Stories I've Enjoyed: "Rescue Wounds" by Kal Cobalt

Yup, trying to resurrect this weekly feature. Mostly because I got really excited about this story when I read an excerpt in a recent Circlet Press Chat. Kal Cobalt's "Rescue Wounds" was published in Circlet's Queerpunk anthology a couple years back.

I found the writing dense and gorgeous. I had to slow way down to read it, because the words have a deep sense of strangeness. They work like cyberpunk should, though. Cobalt doesn't so much explain the world as let it hand within the words on the page. The writing has a lovely way of creating double metaphors: on one hand technological and on the other hand lovely and organic. The relationship in the story is handled with similar subtlety.

Here's a sample, which I hope you'll find as gorgeous as I do:

19178 ticked my cock, again, and delivered a contented little hum at what he found. He started in on the usual behaviors we'd established - all things he took the lead on, so I could respond as necessary and concentrate on the bore. He tongued my ethercock, giving me a truly boring lickjob while I broke relay codes.

The undergrove sprawled beneath six commerce towers; it was going to take a combination of geo-location and cracking the distribution codes to pinpoint his bodyshack. Numbers raced past my right eye faster than I could consciously process. My subprocessors ground through the data in the background, making my skull ache. 19178 kept licking, slipping me an image of his wet lips wrapped tight around my shaft. I blinked the bore into high gear; it was a question now of which would finish first, my subprocessing or my cock. Both ached,pushed to their limit.

I hate it when I come before I'm done cracking.

You can read the rest in the Queerpunk anthology.

Full disclosure: A few of my stories have been published by Circlet, but when I write stuff like this, I'm acting entirely on my own, using a copy of a book that I bought myself.

Stories I've Enjoyed (Coming Together Edition): "Thank God It's Friday" by T. Highwayman

At some point, I realized that a lot of erotica skimps on describing male appearance and experience. My favorite erotic story (which I'll talk about another time) is m/m. For a while, I thought it was my favorite despite the m/m, because of its extreme bdsm. Recently, I re-evaluated. One reason I like it so much is that it contains extended, loving descriptions of cock.

I like cock. I like balls. I like men. (Women, too, but that is also a subject for another time). M/M erotica is obviously good at describing men sensually, but I wish I saw these kinds of descriptions in other places, too.

The story I'm featuring today, "Thank God It's Friday" by T. Highwayman, really aroused me with its focus on cock. I'm not always into masturbation stories (which this is), but this one really makes me understand the appeal of the genre. There's no one else in the picture. I get to be a voyeur. I don't have to compare myself to another person (male or female) playing the role of lover. I can admire, and identify.

The story appeared in Coming Together: By Hand, a collection of masturbation stories that benefits the Coalition for Positive Sexuality.

Here's an excerpt that's much shorter than all my going on:

He had learnt to keep this state going for hours on end. It was the closest a man could get to being multi-orgasmic. His penis would swell to atrocious proportions. He could feel the blood flow through its veins. In this state, he could maintain a perpetual hard-on. He loved it.

Notes:

In honor of the Coming Together Share the Love Blog Bash, I'm featuring Coming Together stories all month for "Stories I've Enjoyed."

Coming Together publishes erotic anthologies and standalone titles, and donates all proceeds to various charities.

For full disclosure, I've been published by Coming Together, but I bought Coming Together: By Hand and wrote this post entirely on my own.

Stories I've Enjoyed (Coming Together Edition): "Quite Contrary" by Allison Wonderland

In honor of the Coming Together Share the Love Blog Bash, I thought that I'd feature Coming Together stories all month for "Stories I've Enjoyed."

Coming Together publishes erotic anthologies and standalone titles, and donates all proceeds to various charities.

The story I'm featuring today, "Quite Contrary" by Allison Wonderland, appeared in Coming Together: By Hand, a collection of masturbation stories that benefits the Coalition for Positive Sexuality.

"Quite Contrary" is about a woman who decides that having the first orgasm of her life is "the one gift that will suffice" for her 50th birthday. She masturbates for the first time, carefully preparing her room and setting aside the taboos she picked up from childhood:

"Ready or not, here I come," Mary giggles, as her hand advances toward her cunt. Her arm quivers, causing her to make a detour to her thigh. The pads of her fingers trek along the pallid skin, tickling the tiny flaxen hairs.

