Hot Summer Reads

If you want to guarantee that you will have a sizzling summer regardless of the weather, pick up a copy of Hot Summer Reads. Some of the best names on Literotica have clubbed together here to offer you stories ranging from the gently mature (Steve Williams) to the wildly playful (TT Tales). Hetero, gay, bi and lesbian stories; BDSM, mature, first love, science fiction, crime drama, it's all here laid out for the teasing ... I mean reading! 

@ $2.99 this is a total bargain, and even more, will offer you a gateway into the writing worlds of these ten authors. You couldn't ask for a better introduction to the best of the proliferation of prose available at Literotica. If you want to try out a sexy story but are anxious that you may bite off more than you can chew (unlike the women in The Hole In The Basement Wall LOL!), check out these tales and follow up the writers you like. 

Not all of these stories are safe sex. By rights I can only review two, but I am going to sneak in a third one. Yes! for only the third time on here I am going to break my safe sex rule because one of these stories is that good. Oh, and I will give an honourable mention to a fourth because it's mostly safe sex.

(Hot Summer Reads is available on Amazon: in the US, in the UK and in Australia. All other Amazon outlets, too.)

Wow, Freya Lange (aka stlgoddessfreya), snaps to you! It's Freya who pulled together and edited this anthology, getting such a hot set of great writers to pool their passionate prose. But never mind what a great job she did with that. 

I'm regretting not having read any of Freya's work before, as Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday is a stand-out winner of a story, expertly crafted. I can feel the chill off those ice-cold coke bottles, never mind what I feel in the the hot hot sex scenes. The mood is killlingly well conveyed in this unusual road story. A young woman full of dreams of a sophistication she barely knows how to articulate, who finds lust like she hardly dares imagine it. There is a kind of prescient nostalgic tone to the story, as heady as a Pink Passion cocktail. 

And damn you, Patient Lee. You made me cry! Gah, no it was just a bit of dust in my eye, I am a hardened literary critic, mean and ornery (wink). I am not a bit romantic really. (Ahhh, that was lovely *sniff*). I do admire the realist touches in Patient Lee's writing. The cheap flip-flops, the uncertain grumpiness of a woman betrayed who suddenly realises there may be a different kind of love; the flowering of people through little flashes of ordinary everyday humour into beauty and passion.

For something completely different (and not a 'safe' story), I go to M.S. Tarot. The Darkness Next Door is a tour-de-force, taking an exceptionally difficult and bleak sexual story and making it a thing of beauty. Crafting a story out of miserable poverty and sweet happiness, this one can take its place among M.S. Tarot's best explorations of the human condition. M.S. has a habit of going deep down and creating something golden out of what he mines in the most unpromising social situations. (The Golden Ring remains my favourite FAWC story on Literotica and I still regret not being able to review it on here.) The Darkness Next Door mixes the 'hard-boiled' style of crime writers like Raymond Chandler and Chester Himes with the sweet sadness of the blues. The frustration of those obliged to passively witness abuse because interference will only make things worse is devastatingly well conveyed. Melodramatic yet convincingly grimy, the story has a rich vein of anger running through it which explodes in the ending.

Finally, a high five to TT Tales for a great story about fresh starts for dull marriages. This is an accomplished piece of writing. The start is snappy and gets us immediately in the swing (ho ho - no they don't!). Action never stops, the characters are thorougly convincing especially when they have a little pop at each other; there is good depiction of people trying to tell it like it is while being tactful enough that someone will not flounce off and spoil the social scene for everyone else. Neighbourliness was never so much fun before! I like this story because it makes clear how dull regular penetrative sex can be. 'Getting your rations', 'doing your marital duty' - yawn yawn! Good marital sex should be playful. Whatever the Good Book says, it is not just about procreation. Sadly, many people love each other without having the courage to share any detail of quite mundane sexual games they wish they could play. As TT demonstrates, a loved partner can easily kill off your sense of trust by just looking down their nose at some small fantasy you might have. This is a story about some women who had the sense to realise that talking about sex sympathetically is talking about you and me, and all the good things and the bad things that may be. 

Read this collection because all of the stories are well written, great fun and give you a glimpse into the huge range of fun stories awaiting you in the wider world of erotic writing online. Buy it to give back something to writers who often give you a free ride (wink). 

Mary Shelley called her novel Frankenstein a 'waking dream'. Our most important dreams are bound up with sex and sexuality; I would argue that it's in our sexuality, in our kinship networks of family, friends and social allies, that we build our human lives. The writers of erotic stories give us waking dreams which offer visions of life as it could be. To me it's a measure of hope that we can get them free, that there are many wonderful and life-affirming, inspirational dreams for us to explore and build on which we do not have to pay for in any way. 

Outside the world of Literotica, the writer must somehow live in capitalism and commerce. People are sadly prone not to take our writing seriously until we produce a check that covers the cost of the baby's shoes. Many of the waking dreams bought on commercial publishing sites are what I would call 'opiate of the masses'. (I keep trying to get away from Marxism, it's just so clunky and nineteenth century darling! but society will keep acting in a way that makes it relevant.) Such stories are like drugs to help us accept abusive, destructive relationships; friendships and marriages which at best work to repress a person wanting to live life to the full, at worst kill our dearest dreams and humane impulses. The stories in this volume are breaths of fresh air reminding us to wake up and seize the day.

Seize the book. Buy some Hot Summer Reads to remind you that life's a beach (wink).