If the secret to unlocking your orgasmic potential is variety and adventure, some of you have a long way to go. Using The Big Book of Orgasms as a starting point could lead to interesting self discovery—or at least ideas best played out in your fantasy. (I can’t say I’ve never thought of pleasuring myself in an otherwise empty sauna, for example, but it’s much more practical on paper than in humid reality.) Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel has assembled a collection of 69 stories that take readers on a dizzying excursion through the myriad ways we get ourselves and our partners off. Anthologies usually have a theme; in this case it’s the orgasm, the big O, la petite mort. Not to be confused with every other book of erotica that features an orgasm—or two, or more—at the culmination of each story, this collection zeroes in on the orgasm itself and the many ways to achieve it: orgasm by spanking, orgasm by bass amp vibration, orgasm by thought, orgasm by mouth, by finger, by toy, and of course, by coitus in all its combinations. From the gender swap of “Remote Control” to the steamy public sex that is “Pushing the Boundaries on Public Transport” to the sudden anonymous fuck courtesy of “Opening Doors,” these stories should ignite your senses and raise more than an eyebrow. Something for everybody? Well, no, but not for lack of trying. Blame it instead on the scope of human sexuality that would require The Never-Ending Book of Orgasms, which is, frankly, a hard sell to a publisher. Keep reading, and you will find gay, lesbian, and bisexual groupings alongside the hetero hook-ups in long-term relationships, Dominant/submissive relationships, ex-relationships, and no relationships—casual and free. Writers Suleikha Snyder, Sinclair Sexsmith, Elizabeth Coldwell, Bussel herself and many more put into words the dirtiest thoughts of exquisite pleasure.The stories are short, so choose your hand or vibrator speed carefully. Don’t be surprised when you have to dog-ear pages to return to your favorites. You’ll want to revisit these stories. Or should I say—you’ll want to come again.
Book Review: The Big Book Of Orgasms
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