Chemical [se]X 2: Just One More
Passion Works Press, 2019
Which
is better: sex, or chocolate?
You
know that’s a trick question, right? Because why should you ever
have to choose? For one thing, everyone knows that sex and chocolate
go together like Laurel and Hardy – peanut butter and jelly –
Batman and Robin – hamburgers and fries – love and marriage –
okay, scratch that one! Certainly, erotic stories featuring chocolate
aren’t exactly new. The sensual decadence of good chocolate almost
naturally suggests other varieties of pleasure. Consuming chocolate
can be used as a kind of foreplay, one form of indulgence leading to
another.
But
what if chocolate actually had aphrodisiac properties? A secret
ingredient that reliably kindled irresistible lust? This is the
unifying premise of Chemical [se]X 2: Just One More, a new
erotica anthology edited by Oleander Plume, Dr. J. and Mischa Eliot,
and published by Passion Works Press. Each of the thirteen authors
represented in this delicious collection starts with this basic
assumption – aphrodisiac chocolates that actually work – and
explores the repercussions.
You
might think this common plot element would lead to a sameness among
the stories. On the contrary, the tales in Chemical [se]X 2
present a wide range of voices, situations and especially, sexual
orientations. In “Beast”, Angora Shade creates an uptight,
perfectionist heroine whose careful plans for an outdoor seduction
disintegrate in the face of pure, literal, animal passion. In Sally
Bend’s “Vanilla Frosting”, a dominant male uses the aphrodisiac
sweets to pry his shy twink roommate out of the closet and into his
bed. Ria Restrepo’s protagonist gets stuck in an elevator in
“Elevator Confidential”, with the much older man she’s desired
for decades – plus a convenient supply of the wickedly
lust-inducing chocolates. F. Leanora Sullivan uses a company wine and
cheese – and chocolate – event to break through the barriers
between a career woman and her annoying co-worker in “Team
Building”. Dr. J and Mischa Eliot pen tales of sizzling lesbian
lust in “My Blu Valentine” and “Because She Hates Me”. I
particularly enjoyed the characters in the latter story, a butch
biker chick and her trouble-prone femme housemate, each of whom
believes she’s hated by the other. Oleander Plume gives us a
gorgeous homoerotic encounter between a famous black athlete and his
skillful Hispanic tailor in “Well-Suited”. There are indeed times
when being dressed is sexier than being naked.
While
in many cases the notorious chocolates lubricate (so to speak)
relationships between acquaintances, in some stories they bring
strangers together. “For the Record” by Kristi Hancock is an
example. The company responsible for the aphrodisiac chocolates
(“Acme”, just like in the Road Runner/Coyote cartoons!) is
testing their efficacy. A woman who volunteers finds herself nearly
out of her mind with sexual need, so much so that she picks up the
first guy she meets. However, her zipless fuck partner has his own
secrets. Rachel Woe’s “Making Waves” gives us a warm-hearted
but transient encounter between a middle-aged, overworked hotel
housekeeper and a barely-twenty rich kid, a brief connection that
nevertheless changes them both.
“Come
Away with the Sweet Fairies” by Jayne Renault and “Season’s
Change” by Delilah Night are two of the most unusual tales in the
collection. The latter is a lusty revisit to the myth of Persephone.
The former is set at an outdoor midsummer festival called Kablamfest,
reminiscent of Woodstock or Burning Man, where sexual fluidity and
magic reign. It brought me back to the days of my youth, before AIDS
or terrorism or global warning, when sex was pure joy no matter who
happened to be your partner.
I
haven’t mentioned every story; I want to leave some for you to
discover on your own. Overall, this is a fun collection that manages
to transcend what might seem a rather narrow theme to provide a
delightful diversity of characters, perspectives and orientations.
Every story is well-written, and the editing is superb. The
manuscript I read was labeled as an uncorrected proof, but it was
much cleaner than many published books I read. In the entire 144
pages, I noticed only one minor typographic error. And as an editor
myself, I would notice mistakes if they were there.
Unfortunately,
I happen to be allergic to chocolate. (Really!) This anthology gave me a vivid
sense of what I’m missing!
![Chemical [se]X teaser](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kBLqvJTl2SkTLH2ynQ0JpAXEFxX7oS_0Rs6IJcfcrGHcBZ-MeB5jckufH_s_nLjo5tCl9uNcMhpi5lXUwLhael39vBQksDuCWp3UeqK4z2wJQuGUJrkXYueO1WDV8A2rAuXjOPOIm0JU/s1600/ECcover3b.png)
