Orgasmic - book by Cleis Press Inc. - review by petite-n-sweet

Orgasmic is a rich collection of erotic short stories by multiple authors. At first I thought a compilation like this might be hard to follow because each writer would have their own tone and style. This was not the case with Orgasmic, Erotica for Women. Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, all of the stories flowed together as if written by one author, while each story maintained its own unique appeal.

The authors in this book are:

Jacqueline Applebee
Neve Black
Rachel Kramer Bussel
Angela Caperton
Heidi Champa
Elizabeth Coldwell
Andrea Dale
Justine Elyot
Lana Fox
Rachel Green
Susie Hara
Lily Harlem
Louisa Harte
Noelle Keely
Lolita Lopez
Sylvia Lowry
Jade Melisande
Velvet Moore
Teresa Noelle Roberts
Charlotte Stein
Donna George Storey
Vanessa Vaughn
Kendra Wayne

Orgasmic is a collection of short stories about how different women achieve their orgasm. It is written in a conversational style, sort of like having your best female friend tell you about her recent 'sex-capades.' The book is subtitled Erotica for Women because each tantalizing short story is told by a women and is designed to excite a woman's mind.

This book is made up of 25 short stories that are varied enough to satisfy most people's taste, each ending in some sort of orgasmic bliss. The stories range from 5 to 10 pages each, and touch on couples, fetish, BDSM, spanking, lesbian, voyeurism, forced orgasms with toys, and fantasy and roleplay.

Orgasmic is not illustrated, but with a decent amount of imagination most readers should be able to visualize the stories. One thing I noticed, (which may be the case in most erotica) is that while I could imagine the locations and even the body parts of the people involved in the sex acts, there wasn't much description about the physical appearance of the characters in the stories. That was important to me because I don't really like to focus on the hair color of the main character or her body build.

This is my first erotica book, and I felt like it was a great introduction to adult fiction. It was difficult for me to find time to read the book, so the fact that it is broken up into short stories was extremely helpful for me. Most nights I would read a couple stories and then go to bed only to have sweet dreams.

For me, The book was most useful for discussion with my partner on what we find alluring. Stories such as Chemistry by Velvet Moore, which talked about one woman's fascination with scientists and the surprise sexual encounter she has with the chemist working at her office, were fun to discuss with my significant other. Most of the stories were more thought provoking than arousing.