SECRET SEX - Russell Smith, editor

From Canada comes this anthology of anonymous sex fiction. The premise is that because we (the general reading public) still have hang-ups about sex, writers tend to write gently around the theme of sex, but if given the opportunity to write about sex and remain anonymous, how much more open, explicit, and erotic would the fiction be? Twenty-four "prominent authors living in Canada" have stories here, centrally themed around sex. (Side note: I didn't recognize any of the names of the authors included here.) As editor Russell Smith notes in the introduction: 

Writing sex scenes is notoriously difficult: one walks a tightrope between the crude and the laughable (especially in English, a Germanic language that lends itself to the silly or the ugly). When describing body parts, one must choose between the correct word — which can sound clinical, as if one is reading a medical textbook — and a slang word, which almost always sounds more crass than the rest of the language one’s character is using. 

Add to that the anxiety over coming out to one’s family and mortifying one’s mom. And add to that an anxiety over being mocked for imagining sex at all. A particular strain of conservative critic tends to imagine the authors themselves in all the positions described, because that’s almost always amusing.

 As with almost any anthology, I found some of these stories very well written and entertaining and some of them were dull and dry and not at all interesting.

The first story that I enjoyed was "Comet" which begins with the sentences: "A home movie of us making love. The bedroom back on Mercer Avenue." It is a story of reflection. Of remembering. Of rekindling.

"Watching You Watching Me" was a really great short story.  Stronger, more graphic sex in this story compared to "Comet" but the introspection (again, reflection) was powerful.  The story begins: 

My lawyer laughed when you stipulated that I couldn't write about you after the divorce. [...] 

She'd never represented a writer before. [...]  

After twenty-three years of marriage, you did not understand my career, my process, or me. I only wrote about subjects that interested me, people I wanted to understand, themes I felt like thinking about.

I did not feel like thinking about you.

Of course the oddity is that the story is absolutely about the person the writer doesn't want to think about.

"Cloudburst" was odd, but in a fun way. It was like something from the 1960's/1970's that Harlan Ellison or Phil Dick or Thomas Disch would have written.

"Calliope" was also quite odd, but I did not enjoy it at all.  In large part I didn't care for the second person narrative.

"An Archive" was another strong story. How can you go wrong with a story that includes sentences such as: 

"The song playing on the radio was on so many stations that we eventually gave in and decided to like it."

"We only dated for three months but it took me three years of therapy to get over it."

"The sexiest moment of my life wasn’t even sex."

I enjoyed the story "Maria" - though it was probably the raunchiest of the stories that I liked. There was something that seemed very 'real' about the characters that appealed to me.

With the exceptions above, most of the stories here were fine, though not particularly memorable. There were only a handful that I felt were anonymous for good reason and generally it wasn't because of the sex, per say, but the ferocity or violence of the sex.

The authors represented here are: Angie Abdou, Jean Marc Ah-Sen, Tamara Faith Berger, Jowita Bydlowska, Xaiver Michael Campbell, K.S. Covert, francesca ekwuyasi, Anna Fitzpatrick, Drew Hayden Taylor, Victoria Hetherington, Marni Jackson, Andrew Kaufman, Michael LaPointe, Pasha Malla, Sophie McCreesh, Lisa Moore, Heather O’Neill, Lee Suksi, Susan Swan, Heidi von Palleske, Aley Waterman, Zoe Whittall, David Whitton, Michael Winter.

The contents here are:

Introduction
"Sext"
"Tulip"
"Comets"
"Niche Parade: Hotel Maid Compilation"
"At the Wreckers"
"Restoration"
"Timeless Sophistication"
"The Politics of Passion"
"Bite"
"Watching You Watching Me"
"Praying Mantis"
"Cloudburst"
"After Nicolette"
"Calliope"
"An Archive"
"My Skin Isn’t What It Used to Be"
"Party, Party, (Sex) Party"
"Maria"
"Labefactions of a Thwarted Patootie"
"Patience"
"Gold Star"
"Content Farm Confidential"
"Mirror, Mirror"
"Portrait of a Lady"

Looking for a good book? The anthology Secret Sex edited by Russell Smith suggests that if an author can remain anonymous, their writing about sex can be more explicit and daring. Few of the examples here show that to be true. The best short fiction included is still about people - about people having sex, about people thinking about sex, about people remembering sex. The stories about sex are less interesting.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Secret Sex

editor: Russell Smith

publisher: Rare Machines

ISBN: 9781459752429

paperback, 272 pages