August 18, 2000 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

One very well-seasoned dish

Best Bisexual Erotica

Edited by Bill Brent and Carol Queen Circlet Press and Black Books, $16

Reviewed by Anthony Glassman

Go into a bar, start up a conversation with someone you find attractive, and once you've hit it off, tell them you're bisexual.

The odds are, the person you were just talking to is no longer there. The gay community has a warped perception of bisexuals: either they're confused, or they just want the best of both worlds. The gay community would like to sweep bisexuals under the rug, and pretend that no one is in the middle of the Kinsey scale.

But they're here, they're queer, and they've got a really great new collection of erotica.

For those of you who just got lost: Erotica is porn without the photographs of actual penetration, basically. A Jeff Stryker movie is porn; a written description of everything in a Jeff Stryker movie is erotica. Deep Throat (the movie, not the Watergate figure) is porn; the writing of Anais Nin is erotica.

Now, with that out of the way, Best Bisexual Erotica, edited by Bill Brent and Carol Queen, with an introduction by Cecilia Tan, is one of the best collections of erotica ever, for one very simple reason. If variety is the spice of life, this is one very well-seasoned dish indeed.

There is something for everyone in here, even if they are not bisexual. There are enough descriptions of man-on-man sex to satiate the biggest satyriast among the reading populace, and plenty of ribald stories involving love between women.

The writing, as is the case with any anthology, is uneven; some styles lend themselves to arousal better than others, and the reader is presented with a lot of everything. But in that "lot of everything" is what makes this book a must-have for the sociological collector of adult materials.

This book has transsexual erotica. "Oh, that's nothing new. I just saw a copy of She-Males of Brazil at the adult video store," you are probably saying to yourself right now. Or, perhaps, "What the heck are you talking about?" if you are less familiar with the wide world of pornography.

I'm talking about an erotic story, written with a degree of sensitivity that lifts it above the majority of its genre, about transgendered people having satisfying sex, fulfilling themselves both physically and emotionally.

"Triple Dance," a story by Raven Kaldera, is the first instance of transgender erotica this writer/smuthound has ever seen that did not reduce its characters to "chicks with dicks" or "bearded women." In the more visual media of adult entertainment, male-tofemale and female-to-male transsexuals are freaks, novelties; they're treated like interestingly crafted vibrators. But not in "Triple Dance."

The narrator, Jack, is a female-tomale pre-operative transsexual, involved in a loving relationship with Ian, a bisexual man. Jack, however, has a crush on Shelley, a male-tofemale transsexual at work, who has gone as far as having an orchiectomy, removing her testicles. Ian decides that since Jack doesn't feel comfortable trying to get Shelley, he'll get Shelley for him.'

Romance, role-playing and risqué behavior ensue.

The story was written with such depth of feeling and cultural consciousness, that it's almost difficult for someone unfamiliar with transgender issues to take seriously as erotica, but it is. It is actually quite arousing, both sexually and sociologically.

Of course, it is not the only story in there. Nor is it the only

the dynamic surrounding the acceptance of transgendered people in our community, or the lack of acceptance.

good story in there. It was cited for the importance of the work, speaking in terms of

"Triplicity," a story by Richard Steven Beck, is a wonderful example of how the male-oriented bisexual story can be done

'Triple Dance, a story by Raven Kaldera, is the first instance of transgender erotica this writer has ever seen that did not reduce its characters to 'chicks with dicks' or 'bearded women."

well. This story is written from the point of view of a troubled man who becomes friends with a co-worker and his girlfriend. They all wind up having sex in every available permutation, obviously.

What is more important than the actual plot points is the fact that it is incredibly arousing. Someone can describe in great

Best

detail a sexual act of any orientation, but unless they have a gift for expressing themselves, the description, especially if it is in words, will not be arousing.

The female-oriented stories are even more interesting, sociologically speaking, than the male-oriented ones. A lot of “bisexual" erotica (and porn) is designed for straight men, and involves two women having sex until Mr. Man comes along, at which point they decide they would love to play with him. Yawn.

These stories, however, are not. They are written by prominent bisexual writers and activists, and they show it. A lot of the stories involve women who love women, but get a hankering to try a man. The best of the female-oriented stories, though, is "Sauce for the Gander," written by Hanne Blank. In it, Anna, the narrator, and Jill, her girlfriend, decide it is time to deflower Daniel, Anna's boyfriend. Believe me, it all makes sense in the story, and the writing is wonderfully matter-of-fact. The story rocks. This is not an official journalistic term for use in book reviews, but it's apt.

This collection is verging on the groundbreaking, if solely for the scope of its focus. Perhaps a better title would have been Best Pansexual Erotica, but somehow it just doesn't have the same ring.

BISEXUAL Erotica

Edited by Bill Brent and Carol Queen

Foreword by Cecilia Tan

2001 ·