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Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Fear and Queer Desire
Traditional horror has often portrayed female characters in direct relation to their sexual role according to men, such as the lascivious victim or innocent heroine; even vampy, powerful female villains, such as the classic noir “spider women,” use their sexual prowess to seduce and overwhelm married men. Fist of the Spider Woman is a revelatory anthology of horror stories by queer and transgressive women and others that disrupts reality as queer women know it, instilling both fear and arousal while turning traditional horror iconography on its head.
In this collection, horror (including gothic, noir, and speculative writing) is defined as that which both titillates and terrorizes, forcing readers to confront who they are. Kristya Dunnion's "Homeland" reveals the horrors that lurk on your average night in a lesbian bar; Elizabeth Bachinsky’s “Postulation on the Violent Works of the Marquis de Sade” is a response to Sade from a feminist (yet kinky) perspective; and Amber Dawn’s “Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental” is a paranormal fantasia about urban gentrification, set in a house rented by lesbians on the eve that it is sold to new owners.
Subversive, witty, sexy—and scary—Fist of the Spider Woman poses two questions: “What do queer women fear the most?” and “What do queer women desire the most?”
Amber Dawn is a writer, performance artist, and radical sex/gender activist who co-edited With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn.
In this collection, horror (including gothic, noir, and speculative writing) is defined as that which both titillates and terrorizes, forcing readers to confront who they are. Kristya Dunnion's "Homeland" reveals the horrors that lurk on your average night in a lesbian bar; Elizabeth Bachinsky’s “Postulation on the Violent Works of the Marquis de Sade” is a response to Sade from a feminist (yet kinky) perspective; and Amber Dawn’s “Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental” is a paranormal fantasia about urban gentrification, set in a house rented by lesbians on the eve that it is sold to new owners.
Subversive, witty, sexy—and scary—Fist of the Spider Woman poses two questions: “What do queer women fear the most?” and “What do queer women desire the most?”
Amber Dawn is a writer, performance artist, and radical sex/gender activist who co-edited With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Amber Dawn
20 books217 followersAmber Dawn is a writer, filmmaker and performance artist based in Vancouver. She is the author of the novel Sub Rosa (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010), editor of the Lambda Award-nominated Fist of the Spider Woman (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008) and co-editor of With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2005). Her award-winning, genderfuck docu-porn, "Girl on Girl," has been screened in eight countries and added to the gender studies curriculum at Concordia University. She has toured three times with the infamous Sex Workers' Art Show in the US. She was voted Xtra! West's Hero of the Year in 2008. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Currently, she is the director of programming for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
October 11, 2018
"Where does one / live when one fits nowhere but in fiction / and insanity?" - Elizabeth Bachinsky
Fist of the Spider Woman is an anthology of 16 horror and erotic stories and poems by queer women. This was my first time reading an anthology with erotic stories, so it was an interesting experience and a fun read. This book is unique, and I appreciate that it introduced me to a lot of new authors.
I didn't love everything, but there were a lot of solid stories in here. My top 5 were Shark by Kestrel Barnes, All You Can Be by Mette Bach, In Circles by Aurelia T. Evans, Homeland by Kristynn Dunnion, and Every Dark Desire by Fiona Zedde. I think that Shark & All You Can Be are both going to stick in the back of my head for a while. They were both heartbreaking and fascinating. I am hoping to read more from some of the authors in this book.
I do want to give a warning to potential readers that this book has stories with violence and rape / lack of consent. It's not in every single story, but it's pretty prevalent throughout the book. It was a bit jarring at times. I'm glad that I read some reviews beforehand so that I was prepared.
I think a lot of these stories may fall more under speculative fiction or erotica, but it was still an intriguing anthology all around. I would definitely pick up a second volume if one ever exists.
I love that this book gives readers a chance to see queer women in all sorts of different roles in different stories. They are heroes, survivors, monsters, victims, villains, just regular people living - it's a very human set of stories. If you are looking to make your horror reading more diverse, I think that an anthology like this one is a good place to start.
Fist of the Spider Woman is an anthology of 16 horror and erotic stories and poems by queer women. This was my first time reading an anthology with erotic stories, so it was an interesting experience and a fun read. This book is unique, and I appreciate that it introduced me to a lot of new authors.
I didn't love everything, but there were a lot of solid stories in here. My top 5 were Shark by Kestrel Barnes, All You Can Be by Mette Bach, In Circles by Aurelia T. Evans, Homeland by Kristynn Dunnion, and Every Dark Desire by Fiona Zedde. I think that Shark & All You Can Be are both going to stick in the back of my head for a while. They were both heartbreaking and fascinating. I am hoping to read more from some of the authors in this book.
I do want to give a warning to potential readers that this book has stories with violence and rape / lack of consent. It's not in every single story, but it's pretty prevalent throughout the book. It was a bit jarring at times. I'm glad that I read some reviews beforehand so that I was prepared.
