Tony Peregrin

After years of claw-the-sheets passion, even the most attentive, skilled lover tends to generate more yawns than yelps, but the latest installment of "Best American Erotica" manages to consistently tease, taunt and ultimately satisfy its readers by presenting brave, extraordinary writing that quickens both the mind and the body.

Edited once again by self-proclaimed "sexpert" Susie Bright, "Best American Erotica 2003" gives some of our old friends like "gay sex," "submission/domination" and "voyeurism" a dose of much-needed literary Viagra, dispensed by writers including Dorothy Allison, Chuck Palahniuk and a stable of talented lesser-known authors, most notably, performance artist, Vaginal Davis. Perhaps the most groundbreaking story in this anthology is Davis' "The Everlasting Secret First Family of Fuck: An Expose," a story that orbits around a group of middle-age women who prowl parking lots and raves for skater-boys because these lads do it best, do it the longest and do it with a very open mind. A total of 23 stories are featured in this anthology, including James Williams' "Ponyboy," where the meaning of "horse-hung" takes on a completely new meaning as boys ("ponies") eagerly submit to their older male masters ("riders"). And Greta Christina's "A Live One" recounts a delicious role-reversal for a peep-show worker who finds herself on the other side of the booth window thanks to one rather imaginative customer.

Virtually every sexual scenario has dominant and submissive players of some variety, and the same can be said for "Best American Erotica 2003." While most of the selections featured here are remarkably strong, others feel unfinished and weak, traits readers may enjoy in a lover--but not a short story. Take Jack Fritscher's "Three Bears in a Tub," a hairy, bear-y, fetish tale composed in one continuous run-on sentence. It's a snarky literary trick, but here it feels more like a gimmick, largely due to the author's inability to create characters compelling enough to hold our attention. With the publication of the tenth anniversary of this anthology, Bright pulls back the kimono and offers a revealing look at the minds and hearts of soft-core porn writers in a special section of the text devoted to an author questionnaire submitted to dozens of BAE contributors. Bright uncovers all sorts of weird and beautiful tics in these writers, not the least of which is the fact that each and every one of her contributors who have worked as prostitutes has also attended an Ivy League university.

Ten years ago, critics predicted the series would be a flaccid effort, largely because of a widely held attitude that "Literature and sex don't mix," according to Bright. And yet, a decade later, and with a bevy of university graduates under her editorial belt, Bright continues to shine, shedding light on a genre once relegated to seedy bookstore shelves and the darker corners of our imagination.

Best American Erotica 2003

Edited by Susie Bright

Touchstone Books, $14, 368 pages

(2003-02-11)

Also by Tony Peregrin

Calling the little general
I always felt like an alien space traveler in gym class--my sharp-angled, skinny body and shy demeanor dead giveaways that I was not of this machismo-infused world.
(2003-01-08)

Gay nineties
Prowling through the dense, exotic terrain of American pop culture, John D'Emilio, professor of history and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, returns with a detailed map that charts the migration of gays to the center of our national consciousness during the last decade.
(2002-11-13)

PRIDE 101: DISENCHANTED
There is a guilty little secret shared by an ever-increasing number of gays and lesbians, and it goes something like this: We hate Pride parades.
(2002-06-27)

SINGLED, OUT
But our date, our mini-date, has been interrupted by the tinkling of a bell, and in true Pavlovian fashion, the twenty men assembled for Chicago's first gay speed-dating group, immediately shift to the table on their left in the hopes of finding Mr. Right.
(2002-02-07)

NONFICTION REVIEW
(2001-11-29)

BUYING POWER
(2001-11-22)

FICTION REVIEW
(2001-10-11)

LESSONS LEARNED
(2001-06-21)

FACE OFF
(2001-05-31)

OH RIKKI
(2001-03-29)

LAVENDER HAZE
(2001-03-01)

GREAT SEXPECTATIONS
(2001-02-15)

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