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11corvus11's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know why I thought this book would be more plot than erotica. Got so bored I couldn't finish it. Most erotica leaves me feeling this way (or empathetically embarrassed for the characters) though, so this is likely not a statement of Carol Queen's writing on the whole.
michachi's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
noturstroganoff's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you to the sexy librarian at the Oakland Public Library who maintains their phenomenal erotica ebook collection
bigbookgeek's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book back in 2006, and to this day, the story has stuck with me, and comes to mind when I discuss the topic of well written and fun erotica! Here is what I wrote about the book after reading it:
I got a lot more than I had bargained for in this book. It was great! Sure, it was very much erotica, but was also much more than that. Raised some very deep questions about gender identity, sexual orientation, the whole nine yards.
I got a lot more than I had bargained for in this book. It was great! Sure, it was very much erotica, but was also much more than that. Raised some very deep questions about gender identity, sexual orientation, the whole nine yards.
ericawrites's review against another edition
4.0
Hot kinky queer erotica with plenty of gender fuckery and 90s San Francisco. I don't know why I hadn't read this given it's been on my to-read shelf for a while.
Some of the language around trans people is outdated given when it was written, but only one story was a complete no, which is a much better track record than most.
All the characters felt fully realized, which is so interesting considering this is really about self-exploration through sex and the sex is the point.
Some of the language around trans people is outdated given when it was written, but only one story was a complete no, which is a much better track record than most.
All the characters felt fully realized, which is so interesting considering this is really about self-exploration through sex and the sex is the point.
fangirljeanne's review against another edition
4.0
This book is not for the mildly curious reader. This is for someone who is open minded and adventurous. The sex scenes are mind-blowingly hot, but they also challenge everything you think you know about gender, sexual orientation and female sexuality.
We're in a time where women are becoming increasingly open and fascinated with with gay male sexuality, and I think this book is about to come into it's own.
We're in a time where women are becoming increasingly open and fascinated with with gay male sexuality, and I think this book is about to come into it's own.
livewisdom's review against another edition
4.0
Classic!
The author Carol Queen is a sexologist and feminist with a lifetime of involvement as a sex positive advocate and author.
I hadn't known that much about her research and advocacy. I had enjoyed a chapter from this book that had appeared in another anthology so sought this one out. It was published in the late 90s so be aware it doesn't reflect 2019 sensibilities (how could it?).
It's my favorite queer erotica of the year so far!!
The author Carol Queen is a sexologist and feminist with a lifetime of involvement as a sex positive advocate and author.
I hadn't known that much about her research and advocacy. I had enjoyed a chapter from this book that had appeared in another anthology so sought this one out. It was published in the late 90s so be aware it doesn't reflect 2019 sensibilities (how could it?).
It's my favorite queer erotica of the year so far!!
gretchening's review against another edition
5.0
I want more of this book. I want ten thousand of this book and all its queer siblings. I'm appalled that I hadn't read it before and sad that it was so slim that I burned through it in two sittings.
This is a series of connected stories/moments in the life of a queer kinkster in SF in probably the 90's. The protagonist starts out in boy drag as Randy and picks up a leather daddy, Jack, at a gay leather bar. Unlike many of the gay men she's taken home before, Jack accepts Randy's gender fluidity and doesn't skip a beat when she transforms herself into her femme self, Miranda. A couple of chapters later, Jack's longtime lover, a Black man named Demetrius, comes home from his travels and they embark on a sexy, fun, caring, intentional journey to knitting themselves and others into a family of choice.
This is unabashed queer leather erotica. My favorite thing about it is that the characters spend just as much time discussing gender, sexual identity, queerness, sex work, the experiences of genderqueers and trans women, roleplay, BDSM, leather, alt sex cultures as they do having inventive hot sex. It makes the sex incredibly hot and it feeds a deepseated need in my soul for fiction that reflects my experiences building intentional relationships and being open to experiences beyond those circumscribed by their cultures or apparent sexualities. Miranda may be a woman much of the time, and a woman with a cunt all the time, but her attraction to gay leathermen over straight men really resonated for me, and Jack and Demetrius's willingness to see her as the complicated sexy fuckable genderfluid slutty bottom that she is was marvelous.