I think a lot of these stories may fall more under speculative fiction or erotica, but it was still an intriguing anthology all around. I would definitely pick up a second volume if one ever exists.
I love that this book gives readers a chance to see queer women in all sorts of different roles in different stories. They are heroes, survivors, monsters, victims, villains, just regular people living - it's a very human set of stories. If you are looking to make your horror reading more diverse, I think that an anthology like this one is a good place to start.
May 3, 2018
3.0 Stars
I loved the premised behind this anthology. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the stories as much as I hoped. Most of the stories in the collection were extremely vulgar and sexually violent. Written by a diverse group of female authors, these erotic horror stories predominantly featured queer, lesbian & trans women. I would cautiously recommend this one to other readers with a high tolerance for difficult subject matter who are looking to read some dark & twisted diverse horror.
Favourite short story:
Sido by Suki Lee
I loved the premised behind this anthology. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the stories as much as I hoped. Most of the stories in the collection were extremely vulgar and sexually violent. Written by a diverse group of female authors, these erotic horror stories predominantly featured queer, lesbian & trans women. I would cautiously recommend this one to other readers with a high tolerance for difficult subject matter who are looking to read some dark & twisted diverse horror.
Favourite short story:
Sido by Suki Lee
November 26, 2018
3.5 Stars. Erotic horror written by queer women is something I need more of in my life. This was a quick little anthology that I read in one sitting.
May 31, 2015
Gorgeous, twisted, and erotic: it’s a strange but tantalizing combination that is the collection Fist of the Spider Woman. Edited by the ever-fabulous Vancouver-based writer, filmmaker, and performance artist Amber Dawn, this book of “tales of fear and queer desire” is probably the most unique anthology I’ve ever read. It’s queer not just in the LGBTQ sense, but also in that older, more fundamental meaning: strange, odd, unsettling. With over half of the contributors hailing from Canada (nine out of fifteen), the book also represents a diverse group of queer Canadian women writers, who impressed me to no end about how far their imaginations could venture, both in the direction of the terrifying and the erotic. Actually, probably the most remarkable thing about this collection is how all of its contributors show that travel toward that which is frightening and that which is sexy just might be in the same direction...
See the rest of my review on my website: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wor...
See the rest of my review on my website: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wor...
March 17, 2009
Hot and scary. And hot. And scary.
November 6, 2018
When I picked it up, I did not realize this book was anthology was centered around horror and niche kinks/fetishes featured in almost all stories. Once I realized this, it became a better read, especially for around Halloween-time. The stories range from oozing sexiness, filthy and heartwarming, to hair-raising, eerie, trauma inciting and almost grotesque (sometimes in the same tale). Many trigger warnings!
December 28, 2020
Erotic horror by, for, and focusing on queer women is a phenomenal concept. It inspires/collects pieces which are carnal and strange--like the opening story, Milks' "Slug," which commits entirely to its title; like the editor's penultimate "Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental in East Vancouver," with a rich queer history and remarkable central tableau. (Other particular favorites: Evans' "In Circles" has a dynamic which speaks directly to my id; Barnes's "Shark" has a convincing sense of place and home. Also Lamm's "Conspiracy of Fuckers" and Bach's "All You Can Be.") Boundaries like erotic/terrifying, fetish/fear, and consent are fluid and broken. The existence of the anthology in itself is invigorating, captivating, and bumps up my rating. But as in all anthologies, quality varies, and this particular theme and selection of indie authors exacerbates that. The tone can err didactic and bingo-y; all the poetry was a miss for me, and some pieces are on-theme but in hammy or unremarkable ways.
November 26, 2018
2.5 stars - I like the idea behind this collection, I am just not sure it came together as well as it could have. The title and blurb promise fear and desire, the horrific and erotic. It is erotic no doubt, I blushed a lot! A lot of the fear is just plain violence though. I mean violence is definitely a fear of women and a very real fear of queer people but the writing already out there has plenty of sexual violence. It is a collection though and there are some stories I thought were very good. It's a mixed bag. I enjoyed the more weird and creepy stories.
August 16, 2022
Well that was certainly fucked up
January 4, 2015
"My terror is terror's ubiquity."
(Trigger warning for rape. Also, some of the individual story descriptions may contain vague spoilers. Read at your own risk!)
In Fist of the Spider Woman, fifteen daring authors frankly ask themselves, "What am I afraid of?" The aim is not to quell our fears, but to embrace them. In doing so, their work takes on an entirely different form than the familiar thrills of contemporary Hollywood horror films.
