Coming
Together Presents: M. Christian
By M. Christian
Coming
Together, 2010
Is it unethical to
review a book that I edited?
I’m not pretending
disinterest. I am telling you right up front that I was the one who
decided on the order of the sixteen stories in this anthology, to
emphasize the contrasts and optimize the flow. I was responsible for
tightening sentence structure, fixing spelling and punctuation
issues, and removing excessive ellipses. I wrote the (admittedly
enthusiastic) introduction.
I didn’t choose these
stories, though. That was the author’s decision, as is the case
with all of the Coming Together Presents charitable erotica series.
M.Christian is solely responsible for the wonderful diversity in
style, in theme and in sexual orientation you’ll find in these
tales. He donated his considerable talent to benefit Planned
Parenthood, which receives all proceeds from this book.
Well, I guess you can
decide on your own whether to believe my review or not.
Coming Together
Presents: M. Christian showcases the astonishing versatility of
its author. A few of the tales (“Services Rendered”, “A Hard
Night’s Work”) are straightforward tales of satisfying sexual
encounters—the sort of thing you
might expect from an erotica anthology. They’ll turn you on.
They’ll make you smile. The former is M/F, the latter M/M. Mr.
Christian likes to mix things up.
These
two tales are great fun, but most of the stories in the book go
deeper. “Last Tango in Paris, Texas” is a frenzied F/F tale with
a bittersweet ending. “Grizzly” deals with a man coming to terms
with his homoerotic desires. “Fragments”, a lyrical tale set in
Barcelona, documents a female sculptor’s struggle to capture her
conflicting desires in her art. “Evolution” is a beautiful,
gut-wrenching piece about a lesbian couple where one member is
transitioning from female to male.
M.
Christian is well-known for his sci-fi and speculative fiction. This
volume includes two science fiction pieces. One is the light-hearted
polyamorous tale “On One Hand”. In the interest of avoiding
spoilers, I won’t tell you the title of the other.
Broadly
speaking, Coming Together
Presents: M. Christian
should be categorized as erotica. Some of my favorite stories,
though, have little or no actual sex. “Missing Alice” is a
romantic F/F tale about the difficulty in recognizing what you really
want, with heartfelt kisses, but nothing more. “Four Views of Mount
Fuji” believably evokes the sexual ambivalence of Japan—a
country the author has never visited.
If
you’re already an M. Christian fan but you haven’t read this
book, you should add it to your bookshelves
If
you’re not familiar with this talented author, the variety in this
collection makes it a good place to start.
Either
way, your purchasing the book will support a worthy cause.
(You
can also help Planned Parenthood by buying my latest release, and by
commenting on my recent charity Sunday Snog.)
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