Review Tuesday: Unnatural Encounters 2 by Rachel MacKenzie - #Erotica #Fantasy #ReviewTuesday

Unnatural Encounters 2: A Collection of Short Tales by Rachel MacKenzie

Available exclusively at The Quivering Quill: https://thequiveringquill.com

Rachel MacKenzie sounds like the name of a primary school teacher.

Believe me, she’s not. On the contrary, Ms. MacKenzie writes original, explicit, bisexual fantasy erotica, frequently with polyamorous themes. She’s a fan of science fiction, sword-and-sorcery, women warriors, lusty nerds and highly civilized dragons.

My first experience with Ms. MacKenzie’s writing was her debut epic, Prophecy and the Painted. This brave and brazen opus incorporates all of the elements mentioned above. I loved it. When I was offered the opportunity to review this collection, I was curious to discover how well her interests (or perhaps you might term them obsessions!) translate to the short story form.

My general conclusion is: very well indeed. Unnatural Encounters is perhaps unfortunately titled, as there’s nothing really unnatural about many and varied couplings featured in these pieces... as long as you keep an open mind. These tales are literate, clever, slyly humorous in some cases, unapologetically romantic in others.

I liked all the tales in the book, with the possible exception of the Lord of the Rings parody “Scored with the Ring”. There have been, after all, innumerable Tolkien parodies, though this one does have a few cute twists.

My two favorite stories were “Challenge Given, Lawfully Accepted” and “How Hera Got Her Groove Back”. In the former, a space-captain turned diplomat is forced to engage in a duel with a testy but buff alien whom she has unintentionally insulted. She has the right to choose the weapons for this contest, and in a desperate attempt to avoid bloodshed, chooses sexual congress. Whoever comes first is the loser!

The latter is a mash-up of several mythological traditions, as Hera, the Greek goddess of marriage and the wife of eternally philandering Zeus, engages her Egyptian counterpart Isis in some erotic explorations of her own. This story had me laughing out loud as it brought in a wide range of familiar characters as well as some independent body parts.

Each story in the book is preceded by a brief and often personal introduction which provides some insight into the author’s inspiration and the story’s history. Usually I don’t like this sort of content; I’d rather draw my own independent conclusions, rather than being primed. However, in this case the introductions enhanced my appreciation of the stories. This was especially true of “The Gamesman and the Librarian”, the only non-explicit tale in the collection. The author almost apologizes for stopping at the level of erotic tension, without consummation. On the contrary, I found this a pleasing contrast with the sexual free-for-alls that characterize most of these stories.

If you’re offended by messy and extreme sex scenes involving humans, gods, dragons, elves, dwarves, minotaurs, vampires, werewolves, aliens and anyone else who happens by, don’t read this book. On the other hand, if this long list of participants just whets your interest, get yourself a copy today.