Back to Basics

Does it get any better? Not really. This is a great collection of stories for solo pleasure or to read to your lover. Everything from sweet and tender to raw and gritty is covered. You are sure to enjoy.

This anthology is a keeper if only for one story, Karin Kallmaker's 'The Curve of Her' which has the two beloved characters from her novel 'Touchwood'. The book starts out with the fabulous 'The Butch Across the Hall' by Karin Kallmaker, it is the perfect selection to begin the collection by setting the tone beautifully (and it's really hot!). Some of the terrific authors in the anthology - Barbara Johnson Therese Szymanski Julia Watts Peggy J. Herring Laura Dehart Young Amie Evans Jean Stewart MJ Williamz Leslea Newman Other stories that left a lasting impression were from L. Elise Bland, Elizabeth Dunn and Joy Parks. A stand out story 'Escapade' from Carol Rosenfeld was simply awesome - I highly recommend it - very emotional.

I *loved* this anthology, and I don't even identify butch or femme. There is a wonderful range of voices in it, lesbians all, and the butches still claim being women (fancy that!) and some of them even let the femme touch them back (wow!). Out of a half-dozen anthologies I've read in the last year, this is the only one where it's not just OKAY for the femme to touch the butch's genitalia, the butch encourages it as part of their exchange. A butch in a b/f couple I know recently said she was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her liking to be flipped. I loaned her my copy of this anthology to reassure her that femmes doing butches isn't as rare as it seems in stories these days. There are couples and one-nighters and a taste of menage a trois. A few stories are erotically-charged but have more impact as literature about b/f in the lesbian community. (Compared to the "Best of Lesbian Sex" series, this anthology says more about ***LESBIAN*** sex than the last 3 of that series put together.) I was particularly struck by "Touching Stone" the first story I've read where a femme's feeling about her lover going stone and then FtM are explored. Every other story I've read about it seems to assume the femme will be hunky dory that she can no longer give lesbian sex to her lover, or any kind of sex for that matter, like she'll *of course* be happy to do all the receiving, isn't that a femme's dream? This was a very eye-opening story that shows poetically a femme's attempt to deal with her changed lover. It gave me a few things to think about. For the shy reader, my other favorite story was by a writer I thought too vanilla for me, Karin Kallmaker. "The Butch Across the Hall" is a humorous, sexy story about a woman's first time with a butch and the butch's toy. I loved how it dealt with all the stereotypes that ran through her head as she considered what it meant (and didn't mean) to use one. Not the least bit preachy. And the line "Hasn't anyone ever made you feel beautiful before?" seemed to encapsulate what this anthology says about the butch-femme dynamic. There are a number of first-time published writers in this anthology, which is a daring and rewarding effort on the part of the editor. A definite YES from me, and like another reviewer I hope for a volume 2.

Like another reviewer I am consistently disappointed by many of the lesbian erotica anthologies out there. I like one or two stories, at best, and the rest are so out there they do nothing for me. I like women. I like erotic stories about women who like *women*. Butch and femme seems to me is just one way of being a woman. I didn't find a singl moment with anything less than a celebration of the feminine, even in all its butchly glory. I also liked that there were no stories where violence was masked as a sex act with fake "oh it turns me on to need stitches and sit on a pillow for a week" scenes. I loved the stories about couples, how the roles work for them, how it sparks their sex lives. I will be able to pick this collection up for years, choose almost any story and revisit a passionate encounter as if for the first time. Good writing, real women. I hope there will be a Back to Basics 2!

I buy erotic anthologies hoping that I'll like maybe three stories in all, and if I'm really lucky, one will have characters that I can feel for and identify with enough to get warm. This anthology not only is longer than most, with more stories, I easily enjoyed all but a couple of the stories and more than one got me far more than warm.It's like there are so many faces to what makes a butch or a femme, and such variety, that I could relate to situations or people really easly. I've found in a lot of these "best of" erotica anthologies that the sex is bizarre and the people even more so. But maybe that's me. They never seem to be the kind of lesbian I am, with a taste for a touch of kink, but a larger hunger for emotional connection.What I know is that when a book says it's erotic it needs to turn me on and this amazing, thoughtful, well-written collection did just that. Over and over.Standout stories: the opening with Karin Kallmaker's "Butch Across the Hall" (other contribution "Curve of Her" is more tame but still a major wow!), M. Christian's "Coming Out of Left Field," D.L. White's "Pandora's Box" (screaming heat!), and Elizabeth Dunn's "requiem" (which ends the book with a powerful vision of how the worst nightmare can open the door to what really matters). I could list nearly every story in the book and just say "hot!" because they are. The only story that gave me trouble was "Three to Tango" which was written in a tag team kind of style, and seemed to jerk from person to person. I notice that the publisher, Bella After Dark, is new, but sign me up for every book they produce. If they stay this good I might be able to survive being single.