We need more erotica like this, that explores relationships in a low-drama way, that doesn't privilege romance over self-discovery and long-term close friendships, that reflects the diversity of queer communities on many axes, and that sees the heart of why people do the BDSM they do, and how identity labels can work for and against people. I loved the moments when Miranda or Jack come up against the censure and expectations of their own alt communities, who view their decisions as something of traitorous to their own queer selves by taking up with an ostensibly het relationship. I loved that the story didn't shy away from that, but dealt with it head-on while showing that this relationship helped each person involved grow into their queerness and explore beyond the constraints of identity politics. I like that it also didn't wholly trash or ask the characters to reject the more structured or separatist communities and community histories that they have been a part of, but rather showed the characters moving between spaces and roles with all the complexity and realism that I have seen in my own life.
This was a really fun book and I'm proud to have it on my shelf. I liked it even better than Macho Sluts, it had way fewer instances of dubious consent. I think this book's realistic depiction of a life lived, with all the context that that entails, rather than heightening that life with a layer of fantasy, gives it a stronger footing. This book isn't perfect but it's really really excellent and I recommend it. It's also fabulously sexy in a way I so rarely see in fiction--a way that resonated with my own relatively complex approach to BDSM, queer identity and gender fluidity, while not being about me in specifics, it was about me in spirit. A+ would rec again.
This is a series of connected stories/moments in the life of a queer kinkster in SF in probably the 90's. The protagonist starts out in boy drag as Randy and picks up a leather daddy, Jack, at a gay leather bar. Unlike many of the gay men she's taken home before, Jack accepts Randy's gender fluidity and doesn't skip a beat when she transforms herself into her femme self, Miranda. A couple of chapters later, Jack's longtime lover, a Black man named Demetrius, comes home from his travels and they embark on a sexy, fun, caring, intentional journey to knitting themselves and others into a family of choice.
This is unabashed queer leather erotica. My favorite thing about it is that the characters spend just as much time discussing gender, sexual identity, queerness, sex work, the experiences of genderqueers and trans women, roleplay, BDSM, leather, alt sex cultures as they do having inventive hot sex. It makes the sex incredibly hot and it feeds a deepseated need in my soul for fiction that reflects my experiences building intentional relationships and being open to experiences beyond those circumscribed by their cultures or apparent sexualities. Miranda may be a woman much of the time, and a woman with a cunt all the time, but her attraction to gay leathermen over straight men really resonated for me, and Jack and Demetrius's willingness to see her as the complicated sexy fuckable genderfluid slutty bottom that she is was marvelous.
We need more erotica like this, that explores relationships in a low-drama way, that doesn't privilege romance over self-discovery and long-term close friendships, that reflects the diversity of queer communities on many axes, and that sees the heart of why people do the BDSM they do, and how identity labels can work for and against people. I loved the moments when Miranda or Jack come up against the censure and expectations of their own alt communities, who view their decisions as something of traitorous to their own queer selves by taking up with an ostensibly het relationship. I loved that the story didn't shy away from that, but dealt with it head-on while showing that this relationship helped each person involved grow into their queerness and explore beyond the constraints of identity politics. I like that it also didn't wholly trash or ask the characters to reject the more structured or separatist communities and community histories that they have been a part of, but rather showed the characters moving between spaces and roles with all the complexity and realism that I have seen in my own life.
This was a really fun book and I'm proud to have it on my shelf. I liked it even better than Macho Sluts, it had way fewer instances of dubious consent. I think this book's realistic depiction of a life lived, with all the context that that entails, rather than heightening that life with a layer of fantasy, gives it a stronger footing. This book isn't perfect but it's really really excellent and I recommend it. It's also fabulously sexy in a way I so rarely see in fiction--a way that resonated with my own relatively complex approach to BDSM, queer identity and gender fluidity, while not being about me in specifics, it was about me in spirit. A+ would rec again.