Between the blurbs on the back cover and the wonderfully creepy artwork (by Julie Morstad) gracing its front, Fist of the Spider Woman is not at all what I expected. For starters, most of the stories aren't particularly scary. With a few notable exceptions, you won't find many supernatural baddies or serial slashers here. The fears explored within these pages tend towards the mundane as opposed to the otherworldly: Carrying on after the death of a loved one. Embracing vulnerability by learning to trust others. Accepting help. Being caught by karma. Our culture of fear. All of which is sprinkled with a liberal helping of sex. In fact, many of the stories in Fist read like erotica over horror (e.g., "Every Dark Desire" - vampire dominatrix porn; "Slug" - worm porn; "In Your Arms Forever" - ghost porn).
Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's just not what I thought I was getting when I picked this anthology up. (Though I must admit that many of the rape scenes turned my stomach; not for the mere presence of rape, which is disturbing enough on its own, but because the victims often come to enjoy their non-consensual abuse.)
Instead of singling out those pieces I didn't enjoy (looking back on my notes, I assigned a 2-star or lower rating to 5/14 of the stories and poems), I'd rather rave about the ones I loved.
Editor Amber Dawn's contribution, "Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental in East Vancouver," might be my favorite of the bunch. It's a surprisingly poignant tale about the last of the "legendary queer houses" in Vancouver. Set to be purchased by (presumably) a pair of yuppies, the current tenants are enjoying one last night of bondage in the historic home when the spirit of one of the previous owners - possibly the home's very first lesbian occupant - is conjured to come out and play by her long-suffering lover. It's a commentary on gentrification wrapped up in leather and lace. And, yes, a spectral rape scene.
Aurelia T. Evans's "In Circles" = Supernatural (specifically, the Season 1 episode "Wendigo") meets Middlesex (I think. It's in my TBR pile.) A ridiculously patient Bloody Mary returns decades after she's been summoned to claim girls who are "different" - in Kate's case, intersex. This is one of the few stories that pulled off the sexy-meets-scary vibe quite well.
"Crabby," by Michelle Tea. If cleanliness is Godliness, then what is pubic lice?
In "Shark," Kestral Barnes teases out the different faces that "monsters" can assume. The narrator's mother, a marine biologist, studied white tipped sharks in her "backyard ocean"; and, when the dock collapsed one fateful night, she lost her life to one of her subjects. Years later, her "dad" Baba was also - almost - taken my a shark woman named Brooke. This story plays into the "gold digger" stereotype, but I kind of enjoyed it anyway.
Meanwhile, Mette Bach's "All You Can Be" stars a sadistic psychiatrist who will stop at nothing to have (read: possess, control, own) the woman of her dreams. The psychological creep factor is strong in this one.
I'm not really big on poetry, so I was surprised to find myself savoring Elizabeth Bachinsky's "Postulation on the Violent Works of the Marquis de Sade." To wit: "it's a strange appropriation to finance a woman's hatred" and "my terror is terror's ubiquity."
Last but by no means least is "Homeland" (Kristyn Dunnion), in which a jaded punk picks the wrong "Lesbian Zombie" to con.
Fist is a pretty mixed bag: I quite loved some of the stories, while a large number fell flat for me. Despite the 3.5 star rating (rounded down to 3 where necessary), I think it's well worth a read for some of the shinier pieces.
The collection is also quite diverse: nearly all of the stories feature lesbian protagonists, and there are also intersex, transgender, genderqueer, and disabled women (and a few men) characters.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2015/01/12/...
(Trigger warning for rape. Also, some of the individual story descriptions may contain vague spoilers. Read at your own risk!)
In Fist of the Spider Woman, fifteen daring authors frankly ask themselves, "What am I afraid of?" The aim is not to quell our fears, but to embrace them. In doing so, their work takes on an entirely different form than the familiar thrills of contemporary Hollywood horror films.
Between the blurbs on the back cover and the wonderfully creepy artwork (by Julie Morstad) gracing its front, Fist of the Spider Woman is not at all what I expected. For starters, most of the stories aren't particularly scary. With a few notable exceptions, you won't find many supernatural baddies or serial slashers here. The fears explored within these pages tend towards the mundane as opposed to the otherworldly: Carrying on after the death of a loved one. Embracing vulnerability by learning to trust others. Accepting help. Being caught by karma. Our culture of fear. All of which is sprinkled with a liberal helping of sex. In fact, many of the stories in Fist read like erotica over horror (e.g., "Every Dark Desire" - vampire dominatrix porn; "Slug" - worm porn; "In Your Arms Forever" - ghost porn).
Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's just not what I thought I was getting when I picked this anthology up. (Though I must admit that many of the rape scenes turned my stomach; not for the mere presence of rape, which is disturbing enough on its own, but because the victims often come to enjoy their non-consensual abuse.)
Instead of singling out those pieces I didn't enjoy (looking back on my notes, I assigned a 2-star or lower rating to 5/14 of the stories and poems), I'd rather rave about the ones I loved.
