Best Fetish Erotica - book discontinued by Cleis Press Inc. - review by leatherlover

This is the first book that I have read that has been edited by Cara Bruce, so I am not familiar with her work. In the back it says she has edited stories in numerous books, along with running two different websites. Since this book was published back in 2002, at least one of the websites doesn't work anymore. Also looking over this list of authors, the only one I recognize in my past reading is Alison Tyler.

The stories in the book are:
Girdle Boy by Jerry Stahl
Love Me Tender by JT Leroy
Blades by Alison Tyler
Man and Woman: A Study in Black and White
Smoked by Thomas S. Roche
Never Judge a Book by Stephen Albrow
Dolores by Myriam Gurba
That Grin by Greg Wharton
Machine by Raven Kaldera
The Naked City by Marcy Sheiner
The Whore Gene by Lisa Montanarelli
Office Hours by Jen Collins
The Magical Little White Skirt by Joy James
Santa's Little Helper by Jenesi Ash
Catholic Spanking by Monah Li
Horsepower by Tom Piccirilli
Blow Up by M. Christian
Director of Dolls by Anne Tourney
Selfish Fetish by Susie Bright
The Vegetarian by m. i. blue
For Sale by Cara Bruce

The writing styles from the various authors definitely drew me in, even though the fetish's were not what I was expecting. The fetish's went from girdles, to knife play, to smoking, to women in brothels, to she-males in skirts, spanking, cars and more. Mixed in were both hetero and homo couples, with 8 of the stories being homo couples. There is even a she-male story. If you are vanilla, you would probably not like this book. If you don't really have any fetish's or think they are weird, you might not enjoy this book. But if you are open to exploring and trying new things, some of the stories could give you ideas, or at least get you turned on.

The book measures 6 by 9 inches, so it is slightly larger than some other books I have received from Eden. On the front is Best Fetish Erotica, with Fetish in bold, red letters. There is also a woman leaning against a wall, in high heels and a black vinyl corset. It was hard to read in public, and I was only willing to do it in a corner with the book flat down. There is another photo of the same woman on the back, with some information about the book as well as the authors. The book is 183 pages long, and the length of each story varies greatly. There was one story that was only 3 pages long, while another was 18 pages long. I would say on average they were about 10 pages each.

Starting to read the book, the very first story had me slightly confused, and concerned. It started with the character when he was very young, and he had a girdle fetish. Fast forward some time, and we see how it connects in the adult world. While the ending was fine, the start of the story had me concerned. The next story was even worse. While these are as far as I had gotten in my first reading, I was not impressed.

The very next story after these two was much better. Then the next was decent, but the third after that, Smoked by Thomas S. Roche, was unbelievable. The story was erotic in nature, with cigarettes, lingerie, orgasms and masturbation, but it was so much more. It was like reading a normal novel, not erotic, and you felt a connection to the characters. It even had the unfortunate tragedy at the end, one in which you will never know what truly happened.

Machine by Raven Kaldera was another one of my favorite stories, right on up there with Smoked. It was almost like watching a tv show, where the character was caught by police, and we go back through the history of Machine, and how Machine got to the police station. Machine is a story about two women who meet with a unique desire, one to be a machine and used, and the other to be a user. But the user is in a wheelchair, and for Machine to achieve all that she desires, she goes out in the world willing to be a Machine for anyone that wants to use her. A great story involving a lesbian couple, but one of them which fucks men to fulfill all of her desires.

Horsepower by Tom Piccirilli is a story about a comic book nerd just out of high school, who has a run in with a old friend turned goth. In their first encounter, he worries more about his comics than the goth coming onto him. But when he gets home and finds his true power, horsepower, he goes and finds her out on the street. They drive off, and with his horsepower, he commands his power and forgets the comics.

For Sale by Cara Bruce is an interesting story about a woman's passion for the color red. Whether lingerie, t-shirts, or even an old chair. She finds a red chair at a garage sale that she absolutely loves, and the owner loves the chair as well, but for a different reason. They have a fling together in a similar chair, both fulfilling their fantasies, but when they go back outside, the chair that brought them together has been sold, and both are crushed.

While I enjoyed reading this erotic collection, and was able to read through it quite quickly, it was not what I was expecting. Instead of getting heels, feet, corsets, leather, or even toys, it was a sex crazed director playing with dolls, a man getting off with a 4 foot ball, another getting off only in a car, girdles, spankings, and other randomness. While I can appreciate the diversity of the stories, a few of the main ones that I expected to be in this book were never represented. While disappointing, I did enjoy this book, but maybe not enough to quickly reach for it again in the future.

Also, one story talks about a book having pony play, but this book doesn't contain any stories of pony play. This is one fetish I have heard of, but never experienced in text, movie, or real life.