Caught Looking - book discontinued by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Misty Meadows

Caught Looking|Caught Looking is a compilation of twenty short stories all about voyeurs and exhibitionists. Being that I am an exhibitionist myself, it was a very fun read. Only four of the twenty stories were written by men. The rest were done by women. I have to say I enjoyed the stories by women much more than the ones written by the men.

"The Poet, Dying" By Simon Sheppard is the only gay male story in the book. It features an old man who’s paid for two young boys to have sex with each other in front of him. I’m not really into the male-on-male sex so this one really did not excite me. "Forceful Personalities" by Dominic Santi was just highly unrealistic. It is about two business people who are attracted to each other. After securing a deal the man and woman go out to dinner where he starts to slip ice cubes down her dress and into her bra. There really is no lead up to that action. So any self respecting woman would be shocked and angry for a man to do this. Not turned on. At least no women I know. And then he starts pulling down her dress in the middle of the busy restaurant. That is not even something that I would let my husband do.

The stories written by women|Various sex fantasies were much more accurate. I’m sure I also enjoyed them more since they were done from a woman’s point of view. I enjoyed "Couples Welcome" by Erica Dumas because it played to a particular fantasy of mine. A couple goes to a strip club where the man buys the woman a lap dance. Then after the dance is done the couple goes out and has sex in the alleyway. "Late Bloomer" by Alison Tyler is about a shy girl who has two roommates who are very open with their sex life. She finds pleasure in watching them have sex through their open bedroom door. The female roommate loves to walk around naked at all hours of the day. It is all about how the shy girl eventually comes out of her shell because of this couple. One story that was really strange was "All Eyes On Her" by M. Christian. It’s about a woman who is masturbating on top of a building and the people who are watching her in the buildings next to hers. It was sort of just a jumbled confusing mess. You’re never really sure what is happening. One of my favorite stories was "Tight Spots" by Debra Hyde. The main character is an erotica writer and she decides she wants to do a piece on sex in the back of an old VW bug. It’s extremely funny reading how she and her lover have to contort their bodies trying to get a good angle and rhythm going. Being as how I lost my virginity in the backseat of a car- I know exactly how she was feeling. I laughed out loud more then once with this story.