Review Tuesday: In Control: The short, kinky, otherworldly fiction of M.Christian - #Erotica #Literature #ReviewTuesday

In Control by M. Christian

Parisian Phoenix Kink, 2024

Back in the golden age of erotica—before romance smothered the edginess of sex, before nervous booksellers purged their shelves of anything with a hint of deviance, before AI-assisted hacks flooded Amazon with clumsy, cookie-cutter smut—there was M. Christian. Although he has penned several novels, including the chillingly prescient Finger’s Breadth, short stories have always been his preferred form.

And by short stories I don’t mean the multi-chaptered, 20K-word tales currently on the market. No, I mean real short stories, tightly crafted nuggets only a few thousand words long that stimulate both your curiosity and your senses and that linger in your mind long after you’ve finished.

During that golden age (mid-nineties to maybe 2010?), a handful of indie publishers like Cleis and Circlet put together amazing collections of original, surprising, well-written and arousing tales, on themes open-ended enough to invite exploration. If you picked up one of these books, there was a good chance it would include a story by M.Christian. Indeed, I’m proud to admit that I edited a number of these anthologies, and M.Christian contributed to quite a few.

So reading In Control, a new edition of Christian’s stories originally released in 2013, felt a bit like stepping into a time machine. I’d almost forgotten the delight to be found in this sort of lush literary tidbit. When I’d finished, I felt a level of intellectual and sensual satisfaction that I realized I’d missed.

The stories in this collection all explore the nature or experience of desire. In that sense they fit my definition of erotica. They are not, however, primarily about sex. Some of my favorites (“The Train They Call the City of New Orleans”, “The Waters of Biscayne Bay”) have no sex at all, except in the minds of the characters. If you’re looking for orgasms, this is not the book for you.

On the other hand, if you’re fascinated (as I am) by the mysteries of the erotic, the way desire grabs us by the guts and twists us into new and surprising shapes, read on. Modern offerings that call themselves erotica are all too often painfully predictable. Not these tales. In “Gertrude”, a woman cop handles a simple case of disturbing the peace, only to have her sense of self permanently warped. “Moving” strips away the trappings of kink and reduces submission to its essence. “Dust” explores the corrosive nature of infidelity then offers unexpected redemption. In “Alice”, one of the more playful stories, both protagonists discover selves, and pleasures, they never expected.

There’s darkness in these tales, an acknowledgment that sexuality has the power to wound, even to kill. Several titles (“The Will of Dr. Mabuse”, “The Curse”) might even be called horror. Many stories are also touched with magic, sometimes benign (“Dead Letter”, “The Waters of Biscayne Bay”) but often dangerous (“The Tinkling of Silver Bells”). M.Christian’s stories will not necessarily leaving you feeling comfortable, no matter how much you admire his craft.

One gets the sense that the author may be uncomfortable as well.

The title story, “In Control”, in some ways sums up this impressive collection. It’s an ironic tale of an online Dom so arrogant that he believes his own mythology. When the perfect submissive he’s chosen simply abandons him, he struggles to hold on to the notion that he’s the one making the choices.

By using this as the title story, M.Christian may be hinting at a truth that lies at the heart of the erotic. Most of the time we are not in control. Lust can turn us into unrecognizable, even repellent beasts. Unfulfilled desire can crush us—can literally kill. The erotic is never safe.

But for me, at least, it’s always fascinating.