Stand in for MC stories

The Sexy Librarian's Big Book of Erotica contains twenty-two short stories, with literary tones ranging from exotic romance to sordid porn, although favoring the former, and diverse genre settings including science fiction, supernatural horror, and superhero action, along with more "mainstream" narrative situations. All but three were written by women, and one of the male-authored stories was my least favorite of the set. BDSM emphasis is present in only a minority of the pieces.

I enjoyed most of these pretty well, but none of them floored me and left me hoping to hunt down more from their particular authors. They are all short enough to be read in a lone sitting, or a shared reclining. I can recommend the book for filler entertainment, but can't consider it a prize volume in my library. ( )

Unlike most of the erotica collections I've come across, this one is filled with stories which are both varied and wonderfully written, stories that are worth reading and engaging on a human level, and not just included to balance out others or on the basis of particular scenes. All told, even the stories here which were (far far) beyond anything I'd find erotically interesting were still so well-written and so cleverly executed that I didn't have any desire to skim over them or skip them entirely, as has always been my instinct with some stories in other (similar) collections. Rather than seeking out a best-of collection the next time in the market for a collection like this, I'll look instead to works edited by Rose Caraway.

If you're looking for a collection of erotica, or want to know whether erotica can be literary as well, this might just be worth your while.

For what it is? Recommended. ( )

The one thing I enjoyed about this book is the different genres of erotica that it covered. Stempunk, horror, fantasy, sci-fi and etc. opened my eyes to the idea that erotica can come in many different forms. Each story was original and titillating, making the reader want to explore more works by the authors of these fantastic short stories. The “catalog cards” were the icing on the cake and really helped intertwine the library theme. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed! ( )

If you think you know what erotica is, this book is here to prove that there are as many different forms of erotica, as there are sexual predilections. The best part about this anthology is the clever "card catalog" system of labeling the stories. Which is helpful because not everyone enjoys the same thing - that's why there are 31 flavors, after all! The catalog cards give a sense of the elements contained within the story; so if you're not interested in BDSM, just skip that particular story. Not all of the stories in this collection were to my personal taste, but that's the beauty of it. Short samplings of different styles/genres of erotica. You can take the things that excite you, and leave the rest. But don't expect it to all appeal, as some collections that merely group examples of identical style/genre. Yes, these stories are all deemed erotica, but they are completely different glimpses into that world.