This anthology includes 17 stories written by 17 different authors. Surprisingly (at least for me), the majority of authors in this anthology were women, and impressively, they manage to write incredibly convincing tales of male dominance.

The Authors who contributed to He's On Top are as follows:

N.T. Morely - Not Until Dawn
Lisabet Sarai - Incurable Romantic
Debra Hyde - Seizing Monica
Gwen Masters - Confession
Donna George Storey - Yes
M. Christian - In Control
Mackenzie Cross - A Good Reference
Lee Ash - Boardroom Etiquette
Shanna Germain - The Sun Is An Ordinary Star
Andrea Dale - An The Twelfth Day...
Matt Conklin - Thrill Ride
Jason Rubis - Catherine When She Begs
Amanda Earl - Brianna's Fire
Mike Kimera - Christmas With Suzy And Mary
Teresa Noelle Roberts - Reclaiming
Rachel Kramer Bussel - Late For A Spanking
Thomas S. Roche - Schoolgirl And Angel

The authors in this anthology are well known for both the quality of their writing and story content. To give you an example, here are a few exerpts from the "About The Authors" section of the book:

Lee Ash is a U.K. author who has published half a dozen novels, novellas, and countless short stories, all firmly set withing the genre of BDSM at it's most punishing. He writes principally for the U.K. imprint Silver Moon, and regularly contributes to the website Darker Pleasures.

Thomas S. Roche's short fiction has appeared in more than 300 magazines, websites, and anthologies, including the Best American Erotica series, and the Best New Erotica series. He can be reached through his website, www.skidroche.com, or his weblog, thomasroche.livejournal.com.

Amanda Earl is a Canadian writer of poetry and erotic fiction. Her erotica has been published in The Mammoth Book Of Best New Erotica 5. Other anthologies that include her erotica are Cream: The Best Of The Erotica Readers And Writers Association, The Mammoth Book Of Best New Erotica 6, and Iridescence: Lovely Shades Of Lesbian Erotica

The editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel, who also contributed a story to this anthology,is a prolific writer, editor, journalist, and blogger. She serves as senior editor at Penthouse Variations, hosts in the Flesh Erotic Reading Series, and wrote the popular Lusty Lady column for The Village Voice.

The stories in this particular anthology are as much (if not more) about the mental aspect of sex for men who top, as they are about the physical; the mental preparation, the anticipation, and finally the restraint and control. The stories introduce you to the motives and excitement of men who love to top, as well as their perception of the women who bottom, all in all, it is a fabulous book and I would recommend it to any woman who has ever had a fantasy of, or loves being topped by a man.

As you may have gleaned from the above information, the stories in this book are of a hetero nature, there is no gay or lesbian action to be found in this one. Though there are a couple stories with multiple women involved.

The stories, for the most part (and I will get to that later), flow very nicely into each other, and make reading the selections in order, an enjoyable experience. The writing is fantastic, and the characters are all pretty easy to relate to. What surprised me more than anything was how well the female writers seemed to get into the heads of their male characters; while reading, it is virtually impossible to tell the male writers from the female.

Here are a few exerpts from my top story choices:

1. Sean blinks stupidly, but there is no hiding the bulge in his pants. She is every man's dream sitting there, a scarf over her eyes, chest heaving, red lips moist and slightly parted.

"I'll tell you a little secret about my girlfriend, Sean, old buddy. She loves to show off. You should see her at parties. She's practically spilling out of her shirt, and her jeans ride so low you get an eyeful of cleavage there too. I don't know why she looks so prim and proper tonight. Let's let Sean see the real you, sweetie. Why don't you take of your blouse for him?" - Yes by Donna George Storey


2. He grazed her nipples with fingers and teeth before adorning her upturned breasts with clips, the kind with bells on the ends that chimed when he played with her.

"You like my hands on you, don't you? My mouth, my tongue. My cock." As he spoke the last, he rubbed the head of his penis against her slickness, along the hard bud of her clit. She trembled in her bonds, the muscles in her arms tight as she clenched her fists. "Yes" she repeated in breathy little gasps. "Oh. Yes. Yes Sir." - On The Twelfth Day by Andrea Dale


3. "I will flog her, if I wish to do so. Tie her hands over her head so she stands as she is now. I will put a bar between her legs - a spreader, it is called, so that she stands prisoner for me. I will push a hand between her legs, tease her cunt. Or go down and lick her there. Beat her. I will certainly beat her. I will make her cry very loudly. You have seen already that she is very passionate, but she is a silly creature. A toy. My toy. My little baby." - Catherine When She Begs by Jason Rubin

This is NOT a book that you are going to want to keep lying around on the coffee table... unless you are maybe the owner operator of a dungeon and you live above it. Nobody is going to walk past this book and think, "Oh, I wonder what that's about!" ... At least not without a serious hint of sarcasm to their mental voice.

The cover is adorned with a woman in heels, panties and an under bust corset, she is supporting her own breasts in her hands. The only other thing she is wearing, is a collar attached to a chain, being held in the hands of a man who's body is mostly off cover. The title written in large red letters, reads "He's On Top", and in a smaller yellow font, "Erotic stories of MALE DOMINANCE and female submission". This book SCREAMS bdsm anthology like no other... Ok, so maybe that's not entirely true... I can think of a few. In any case, you might want to keep it out of sight of prying and judgemental eyes.

The book is standard paperback material. As far as covers go, this one is of average thickness and density. The pages are exactly what you would expect to find; not that superfine paper that is impossible not to wrinkle or smudge but the heavier, more natural pages of the paperback variety. (It will hold up as well as the next softcover.) The book measures 8"x5,1/2" and is 180 pages, is well organized, and complete with introduction, table of contents, about the authors and about the editor sections.

I thoroughly enjoyed most of the short stories in this anthology. They wound me up and kept me there from start to finish. There was however one exception. The story "The Sun Is An Ordinary Star", though well written and a good read, was not anything that I would consider erotica, especially placed between stories like "Boardroom Etiquette" and "On The Twelfth Day". It was fairly lengthy compared to some of the others, and really somewhat of a downer by comparison. If I had to classify it as anything, I would say it was romance, with a hint of kink.

"The Sun Is An Ordinary Star" is a story of a man as he prepares for, and deals with, his wifes return from the hospital after being treated for cancer. Between his sadness, and his wifes reaction to his tender attempts to engage her, I found the story somewhat depressing. It had a hopeful ending which was nice, but it was not hot, was not overly kinky, and there was nowhere near enough sex or topping for me to feel that this story fit in any way into this book. As I said before, it is a well written and a good read, but would be much better suited to another anthology.