cover image Erotic Edge: 2erotica for Couples

Erotic Edge: 2erotica for Couples

. Dutton Books, $22.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-525-93809-5

Barbach, editor of two previous compilations of erotica written by women, here assembles a collection of 22 stories authored by both sexes. While this volume certainly does not contain something for everyone (only one entry--pseudonymous Anna Nymus's ``The Wager''--even touches on a gay relationship; domination/submission is dealt with once in the oddly moving ``The Language of Desire,'' written by a couple identified only as Khafre and Patrice), it does offer up a veritable smorgasbord of spicy fantasies. Barbach has divided the tales according to theme--Very Male and Very Female; Common Themes; The Perfect Match --each prefaced by an introduction. She observes the differences between male and female erotic writing: ``stories written by men concentrate on the details of the lovemaking scenes'' while ``women's stories emphasize seduction, desire and the mental foreplay that builds up to the sexual encounter.'' The more successful tales include Kim Chernin's ``The Sacred Harlot,'' an account of ancient erotic forces called up at an academic conference; Marsha Power's graphic depiction of a female-initiated one-night stand in ``11:30 P.M.--Saturday Night''; Clark Sevill Demorest's flip wish-fulfillment fantasy, ``A Matter of Attitude''; and B. J. Simmons's ``Unconditional Positive Regard,'' in which a couple make a first effort at ``swinging.'' The level of prose is uneven in the collection as a whole, however; many of the stories are rather amateurishly written and feature cliched, wooden dialogue. Author tour. (May)