Unreal Sex by So Mayer

Unreal Sex Reviews

• 
  Thea

  I quickly glanced at this in the bookstore and thought I bought an academic book ABOUT erotica… 10 pages in i quickly realised that nope, it’s just plain ol’ erotica, and that I was in for a wild ride. But I took it in stride and was kind of excited to see what had ended up on my shelf.
  
  (Also, I don’t want to be a dickhead and rate this low and then also write its first review from my dickhead-perspective, I’m mainly writing this for myself because I genuinely had fun with this)
  
  First of all, when the blurb mentioned that everything in this collection was sex they did NOT LIE: ghosts, the undead, candlesticks and mediums, goo of various forms: you name it! If it’s vaguely fuckable it can be turned into erotica. And you know what? That’s something I can respect.
  
  However, while I don’t view myself as an erotica expert, and rather just a nerdy little freak with curious tendencies, I still found myself wanting more from the stories. Not in an ‘oh this was sexy I want to read more’ kind of way, but rather the ‘can you please slow down, maybe elaborate, build the world a bit to give the fucking some more substance’ way.
  
  The quality of the writing varied a lot between the different authors, which I both respect and expect, but some of it was not very engaging at all, just barrelling through with vague descriptors, leaving me with an ‘oh, that was it?’ feeling after finishing.
  
  But hey, on a positive note, it has an impressively wide variety of themes and eroticism for such a short book, and the guy with the dick collection? Fascinating in an eldritch horror kind of way
  
  All in all an interesting read and a book I’m proud to call my 50th this year
• 
  Jayme

  I really wasn't expecting this space sex anthology to be so well curated and the stories to be so well written. There are ten stories here, each with its own extremely unique 'bang'. My three favourites are:
  
  'The Ghostly Cruiser' by Rachel Dawson, where a woman bangs a ghost.
  
  'Synchronicity' by Rien Gray, where a silver goo bangs a person.
  
  'Personal Time' by Jem Nash, where a guy invents time travel just to bang themself!
  
  My only complaint was that most of these stories were almost tooooo classy. Some of them were frankly quite tame. And I was here for the weird sex. So...
• 
  Toby

  Unreal Sex is a collection of erotic stories featuring queer authors & characters, that mix scifi, horror & fantasy with sex. I bought the book on a whim after seeing the cover, which my friend actually pointed out and what a perfect time to buy it & read it as it’s Pride Month!
  
  Although I’m not entirely big on anthology books due to some stories being a miss for me, I actually enjoyed reading each story in this collection, and I found the difference of each story to be refreshing. My main issue with the book was that I was expecting a lot more in terms of…oddness? Some stories really went there ( Personal Time by Jem Mash) but some stories felt quite lacking to me, but still managed to keep me engaged.
  
  If I were to pick two of my favourites from this anthology, it would have to be ‘The Ghostly Cruiser’ by Rachel Dawson & ‘The Neckinger Line’ by Swithun Cooper. There was something about these two tales that really stuck with me once I finished & I absolutely adored the writing in each of them. ‘Lipophilic” by Nicks Walker was also fantastic and I was really into the imagery he created in his story and I felt very connected with it.
  
  
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• 
  Cleo Mace

  Cool selection of short stories. Fisted by a ghost was a highlight. As was the sad robot/orc sex sauna (pretty cool writer of that one). Alison Rumfitt’s story was as enjoyably messed up as ever, liked that a lot. Thought the framing device at the beginning was a brilliant way to bring the book together.
  4 stars bc some of the stories just did nothing for me, but a really good book, some genuinely proper hot, fun bits.
• 
  Eliott Rose

  really nice edition - not all the stories are perfect, definitely prefer some to others, but it's a gorgeous collection of queer/trans erotica by some great authors
• 
  Huey

  I feel a little bad about only giving this three stars, but the overall impression this left me with was a little lackluster. There was lot of variation in narrative quality with the strongest stories sandwiched in the middle, meaning a slow start and a slightly laboured end.
  
