Mar
2012
Review: Playing with Fire – Edited by Alison Tyler
The quality varies a little, but there’s some fantastic stories in this collection of 22 tales that explore boundaries in relationships, hinting at the fire that exists in physical desire…
The Blurb: Why should you play hard to get when you can play with fire? The forbidden has never been so appealing as it is in Alison Tyler’s latest collection. In these incendiary stories that explore the taboo side of erotica, couples go about setting their boundaries aflame. Committed to each other without question, they play out their naughtiest fantasies, pushing the limits of sex, lust, and the imagination as far as they can to please each other. Playing it a bit riskier and playing it a bit more daring will send readers and their partners steaming towards the next step in sexual exploration. Featuring new work from ADR Forte, Jolene Hui, Sommer Marsden, Shanna Germain, and others, Playing With Fire delivers enough heat to inspire readers to burn their own erotic bridges.
Review: For the most part I’d say these stories don’t really threaten to veer into ‘taboo’ territory, or at least many don’t seem to explore the boundaries in quite as challenging or dramatic a way as billed.
The quality varied between stories, but there were plenty I really enjoyed, and so I think the collection was well worthwhile overall.
Tales by Jeremy Edwards, Sophia Valenti, P.S.Haven, Kristina Wright and Janine Ashbless were particularly effective.
But, there were some “flash fiction” pieces I thought didn’t add much to the anthology, while some of the stories tried far too hard to be beautiful rather than interesting, lending an intangible, dreamlike quality that ultimately made them ephemeral and sometimes even difficult to follow. Those pieces appeared trying to be poetry without offering the necessary story to go with the attempt at inspiring language, reminding me a little of Sally’s recurring sexual fantasy from the movie “When Harry Met Sally” – “Some faceless guy rips off all your clothes, and that’s the sex fantasy you’ve been having since you were twelve?”
Overall, though, there’s enough real quality here that I’d definitely getting this one if you like heterosexual erotica with the occasional touch of female bisexuality.