Parting her legs a fraction, she traverses the interior, her nails brushing against the powder pink lace sheltering her sex.

I found the story both hot and moving, a true sign of excellence. I like erotica, most of all, for its honesty, its willingness to go behind closed doors. This story is a great example. I like that Mary is 50. I like that Mary is brave. And I like that Mary learns how to give herself an orgasm.

For full disclosure, I've been published by Coming Together, but I bought Coming Together: By Hand and wrote this post entirely on my own.

Stories I've Enjoyed: "At the Crossroads" by Monique Poirier

Monique Poirier's "At the Crossroads" appeared in Like Heaven and Hell: Erotic Tales of Angels and Demons, which Circlet published in early 2011.

A half-blood angel infected with incubus venom plucks a demon from the gutters of the Gray City to satisfy his infernal craving. Neither of the two is able to treat this as just another encounter:

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... next time, I promise... next time I'll make it so good for you..." he panted into my ear in counterpoint to thrusting hips. I closed my eyes and arched my head until the tips of my horns touched the firmness of hay behind me, my breath coming in quick gasps as I was filled again and again. He'd slicked the way with something, and the sensation was... novel. Nothing like the pain I was used to, and that spot inside me that turned my insides to liquid fire was touched intermittently. He was promising to make it good? This was as good as I'd ever known.

I really wanted these two to end up together, somehow, which is one of the best signs that a story is working. Also, I was reading it over breakfast, and it almost made me late. I loved the concept of the Gray City, where the two characters meet--a sort of no-fire zone between heaven and hell. I also liked that the story didn't shy away from the ethical questions it raised. This is a really strong story, and closed out the anthology on a great note.

I've previously posted about two other stories in this anthology, "Switch," and "Give and Take."

For full disclosure, I've published with Circlet before, but I bought and read this book entirely on my own.

Stories I've Enjoyed: "Switch" by KJ Kabza

KJ Kabza's "Switch" appeared in Like Heaven and Hell: Erotic Tales of Angels and Demons, which Circlet published in early 2011.

An angel who enjoys slumming on Earth by pretending to be a demon becomes obsessed with another angel, who is much more innocent:

"What are you doing?" he whispered. But the whisper was dreamy and weak, and when I moved my mouth to his ear, his words became lost in a feverish sigh.

I slid my hand down. I expected to find his desire rising in answer to mine, but I hit nothing but soft hair.

Oh. A woman's place.

I felt myself smiling. "This is your first time. To Earth. You've never manifested before."
Head tipped back beside my mouth, transported, Nix could barely manage a sound.

"Human males don't..." I started to explain. But perhaps Nix had meant to manifest as a woman to begin with. Or maybe Nix wasn't quite clear on the differences?

I really enjoyed how genderqueer this story was. It played with the fluid boundaries between "him" and "her" in a sexy, satisfying way.

I liked several stories in this anthology, and plan to post about them in coming weeks.

For full disclosure, I've published with Circlet before, but I bought and read this book entirely on my own.

Stories I've Enjoyed: "Time On His Hands" by D. Mark Alderton

Circlet Press regularly puts up free speculative flash erotica. Case in point: D. Mark Alderton's "Time On His Hands." It's about a time-traveling professor who is looking for the perfect woman:

“I started out with the most famous women in history. But they were disappointing. Cleopatra was young and nubile, but too kinky for my tastes.”
“Kinky?”
“Yes, she was only interested in asp play."

"Asp play" totally cracked me up. The whole story is funny like that.

Stories I've Enjoyed

I'm starting a new weekly posting, in addition to Music Mondays. I'm planning to highlight erotic stories I've recently read and enjoyed. I'll post about whatever I've been reading, which may not always be the most recent stuff.

I'm not planning for these to be reviews per se. I don't intend to get into technical discussions of the merits or flaws of stories, and I'll only discuss stories I liked. My comments will likely be minimal.

That said, there's a lot of great erotica out there, and I want to do my part in spreading the word!