  If every story had been like Nicks Walker's "Lipophilic, malleable solids" this review probably would have been a whole lot different - but also, maybe this just isn't for me. I picked this up on a whim and erotica is not my usual ballpark, so I could just be being overly critical - who knows!
• 
  Lou

  
  instagram
  
  Depuis ma lecture, je n'arrête pas d'y penser. Ce livre a tout pour me surprendre : je l'ai adoré alors que je ne suis pas d'habitude une grande fan du format nouvelles ; il réunit 10 auteur.es contemporain.es dont je n'ai jamais entendu parlé ; et surtout, il parle de sexe bizarre, de sexe alien, de sexe queer dans tous les sens du terme.
  
  C'est toujours difficile de résumer une anthologie, mais je peux au moins vous dire que ce qui réunit ces dix nouvelles, c'est de parler de sexe d'une façon inédite, en y intégrant des éléments de la science-fiction ou de l'horreur. Ça, et le fait qu'elles sont toutes excellentes.
  
  Il y a plus d'une lesbienne dans ce livre, ce qui justifie sa présence sur mon compte, mais ce qui est le plus intéressant ici c'est surtout la débinarisation de la sexualité, sa sortie totale des normes, sa démesure et la jouissance que cela entraîne !
  
  J'ai été véritablement happée par ma lecture, et je la recommande chaudement si la sexualité est un sujet qui vous intéresse !
• 
  Mica Amy Phelan

  I remember reading Lisa Tadeo's Animal, and the first thing I thought upon finishing it was how she was indulging herself in her own depravity, and I didn't like it. It felt wrong somehow.
  
  Now there is something about these stories that remind me of the same idea. There is an indulgence in bodily pleasure that surpasses the real, and an indulgence in a kind of depravity that comes from kinks. But it doesn't feel wrong in the same way. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's just how this collection feels to me. I found myself quite enjoying some of the scenarios, particularly Personal Time and Anima Kingdom, and how boundaries were crossed in erotic yet heartwarming ways.
  
  And just a quick note to say, Alison Rumfitt, woman, you sure know how to write. *chef's kiss*
• 
  The Little Viking Reader

  Both exactly what I expected and yet completely surprising, and unfortunately not in the best way.
  
  This left me feeling completely baffled and asking what the f*ck did I just read?
  
  Being strange, queer and erotic is what binds these short stories together, but they still felt very disjointed. I unfortunately felt that most of them felt like they were trying to hard to be weird, so much so, that that was all they were.
  
  They only story I actually enjoyed was "Anima Kingdom" by Diriye Osman.
• 
  Rachel Bruce

  Great representations in this book but not as erotic as I'd hoped. Some stories were more abstract than sexy. Anima Kingdom by Diriye Osman was my favourite, I could have read an entire novel on Migil's life.
• 
  Erica Lewis

  I grew up on PZB's queer erotic horror so this was a treat. I bought it because a friend is one of the featured authors but the whole thing is brilliant. I mean it's clearly almost three decades younger than Brite's stories. But I bet he'd love the book too.
• 
  Elly Call

  Genius. Hot. Queer as hell. So, when you read it (since you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD) don’t forget to read the introduction—it was a hilarious and sexy framing device. Maybe the only time I can say that the intro was one of my favorite parts of the book.
• 
  Lauren

  Anima kingdom ❤️
• 
  Annabel Steen

  really really good. very hot very sexy, every story is so different, 5 stars.
• 
  alex

  not sure how i feel about short story collections, were all very fun and weird tho
• 
  Andreas

  (4.5) I picked this book up on a whim, intrigued but not expecting much, and I must admit that it surprised me. Every single one of these stories is very well written, has an interesting premise and is a very good short story regardless of whether it’s something you’re into. Great transmasc rep too.
• 
  Paula Glancy

  AS PART OF MA BOOK CLUB. Not a fan