Editor Amber Dawn's contribution, "Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental in East Vancouver," might be my favorite of the bunch. It's a surprisingly poignant tale about the last of the "legendary queer houses" in Vancouver. Set to be purchased by (presumably) a pair of yuppies, the current tenants are enjoying one last night of bondage in the historic home when the spirit of one of the previous owners - possibly the home's very first lesbian occupant - is conjured to come out and play by her long-suffering lover. It's a commentary on gentrification wrapped up in leather and lace. And, yes, a spectral rape scene.
Aurelia T. Evans's "In Circles" = Supernatural (specifically, the Season 1 episode "Wendigo") meets Middlesex (I think. It's in my TBR pile.) A ridiculously patient Bloody Mary returns decades after she's been summoned to claim girls who are "different" - in Kate's case, intersex. This is one of the few stories that pulled off the sexy-meets-scary vibe quite well.
"Crabby," by Michelle Tea. If cleanliness is Godliness, then what is pubic lice?
In "Shark," Kestral Barnes teases out the different faces that "monsters" can assume. The narrator's mother, a marine biologist, studied white tipped sharks in her "backyard ocean"; and, when the dock collapsed one fateful night, she lost her life to one of her subjects. Years later, her "dad" Baba was also - almost - taken my a shark woman named Brooke. This story plays into the "gold digger" stereotype, but I kind of enjoyed it anyway.
Meanwhile, Mette Bach's "All You Can Be" stars a sadistic psychiatrist who will stop at nothing to have (read: possess, control, own) the woman of her dreams. The psychological creep factor is strong in this one.
I'm not really big on poetry, so I was surprised to find myself savoring Elizabeth Bachinsky's "Postulation on the Violent Works of the Marquis de Sade." To wit: "it's a strange appropriation to finance a woman's hatred" and "my terror is terror's ubiquity."
Last but by no means least is "Homeland" (Kristyn Dunnion), in which a jaded punk picks the wrong "Lesbian Zombie" to con.
Fist is a pretty mixed bag: I quite loved some of the stories, while a large number fell flat for me. Despite the 3.5 star rating (rounded down to 3 where necessary), I think it's well worth a read for some of the shinier pieces.
The collection is also quite diverse: nearly all of the stories feature lesbian protagonists, and there are also intersex, transgender, genderqueer, and disabled women (and a few men) characters.
http://www.easyvegan.info/2015/01/12/...
December 25, 2020
One of the questions this collection claims to answer is, "What do queer women fear?" Looking broadly at these stories, I think it's safe to say that queer women fear being trapped, stripped of autonomy, and made to enjoy it. Of course, not every story follows such a specific pattern, but the way that recurring themes, like control and freedom and the femme fatale, are spun throughout makes the collection cohesive and puts the tales in dialogue with one another.
Fist of the Spider Woman is particularly interested in how queer desire intersects with fear. Many of these tales involve loneliness or isolation, be it in the form of a lack of support system or systemic oppression. When a person is alone, especially not by choice, they are often made the target of a predatory person, which is a particular threat that permeates this collection. The vamp character, a figure that embodies the intersection of fear and desire, makes frequent appearance, pointing to the fact that these two seemingly oppositional emotions can exist in tandem with each other. Certainly many queer people have been taught to fear their desires, as well as to anticipate rejection based on their identities, and the vamp character serves as a potent battleground for these conflicts .
Identity itself becomes an issue in many of the stories because another prevalent fear is the loss of self or autonomy. The issue of subjugation as an anxiety for queer women is understandable on its own, but fear is twisted once more by desire when some are made to enjoy and participate in their subjugation. Marginalization then has the potential to come from all sides--from strangers, from lovers, from yourself.
This volume promises to answer two very complex questions--what do queer women desire and what do they fear--which become all the more complex when put together. Nonetheless, this collection delivers on its promise, presenting stories that build off one another, reflecting a broad variety of lived experiences. Each perspective is unique and adds a new dimension to issues of fear, desire, and queer identity.
Warning: There is a lot of rape in this collection, and a lot of it is very graphic. Please take precautions if this kind of subject matter is distressing to you.
Here are a few thoughts on some stories like I liked in particular.
"Slug" by Megan Milks: Loved this one for the way that it plays with gender identity, especially as it relates to sexual identity. This was one of the most graphic stories in the collection, and though it has a lot of sex, it's all used very thoughtfully. It also wasn’t afraid to get gross and to "go there," but where it ended up was actually kind of weirdly beautiful.
"Conspiracy of Fuckers" by Nomy Lamm: This one features a more ambiguous psychological horror story, which is a type that I favor. What interested me here was the relationship between the protagonist and her ex--I do love horror that explores relationships, and I felt this one does that well. I should mention this one features a disabled protagonist in case you're interested in horror with this type of representation!
