
Hotel takes you into a world without permanence. Between these pages, lovers meet and lovers part. Elegant, sensual prose takes you from grand ballrooms with lavish appointments to shabby heaps where you pay by the hour.
Sneak a titillating glimpse behind closed doors, where whatever can happen just might. Indulge your inner voyeur and explore what happens in those most impersonal of private spaces—hotels.
Hotel takes you into a world without permanence. Between these pages, lovers meet and lovers part. Elegant, sensual prose takes you from grand ballrooms with lavish appointments to shabby heaps where you pay by the hour.
Sneak a titillating glimpse behind closed doors, where whatever can happen just might. Indulge your inner voyeur and explore what happens in those most impersonal of private spaces—hotels.
183 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2017
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 17, 2017
The second of three themed anthologies released this year by Minnesota-based Mugwump Press, Hotel features some splendid writing, if not always the most imaginative storytelling. But then, it had a pretty tough act to follow: coming right on the heels of editor Megan Lewis’ brilliant Wanderlust—one of the finest erotica anthologies of recent memory—this new endeavor often lacks the lyric effervescence and imaginative variety of the earlier title, never mind that many of the same authors are featured in both collections. The thirteen stories in Hotel run an uneven gamut from the scintillating to the mediocre, though all are more-than-competently written. The problem seems to be one of creeping sameness in narrative attitude, scenario and style—a pitfall, one suspects, of the essential requirement that every story be set in a hotel of one sort or another.
Granted, there’s a lot of latitude within this stricture, and, for the most part, this group of authors rises to the challenge with more than sullen resignation. Along the way readers are treated to just about everything from the seedy to the posh: satin-sheeted rendezvous in high-end penthouse love nests to hardboiled rough play on moth-eaten mattresses in fetid hourly-rate hookup holes. Rustic inns, far, far from the madding crowd, flaunting their quaint historically-themed charms, to lonesome roadside dumps in deserts where nothing human ought to be, boutique auberges trading in discretion, and gaudy urban palaces, oozing bright flashing-neon excess. Yet, there’s something about hotel rooms themselves that seems to breed cynicism and ennui in otherwise perfectly well-adjusted human beings; the most ordinary and indifferent of spaces—describe one and you’ve likely described thousands just like it—stubbornly defies poetry. In the end, it has to be the characters that make these stories memorable, their desires, hopes, dreams, conflicts, that which gives the narrative true depth and color. No setting--no matter how exotic or colorful--can save an uninteresting character.
This being said, there are some truly outstanding stories here: Valerie Alexander’s scintillating genderqueer fantasy Zero Gravity, and Arden Ellis’ gritty and gorgeously written f/f Grey Bar Motel in which a pair of bank robbers hide out in a desert dump as they consider their next move—a superb study in character dynamic and psychology: T.C. Mill’s effectively atmospheric f/f My Body is a Haunted House, describing the encounter between two women with nothing in common but a man they once knew, after the man’s funeral, and Reiver Scott’s heart-wrenching The Witching Place in which a selfish Dom is forced to see himself through the eyes of the woman he thought was his perfect sub.
Also of note: J.S. Emuakpor’s At the Crossroads conjures orgiastic and terrifying images in an ostensibly abandoned hotel somewhere in the California desert—a liminal space where vengeful gods may lurk: Parker Marlo’s lyrically noirish Easter 1992: Zac Blue’s Rolling the Die in which anticipated retribution comes in the most pleasantly unexpected of ways: Rhidian Brenig Jones’ m/m/m Tricks of the Trade where a pair of male escorts service a wealthy client, the only opportunity one of the rent boys has to fulfill his hopeless love-born fantasy of being with his professional colleague: Sara Dobie Bauer’s Breathing Underwater, movie stars encounter in a hotel pool, and In the Long Nights of Our Never Enough—great title!—by Christian Fennell, a lyrical description of a beautiful woman’s first outing as a high-class escort.
Recommended.
Granted, there’s a lot of latitude within this stricture, and, for the most part, this group of authors rises to the challenge with more than sullen resignation. Along the way readers are treated to just about everything from the seedy to the posh: satin-sheeted rendezvous in high-end penthouse love nests to hardboiled rough play on moth-eaten mattresses in fetid hourly-rate hookup holes. Rustic inns, far, far from the madding crowd, flaunting their quaint historically-themed charms, to lonesome roadside dumps in deserts where nothing human ought to be, boutique auberges trading in discretion, and gaudy urban palaces, oozing bright flashing-neon excess. Yet, there’s something about hotel rooms themselves that seems to breed cynicism and ennui in otherwise perfectly well-adjusted human beings; the most ordinary and indifferent of spaces—describe one and you’ve likely described thousands just like it—stubbornly defies poetry. In the end, it has to be the characters that make these stories memorable, their desires, hopes, dreams, conflicts, that which gives the narrative true depth and color. No setting--no matter how exotic or colorful--can save an uninteresting character.
