Call of the Dark: Erotic Lesbian Tales of the Supernatural

Therese Szymanski (Editor)
Bella Books
www.bellabooks.com
1594930406, $14.95

Just in time for your spooky autumn reading, the latest Bella Books anthology, Call of the Dark, has arrived. The 23 stories represent the work of well-known authors as well as new writers. Selected and arranged by Therese Szymanski, this collection is thoughtful and entertaining, sometimes witty and touching, often creepy and always arousing. The focus of the collection is "erotic" and it is not surprising that most of the stories fall into two categories: possession by or seduction at the hands of a vampire or a spirit. Nevertheless the stories are neither repetitive nor entirely predictable.

The vampires range from the dashing, charismatic Daron in Szymanski's "Dream Lover" to the horrific entity in Patty G. Henderson's "In the Blood." Henderson's tale questions the price of life, the cost of loyalty and the pain of survival. Victoria A. Brownworth's "The Feast of St. Lucy" is an aching little tale of loneliness and survival filled with vivid images of the ancient and ageless New Orlean's French Quarter and the scent of bergamot. Perhaps one of the most interesting twists is Ariel Graham's "Games of Love" wherein she illustrates how a really long-term couple keeps the relationship … fresh, and answers that nagging question of what is the appropriate gift for your 500+ anniversary.

The spirits (formerly human, and now ghosts or demon) who haunt these pages are equally varied. An ultimate surrender overwhelms the lead in Radclyffe's "By the Light of the Moon." In Heather Osborne's "That which Alters," the succubus finds herself falling in love with her victim in a fascinating role reversal. "Specter of Sin" allows Kristina Wright to provide a new variation on a traditional kind of ghost story set in the lonely despair of the Texas desert. The switch in perspective is explored by several writers, as when Rachel Kramer Bussel (a contributing editor at Penthouse) opens the door to "The Haunted, Haunted House." There, a ghost provides a heated coming out for a lovely young visitor.

Without question, the most amusing entry of the collection is "Lilith" by Karin Kallmaker. In this wry tale of a queer succubus who outlives her creator and is left to drift through the dreams and fantasies of humans without intent to consume them, Kallmaker opens the anthology and a discussion of the nature of fantasy, focus, and consent.

Szymanski's skillful selection and arrangement of the stories provides valuable contrasts and flow for the reader. Thus, Julia Watt's charming "Visitation" is followed by Barbara Johnson's "Loving Ophelia." The former provides the reader with a satisfying "all is right" even in the "other world" with a psychic who helps a wronged spirit, and has several of her own questions answered in the process. In the latter, Johnson pens a creepy little story worthy of the Twilight Zone.

This placing and pacing of stories allows the reader to read several stories in a row, moving between the touching, humorous, and thoughtful, to the downright creepy, then back again. The lighter entries, like those sunny days or well-lit rooms in a horror movie, serve to lure the readers into letting down their guard for that unexpected twist or nerve-jolting revelation of the next story. And while readers might not find all the stories entirely to their taste, it is not from lack of imagination or skill of writing. None of the stories failed to elicit a response in this reader.

Kallmaker's Lilith laments at one point, "I gathered ever more fantasies and yet had no witch with whom to share them. Truly, to have tales and no one to tell -- is there anything sadder?" (7)

Thankfully, Kallmaker and the other writers in this collection have lots of readers with whom to share their fantasies and we are all the richer for the experience. Pick up a copy of Call of the Dark, light a candle, pour yourself a glass of rich, red wine, and enjoy.
-MJ Lowe

Back to Basics: A Butch/Femme Anthology

Therese Szymanski
Bella Books
193151335X

Back to Basics is Bella Books' first collection of short stories and this anthology sizzles with hot exchanges of long time couples as well as new found lust. Several of the 23 writers will be familiar to readers, yet over half are relatively new to published works. These stories are well written and delicious. Therese Szymanski has assembled a wonderful collection of erotica in this book. Back to Basics is also the first book from the publisher's new "Bella After Dark" imprint, a series of erotic romance titles that promise not to be your great aunt's Naiad stories. And more impressively, she has succeeded in leading the reader through a dialog on butch-femme issues with the story selections and their placement in the anthology. For example:

The collection opens with Karin Kallmaker's "The Butch Across the Hall," the highly charged story of Ronnie, a femme who is finally admitting -- and asking for -- what she wants. This very explicit tale marks a new aspect to Kallmaker's writing. However it still contains her signature wry wit and intelligent characters. Next is Barbara Johnson's "On the Road Again," a story that introduces Taylor Donovan (a butch Maryland state trooper who earns the book a place on my "books with lesbian characters named Taylor" list) and a truck driving femme named Rose. These woman are quite comfortable with their gender identity, yet they push one another to explore new dynamics in their first sexual encounter.

Jean Stewart (author of the Isis series) presents "Scoring" and addresses issues of appearance with a tough soccer playing butch who confuses some people with her "femme hair." However, an equally strong player from another team is not mistaken in her attraction. Amusingly, there are two entries that deal with lesbian writers at book readings. The editor's story, "The Fan" presents a femme author of main stream romances who pens lesbian love stories on the side and draws on her rich fantasy life for her writing. Or does she? And is contrasted with Jesi O'Connell's "Butch Between the Sheets," which is a delightful little scene that deals with a femme's response to a book reading by butch sexpert and author, Syl Salesberg.

Perhaps one of the most thoughtful "couplings" of stories is Kallmaker's "The Curve of Her" which features Louisa and Rayann from her novel Touchwood. For the first time, Kallmaker gives us a first person look at the world from the older butch, Lou's eyes. Set some two years after the novel, the couple are not only still very much in love and sexual with one another, they are growing together. Here, Lou discovers the power of surrender. This very sweetly romantic and erotic story is juxtaposed to Joy Parks' "Touching Stone."

Parks' story is a heartrending introspective monologue by a femme who thought she had fallen in love with a lesbian. She details the increasing grief of her life with a Stone Butch who is moving toward FtoM trans-ing. Discovering surrender is the last thing on this butch's agenda. And the story offers up wonderful observations from the femme that echo Kallmaker's first story. Written with an aching empathy this femme speaks of the women that will come into her life with these words, "I will know how to make a woman feel as butch on her back as she does in her boots. I will learn that it is my gentleness, not my weakness, that can make another woman feel strong. And I will touch them with everything I could never give to you." (175)

Julia Watts' "Found in an Antique Trunk" allows us to glimpse a relationship between two women in late Victorian America, via four letters. It is a wonderfully touching story that seems to remind us that there is very little "new" under the sun. Leslea Newman gifts readers with a charming entry from her Girls Will Be Girls anthology, called "A Femme in the Hand." I'd say more about this story except I don't want to spoil any of its fun. And there is a great deal of fun in these stories. Many of them have the kind of "got ya" twist that is a strong element in good short stories for this reader. The anthology's final entry, "requiem" by Elizabeth Dunn, suggests a poignant twist to the "personal is political" as a couple discover one another anew in the face of death.

One could almost wish that Szymanski included an introduction to discuss her selection and arrangement of the stories in Back to Basics. It is clear that she put great effort into both aspects of the editing process. However, the stories do speak for themselves. The editor has succeeded in creating an arousingly readable as well as interestingly thought provoking anthology. Furthermore, Bella Books is to be commended for the steadily improving quality of their cover art. This cover is sexy and pleasing as well. All in all, Back to Basics is a fine anthology of erotic stories that may be read on many levels. The collection is as thought provoking as it is arousing, and for a reader with little shelf space, this book is a keeper.

-MJ Lowe