"Shark" by Kestrel Barnes: This one might actually be the only on in the collection to center on a family. I love a good family-oriented horror, and this one I felt was especially heartfelt. The vamp character is featured in this and the way she's treated in this particular story is interesting because she's very much not made the object of desire. What else attracted me is the beach focus. I love horror with a beach/ocean focus, and the title should give away which creatures are featured in this story.
Fist of the Spider Woman is particularly interested in how queer desire intersects with fear. Many of these tales involve loneliness or isolation, be it in the form of a lack of support system or systemic oppression. When a person is alone, especially not by choice, they are often made the target of a predatory person, which is a particular threat that permeates this collection. The vamp character, a figure that embodies the intersection of fear and desire, makes frequent appearance, pointing to the fact that these two seemingly oppositional emotions can exist in tandem with each other. Certainly many queer people have been taught to fear their desires, as well as to anticipate rejection based on their identities, and the vamp character serves as a potent battleground for these conflicts .
Identity itself becomes an issue in many of the stories because another prevalent fear is the loss of self or autonomy. The issue of subjugation as an anxiety for queer women is understandable on its own, but fear is twisted once more by desire when some are made to enjoy and participate in their subjugation. Marginalization then has the potential to come from all sides--from strangers, from lovers, from yourself.
This volume promises to answer two very complex questions--what do queer women desire and what do they fear--which become all the more complex when put together. Nonetheless, this collection delivers on its promise, presenting stories that build off one another, reflecting a broad variety of lived experiences. Each perspective is unique and adds a new dimension to issues of fear, desire, and queer identity.
Warning: There is a lot of rape in this collection, and a lot of it is very graphic. Please take precautions if this kind of subject matter is distressing to you.
Here are a few thoughts on some stories like I liked in particular.
"Slug" by Megan Milks: Loved this one for the way that it plays with gender identity, especially as it relates to sexual identity. This was one of the most graphic stories in the collection, and though it has a lot of sex, it's all used very thoughtfully. It also wasn’t afraid to get gross and to "go there," but where it ended up was actually kind of weirdly beautiful.
"Conspiracy of Fuckers" by Nomy Lamm: This one features a more ambiguous psychological horror story, which is a type that I favor. What interested me here was the relationship between the protagonist and her ex--I do love horror that explores relationships, and I felt this one does that well. I should mention this one features a disabled protagonist in case you're interested in horror with this type of representation!
"Shark" by Kestrel Barnes: This one might actually be the only on in the collection to center on a family. I love a good family-oriented horror, and this one I felt was especially heartfelt. The vamp character is featured in this and the way she's treated in this particular story is interesting because she's very much not made the object of desire. What else attracted me is the beach focus. I love horror with a beach/ocean focus, and the title should give away which creatures are featured in this story.
January 22, 2019
This collection was a little darker than I expected — somehow, I wasn’t expecting actual horror stories, and I thoroughly regretted reading some of these at night. While it wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I really appreciated the fact the queer content in here was expansive in its definition of “queer.” Whereas other collections I’ve read focus very narrowly on the individual letters of LGBTQIA+, a good portion of these explored varied kinds of relationships and kinks as well. That’s not something I see very often, and it was kind of refreshing, even as I wanted to pull the covers over my eyes because I was scared of ghosts.
June 7, 2019
What is this book: A short story anthology, collected around the theme of the intersection between fear and queer desire (presumably you got this from the title). Pretty kinky horror-erotica (Horrotica?) - it's pretty hot, and it's all on-page. (But of course it's horror- a lot of associated trigger warnings apply). Available on hoopla!
What I liked about it:
-All of the short stories were reasonably short! This is perhaps just a personal preference but I have found I enjoy not having to skip tie-in novellas in short story collections.
-Perhaps my actual favorite part was the essay at the beginning - a rumination on the concept of this theme, and why queer people, who know fear pretty intimately, are willing to invite it into the bedroom.
-This book contains both cis and trans queer characters!! Given the somewhat-dearth of like.. legitimate (? I mean own-experiences, not fetishised, I think here) queer trans porn even now, kudos for having it 10 years ago.
-One of the funny things is that the story I liked reading the least is the one that I think did some of the most interesting writing work and layers of thinking about -- fear in a safe place versus fear of being controlled by society (fear of self-as-other)
-Lesbian haunted house story!! Reflecting on the generations of queer feminism and gentrification and places for community!! Also she fucks the ghost!! duh. amazing.
What I liked about it:
-All of the short stories were reasonably short! This is perhaps just a personal preference but I have found I enjoy not having to skip tie-in novellas in short story collections.
-Perhaps my actual favorite part was the essay at the beginning - a rumination on the concept of this theme, and why queer people, who know fear pretty intimately, are willing to invite it into the bedroom.
-This book contains both cis and trans queer characters!! Given the somewhat-dearth of like.. legitimate (? I mean own-experiences, not fetishised, I think here) queer trans porn even now, kudos for having it 10 years ago.