This being said, there are some truly outstanding stories here: Valerie Alexander’s scintillating genderqueer fantasy Zero Gravity, and Arden Ellis’ gritty and gorgeously written f/f Grey Bar Motel in which a pair of bank robbers hide out in a desert dump as they consider their next move—a superb study in character dynamic and psychology: T.C. Mill’s effectively atmospheric f/f My Body is a Haunted House, describing the encounter between two women with nothing in common but a man they once knew, after the man’s funeral, and Reiver Scott’s heart-wrenching The Witching Place in which a selfish Dom is forced to see himself through the eyes of the woman he thought was his perfect sub.
Also of note: J.S. Emuakpor’s At the Crossroads conjures orgiastic and terrifying images in an ostensibly abandoned hotel somewhere in the California desert—a liminal space where vengeful gods may lurk: Parker Marlo’s lyrically noirish Easter 1992: Zac Blue’s Rolling the Die in which anticipated retribution comes in the most pleasantly unexpected of ways: Rhidian Brenig Jones’ m/m/m Tricks of the Trade where a pair of male escorts service a wealthy client, the only opportunity one of the rent boys has to fulfill his hopeless love-born fantasy of being with his professional colleague: Sara Dobie Bauer’s Breathing Underwater, movie stars encounter in a hotel pool, and In the Long Nights of Our Never Enough—great title!—by Christian Fennell, a lyrical description of a beautiful woman’s first outing as a high-class escort.
Recommended.
June 16, 2017
I received an advanced reader copy of this anthology in exchange for an honest review.
Hotel: a Literary Erotica Anthology is a collection of short stories, some more explicit than others, all centered around the theme of ‘hotel.’ The stories in this anthology ranged in their topics and plots - it was not just one BDSM story after another. The editor warned up front that stories weren’t limited to certain types of erotica, and the varying pairings and situations made this a fresh anthology.
This collection features well-written stories that cover everything from first-time lesbian romances, unfaithful husbands, Dominant/submissive escapades, and afterlife orgies.
Every story in Hotel is well-written, well done, and has a unique plot. Every author in this anthology had a unique voice and writing style, yet the editor managed to tie all these unrelated stories together in an interesting package.
Most of the stories in here are relatively short. There are so many different parts of erotica in this anthology that there’s something for everyone. There are many talented authors in this collection, and the editor put the contents together in an accessible, logical way.
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. It had unique stories and was edited together nicely. This is a great collection for any time you want to pick up a quick, erotic read.
[Original review posted at http://rockeyreads.tumblr.com/post/16...]
Hotel: a Literary Erotica Anthology is a collection of short stories, some more explicit than others, all centered around the theme of ‘hotel.’ The stories in this anthology ranged in their topics and plots - it was not just one BDSM story after another. The editor warned up front that stories weren’t limited to certain types of erotica, and the varying pairings and situations made this a fresh anthology.
This collection features well-written stories that cover everything from first-time lesbian romances, unfaithful husbands, Dominant/submissive escapades, and afterlife orgies.
Every story in Hotel is well-written, well done, and has a unique plot. Every author in this anthology had a unique voice and writing style, yet the editor managed to tie all these unrelated stories together in an interesting package.
Most of the stories in here are relatively short. There are so many different parts of erotica in this anthology that there’s something for everyone. There are many talented authors in this collection, and the editor put the contents together in an accessible, logical way.
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. It had unique stories and was edited together nicely. This is a great collection for any time you want to pick up a quick, erotic read.
[Original review posted at http://rockeyreads.tumblr.com/post/16...]
June 14, 2017
Not my cup of tea as I did not consider what I read to be erotica nor did I find any of the stories to be anything close to a literary work. After the first stories were disappointing I forced myself to continue reading hoping that each new story would be better than the last but I was greatly disappointed. I do not like giving a poor review but I was extremely sorry I "checked in" to this Hotel...
I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 18, 2017
Interesting collection of erotica, ranging from lighter to more intense short stories. They all seem to center around a hotel theme, and this is intended for a mature audience. I liked some stories more than others. My two favorites were Zero Gravity and Rolling the Die, but there were others I liked as well. A good collection of steamy reads. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
June 16, 2017
This is a collection of short stories. They are not for everyone. Some of the themes included in the stories involve cheating, same sex, cross dressing/gender, etc. Some of the stories, for me, were lacking substance. That may be due to their short nature. There were some I enjoyed though.
*I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. This is my honest review.*
*I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. This is my honest review.*
June 18, 2017
An anthology of erotic stories all written with a hotel theme with some top rated and others flea bags. Some are pretty explicit and others milder. An interesting collection of mostly well written stories to please a variety of tastes. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book.
July 7, 2017
I am truly honored to be part of the HOTEL anthology. I’m among authors who amaze me with their prose. Although most of the stories are quite short, each writer manages to create complex characters who not only leap off the page but also writhe, scream, and claw your eyes. Are there happy endings? Several. (Bad joke.) There actually aren’t many happy endings in the emotional sense, but that’s what makes the stories feel so real.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews