From Issue 3.6 - Summer 1997
edited by Cecilia Tan
Circlet Press, 1996
Review by Anna Bergman
This will not be another analysis of the mainstream proliferation of vampire imagery. That wouldn't be necessary; anyone who notices book covers while jammed into crowded bus aisles can moan about main stream co-optation. Sure blood and possession are sexy, and the raw material asks to be made into smut. But you need more than a mention of blood to put gloves on.
Many of the stories in the Circlet Press anthology Erotica Vampirica try to use suspense and an overtaken narrator. Maybe it's one of the perils of anthologizing, but I would have liked it if fewer stories had to hinge on "Greetings, I'm a vampire" to make their point. Presumably the reader bought the book to get wet or hard because they already know it's about vampires.
On the wet side, "A Most Nonsensical Night" by Cypress Quinn has a great vampire gang-bang and bondage session. Quinn is a physical, sensual writer, and the story takes you into the vampire chambers and clubs. Also hot is Raven Kaldera's "Prey," which incorporates a survivalist theme with some sexy flying. Renee M. Charles' "Mist Kisses" reads like an encyclopedia of international vampire legend -- she might consider making it into one.