-One of the funny things is that the story I liked reading the least is the one that I think did some of the most interesting writing work and layers of thinking about -- fear in a safe place versus fear of being controlled by society (fear of self-as-other)
-Lesbian haunted house story!! Reflecting on the generations of queer feminism and gentrification and places for community!! Also she fucks the ghost!! duh. amazing.
February 8, 2018
I surprised myself by enjoying this collection tremendously - surprised because when I first started it, I had been taken aback by how incredibly violent and sexually explicit the stories were. "When they say Tales of Fear and Queer Desire, I didn't realize they meant tales of such extreme Fear and Desire," I said to myself. And compared it to American Psycho levels of graphic sexualized torture and murder - except in this collection, queer women's perspectives are centered and the violence is often a commentary on oppressive people and systems, which makes all the difference.
The stories were greatly advantaged by their brevity. It meant that I was able to read each one - and experience the horror, revulsion, and disgust it might stir up - in a relatively short sitting. Then I could walk away and process all of those emotions, and before long I would realize that I craved that intensity of feeling and wanted to come back for more. While it seemed appalling at first, the editors' choice to throw the reader right into the deep end with the very first selection and slowly progress to more bearable terrors was inspired. By the time I got to Kestrel Barnes's tender, heartbreaking "Shark" I was able to appreciate it in a whole new way.
The stories were greatly advantaged by their brevity. It meant that I was able to read each one - and experience the horror, revulsion, and disgust it might stir up - in a relatively short sitting. Then I could walk away and process all of those emotions, and before long I would realize that I craved that intensity of feeling and wanted to come back for more. While it seemed appalling at first, the editors' choice to throw the reader right into the deep end with the very first selection and slowly progress to more bearable terrors was inspired. By the time I got to Kestrel Barnes's tender, heartbreaking "Shark" I was able to appreciate it in a whole new way.
November 11, 2018
I am such a scaredy-cat. I couldn't even finish this one. Horror is not my jam. Not even horrotica, which this is...not even queer horrotica.
My queer ladies book club read this one for October. I got about halfway before I had a full-blown PTSD flashback\panic attack...which is when I quit. I still enjoyed the conversations at book club. We all agreed that it was an uncomfortable read because you would read something that really turns you on but squigged you out at the same time. We also had a great discussion about how this book was published nearly a decade ago and how queer horrotica would read A LOT differently now. Times change so quickly these days...and so do the ways we feel (as a culture at large...mostly) about some LGBTQI+ terms, ideals, feelings, etc.
Strange collection. Read at your own risk.
My queer ladies book club read this one for October. I got about halfway before I had a full-blown PTSD flashback\panic attack...which is when I quit. I still enjoyed the conversations at book club. We all agreed that it was an uncomfortable read because you would read something that really turns you on but squigged you out at the same time. We also had a great discussion about how this book was published nearly a decade ago and how queer horrotica would read A LOT differently now. Times change so quickly these days...and so do the ways we feel (as a culture at large...mostly) about some LGBTQI+ terms, ideals, feelings, etc.
Strange collection. Read at your own risk.
November 3, 2013
I am not even sure what to say about this book! It is part erotica and part horror in the form of queer short stories. Some of the stories are cheeky scary and so e of them are really actually scary. A much better read than fifty shades of grey. But I'm guessing because I'm never gonna read that. This book was perfect to read around Halloween.
February 27, 2018
loved this book! I've enjoyed all stories and was very happy to read sex scenes with a trans guy. my favourite is the slug one so weird!!!!
August 17, 2024
One of those books that despite my short attention span for everything in life, I wanted to turn every page and genuinely wanted to read as much as I could.
I had to let my brain process each story for sure,but unfortunately I couldn’t find any good discussions about most of the material online.
SPOILER STARTS HERE
I really found myself intrigued with the story “Conspiracy of Fuckers” by Nomy Lamm. However, of the two other reviews I was able to find of this story, one of them completely missed the message. Somehow, regardless of the ending being “threat neutralized” the reviewer took this as some sort of submission by the character into cishet desire or a spiral into a concerning sexual perversion with a worker clientele relationship.
I took the message differently. In fact, I saw it more a defeat and murder of everything the main character stood for and seemed to be falling into madness over. As if the true fear of this entire story was that they were never crazy to begin with, and their queer identity was always threatened and abused.
It was almost disheartening to see a published review of the story clash with my perception of the piece. But perhaps I was wrong? Perhaps the story was not a political queer thriller like I felt it was.
I think the lack of queer horror and psychological erotica is to blame for a lack of queer discussion over the purpose of this story. Or even some confidence in understanding the political subtext that I would’ve loved to discuss.
