Frenzy. 60 Stories of Sudden Sex - book discontinued by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Airen Wolf

"Frenzy 60 Stories of Sudden Sex" is a collection of short stories from 60 authors edited and compiled by Alison Tyler. I have read other works by this author and generally like the feeling and flow of her choices. This anthology includes some authors I had not previously heard of. I was looking forward to reading about the different authors but alas this book didn't include the usual section "about the authors"!

I have very mixed feelings about this book. While there are some extremely hot stories in this anthology there were some glaringly bad ones included as well. Some of the stories touched on rape, brutality and other tough issues that left me mostly disturbed rather than turned on or thoughtful. I do realize that tastes vary and this book will appeal to the most varied of sexual appetites but for me it was a detraction...and a nasty surprise. I was expecting hot, short stories of sex that happens suddenly and is frenzied but some of the stories seemed to drag on and on. Some of the stories weren't about sudden sex at all.

I do have some I'd like to point out though:

*The Introduction to the book by Alison Tyler was worth mentioning as she explains her criteria for choosing the stories in her anthologies. Most interesting to read as she penned the introduction while being tugged away for a quickie...
*I, personally, loved the story "Eight Dollars to Paradise" by Thomas S. Roche as it reminded me of any brick and mortar porn store and the frenzy one feels when the selection has been made.
*"White Rush" by Cheyenne Blue had me smiling and remembering the times I've been caught just after a quickie.

This is an anthology that has something for everyone but not much for everyone. I was put off by most of the stories and I am not prudish in my reading materials. I like very hardcore porn stories but some of these were amateurish and just plain disturbing. I did find that the spanking stories were very entertaining, surprisingly enough since I usually don't find much value in them usually.

I think this book tries to cater to too many kinks and mostly misses the mark. It's not one I will be recommending to my friends. The topics range from dreamy imaginings of frenzied sex, to heavy bondage, spanking, first times, reminiscing and the whole range in between.

The book is a soft cover and definitely is not work friendly. The overall color of the cover is pea green and the model is sitting in a bathroom in her undies maybe performing oral sex...or flossing her teeth. The words "Frenzy 60 stories of sudden sex" are across the front of the book and below is the words edited by Alison Tyler. Fairly simple design.

The book is the same high quality I have come to expect from Cleis Press.

This book doesn't seem to flow and some of the stories are jarring and disturbing.

I found this book to be tedious to read and some of the stories were so disturbing I had to stop reading them and move on. There are no stories that really stand out in my mind and only one or two out of sixty that gave me any food for thought. I didn't share any of the stories with my guys which is very unusual for us. The book was mostly tossed on a bedside table and neither guy felt the need to even peruse it.