Nine-to-Five Fantasies

Tyler (the Alphabet Erotica series) compiles 18 inventive and toe-curling original erotic fantasies related to a variety of contemporary jobs. In most cases, the sex happens at the actual workplace: behind closed office doors, in a theater tech booth, against a car in a mechanic’s shop. The stories cover a wide variety of professions—barber, personal trainer, cowboy, teacher—and incorporate diverse interests, including both straight and queer pairings and a range of kinks. Every story features off-the-charts heat, and there’s often a sweetness at the center, as in A.M. Hartnett’s “Just a Little Tenderness,” in which a delivery man with a broken leg needs the narrator’s care. Other charismatic stand-outs include Andrea Dale’s “California Dreamin’,” Devin Phillips’s “Current Photo, Please,” and Cora Zane’s “Body Work.” Most of the stories feature the realization of long-held fantasies—about a person, an act, or both—in ways that build a solid emotional basis for the splendid sex. This anthology is a must-read for anyone fancying a bit of play at work. (Nov.)