END OF SPOILER
Apart from that story, I really enjoyed the book as a whole. I would also highlight the work “Shark” and take note that it is by a butch dyke named Kestrel Barnes. Just knowing that another butch is out there writing feels amazing and the story itself is a fantastic read.
I will note that the book as whole is sexual, and can dive into possible triggers such as violence, r*pe, and gore. HOWEVER I need to remind all horror, thriller, and psychological horror enjoyers and even those who don’t, that these themes are showcased across all horror media but is traditionally related to one’s relationship to a cishet view or specifically in related to men/the traditional male gaze.
So, if you can read and watch that fear charged horror, you should not be bias to the erotica in this novel simply because it is new and in all ways queer.
Wonderful, unique, and thoughtful read that I am proud to own as a queer literature collector and a lesbian.
I had to let my brain process each story for sure,but unfortunately I couldn’t find any good discussions about most of the material online.
SPOILER STARTS HERE
I really found myself intrigued with the story “Conspiracy of Fuckers” by Nomy Lamm. However, of the two other reviews I was able to find of this story, one of them completely missed the message. Somehow, regardless of the ending being “threat neutralized” the reviewer took this as some sort of submission by the character into cishet desire or a spiral into a concerning sexual perversion with a worker clientele relationship.
I took the message differently. In fact, I saw it more a defeat and murder of everything the main character stood for and seemed to be falling into madness over. As if the true fear of this entire story was that they were never crazy to begin with, and their queer identity was always threatened and abused.
It was almost disheartening to see a published review of the story clash with my perception of the piece. But perhaps I was wrong? Perhaps the story was not a political queer thriller like I felt it was.
I think the lack of queer horror and psychological erotica is to blame for a lack of queer discussion over the purpose of this story. Or even some confidence in understanding the political subtext that I would’ve loved to discuss.
END OF SPOILER
Apart from that story, I really enjoyed the book as a whole. I would also highlight the work “Shark” and take note that it is by a butch dyke named Kestrel Barnes. Just knowing that another butch is out there writing feels amazing and the story itself is a fantastic read.
I will note that the book as whole is sexual, and can dive into possible triggers such as violence, r*pe, and gore. HOWEVER I need to remind all horror, thriller, and psychological horror enjoyers and even those who don’t, that these themes are showcased across all horror media but is traditionally related to one’s relationship to a cishet view or specifically in related to men/the traditional male gaze.
So, if you can read and watch that fear charged horror, you should not be bias to the erotica in this novel simply because it is new and in all ways queer.
Wonderful, unique, and thoughtful read that I am proud to own as a queer literature collector and a lesbian.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2024
If I had read the genre tags more carefully before starting this book, perhaps I would have been less surprised by the sheer amount of explicit sex I had to read through. If you're expecting erotica right off the bat, it won't be as jarring, for sure. Here's a lesson for future me.
What usually happens with short fiction anthologies is that the first couple of stories are really good, but the quality tends to falter the further you read. This one was different, and I'm (sort of) glad I didn't DNF it after the first couple of texts. The slug story flew right over my head—why? just why? The conspiracy one could have been so much better if the writer had kept the suspense until the very end instead of spoiling everything three pages into the text. The vampire one was written in such awkward and amateurish prose that I had to skip it altogether.
On the other hand, because I didn't give up, I was rewarded with Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental and Shark. Those two were really good. Another highlight was All You Can Be. Although the story made me feel rather sad (which was probably the point?), it was one of the sexier texts that actually felt sexy rather than unnecessarily explicit and gross.
Finally, maybe this book could pass as "revelatory" when it was published, but 15 years down the line, we as a society have probably learnt that women can write about sex—in detail and in no uncertain terms. Cheers, I guess. All this while not necessarily subverting a lot of stereotypes: there's still a whole lot of violence (some of it so familiarly patriarchal), and a lot of the horrors in question are just abuse and SA. The fact that it's lesbian abuse doesn't make it any better.
Maybe I'm the wrong reader in the wrong time period, but then again, Shirley Jackson wrote in the fifties, and her stuff feels much more revolutionary than this.
What usually happens with short fiction anthologies is that the first couple of stories are really good, but the quality tends to falter the further you read. This one was different, and I'm (sort of) glad I didn't DNF it after the first couple of texts. The slug story flew right over my head—why? just why? The conspiracy one could have been so much better if the writer had kept the suspense until the very end instead of spoiling everything three pages into the text. The vampire one was written in such awkward and amateurish prose that I had to skip it altogether.
On the other hand, because I didn't give up, I was rewarded with Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental and Shark. Those two were really good. Another highlight was All You Can Be. Although the story made me feel rather sad (which was probably the point?), it was one of the sexier texts that actually felt sexy rather than unnecessarily explicit and gross.
Finally, maybe this book could pass as "revelatory" when it was published, but 15 years down the line, we as a society have probably learnt that women can write about sex—in detail and in no uncertain terms. Cheers, I guess. All this while not necessarily subverting a lot of stereotypes: there's still a whole lot of violence (some of it so familiarly patriarchal), and a lot of the horrors in question are just abuse and SA. The fact that it's lesbian abuse doesn't make it any better.
Maybe I'm the wrong reader in the wrong time period, but then again, Shirley Jackson wrote in the fifties, and her stuff feels much more revolutionary than this.
November 18, 2020
Usually, I don't read horror, but I liked the fairy-tale-esque cover and hoped for some speculative fiction or fantasy worlds. It wasn't quite that. I admired the mixture of poetry and prose. My favorite story was by Nomy Lamm. I thought that did the best job of exploring the hysteria of what people WANT queers to be afraid of (transitioning lovers, codependence, sex work, poverty, disability) and what we're really afraid of (getting mind-controlled by government agents into contributing to our own oppression through respectability politics). Of course, as ideologically divergent as I have become of Michelle Tea after her appalling "just abandon your students and go to Paris Fashion Week to heal your woes" moment of her post-sobriety memoir, damn can that person write.
Probably due to the pandemic's isolation, I wasn't into the sexiness of lots of the scenes and couldn't suspend my disbelief.
Probably due to the pandemic's isolation, I wasn't into the sexiness of lots of the scenes and couldn't suspend my disbelief.
Read
December 1, 2020Stopped reading about a quarter of the way through because it was too triggering for me. I do hope to go back and finish one day, but right now is not the time.
So far, I was split pretty evently on the book. I'm glad I read reviews beforehand to understand just how gruesome and disturbing some of the stories are. That being said, they were still too much for me, as evidenced by my unconscious reaction to them.
I appreciate what this collection is doing, but it certainly is not for everyone, especially for those us with our own past traumas. At some point, hopefully this book will be more empowering for me, but for now I need to focus on other things.
So far, I was split pretty evently on the book. I'm glad I read reviews beforehand to understand just how gruesome and disturbing some of the stories are. That being said, they were still too much for me, as evidenced by my unconscious reaction to them.
I appreciate what this collection is doing, but it certainly is not for everyone, especially for those us with our own past traumas. At some point, hopefully this book will be more empowering for me, but for now I need to focus on other things.
Read
August 2, 2021DNF for me at around 70pgs - this just wasn't my jam. These are definitely most focused on kink and eroticism, with elements of the grotesque and horror on the side. I don't want to get lost in The Discourse as well but the first three stories/poems were about cis women who have sex with and are attracted to men but are involved in kink like BDSM and pegging with no mention of attraction to other genders...it just wasn't exactly what I was expecting to open a book about queer stories but that could just be on me.
January 2, 2021
I was hoping for more horror but this ended up being heavy on the kinky erotica which isn't my thing. I enjoyed a few of the stories, and there was one about Bloody Mary that was legitimately terrifying but for the most part I wasn't entertained. All of the poetry went over my head and I truly couldn't wait to finish this book. I fully wanted to support LGBTQ authors and I glad that I did but these stories just weren't for me.
September 22, 2018
It has a really good premise. I was really looking forward to reading this collection.
But the stories were not impressive. They were not very scary, not very erotic, not very inventive, and lacked plot. The representation was the only part that most of the stories did well.
I really hate how mean this review sounds, but I have found way more interesting fiction on erotica websites.
But the stories were not impressive. They were not very scary, not very erotic, not very inventive, and lacked plot. The representation was the only part that most of the stories did well.
I really hate how mean this review sounds, but I have found way more interesting fiction on erotica websites.
May 11, 2018
Yikes. The one good story was the explicitly lesbian one. Two others were memorable but not in a good way. Didn’t know this was erotica when I checked it out from Overdrive so that probably contributed to my unhappiness. Again, yikes.
May 15, 2019
It was a little hit/miss at first, but some of the later stories were great. My favourites were In Circles, Sido, All You Can Be, Crabby, Shark and Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental in East Vancouver.
December 25, 2021
A fascinating anthology of queer kink and fear. I cannot stop thinking about Shark by Kestrel Barnes. Some details will live as ghosts in my head. Not for the faint of heart, but each piece was the right amount of sexy, twisted and perfectly brief.
January 28, 2023
I particularly enjoyed three of the stories in this collection: Kristyn Dunnion's "Homeland", Aurelia T. Evans' "In Circles", and Suki Lee's "Sido". The story that hit me the most emotionally, however, was "Shark" by Kestrel Barnes . . . I cried twice!
June 17, 2023
Holy F, this was explicit. Looking past that, a lot of the short stories were incredibly well written. Poetry isn’t really my thing, but it was a good mix of content. If you like queer horror in an anthology format, give this one a shot. It’s a quick read.
February 6, 2018
just gobbled up this book of short stories
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