The Orgasmic: Erotica for Women is a 209 page book edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and published by Cleis Press. Within those 209 pages is 25 stories – that averages out to be about 8 pages per every story. Something I was surprised by – the topic of this book is not just erotica for women, the topic is actually orgasms. Every story in this book includes an orgasm in some way, shape, or form. How that orgasm is reached depends upon the story, but in each story, quite a bit of focus is placed on the orgasm itself. The front cover, with it’s background of brown, shows a girl lying back in pleasure with her hand touching her lips with “Orgasmic” really large on the front. The back shows the same woman with the tagline “Come as you Are”. I’d highly recommend to not take this out in public – it’s a little obvious what this book is exactly about.
From what I remember, there isn’t much in the case of masturbation in this book. Almost all of the orgasms in here take place within a heterosexual relationship, and all the orgasms in here are also received by women. However, since most of the time, a guy is making them orgasm, the males also have descriptive orgasms as well. There are a couple stories that take place between lesbians, but obviously for the theme of the book, none of them take place between gay males.
All of the stories in this compilation, like most other Cleis Press erotic books, are well written. The stories sometimes cut straight to the sex and sometimes the stories we get a little background about the characters. What I really enjoy is when something out of the ordinary happens. For example, a submissive woman meets up with her “dominant” on a crowded street corner. They start making out, and soon enough, he orders her to rub herself against his clothed erection in the middle of this crowded street unil she orgasms. Interesting little stories like that are the ones that I enjoy the most.
The book had a nice, wide range of different stories. Some of the stories included in-the-bedroom sex while other stories included the woman being “forced” to have those orgasms. Sometimes the male would require her to hold back her orgasm while other times, he was forcing her to have as many as she possibly could. It really just depended on the context of the story as well as the author of it.
While I did enjoy quite a few of the stories and did find them arousing, I can’t say that I was amazingly attached to any of them. There are really no stories that “stood out” in my mind that make me want to go back and reread it. Almost all of the stories were of great quality and had amazing plots, but none of them were *absolutely* amazing like others I’ve read.
For example, in “The London O” by Justine Elyot, a couple decides to spice up their sex life by taking it public. After a visit to the local sex shop, they come out with (what is never named as, but is described as) a Venus Penis strap-on vibrator. They have fun walking throughout the subways and visiting popular monuments while she waits in anticipation for the moment when he’s going to turn on the remote control and make her orgasm.
In “Animal Inside” by Neve Black, a woman regularly rents a hotel room because there’s a little hole in the bathroom that allows you to see into the neighboring bathroom. When she’s spying on a man someday, she’s caught, and he starts to masturbate for her in the shower while calling her a dirty girl and calling her out. Soon, she’s masturbating too and responding to his naughty questions.
In “Making Shapes” by Lily Harlem, a woman works as a professional penis-maker. (Awkward. She makes clones of clients who come into the shop.) One day, a completely attractive male comes into the shop, and like regulation, he gets him really close to orgasm before sliding him into the mold. The sensation is too much for him because he finds that he needs to orgasm as soon as she does. He barely makes it until the mold is off of him. Two weeks after he was due to pick up his mold, she assumes he isn’t going to and starts daydreaming of him. Of course, with such a handy prop nearby, she starts pleasuring herself with his dildo. Of course, you see where this is going, but he comes into the shop and notices something is off about his dildo. Cue hot sex here.
So what do I think? The book is definitely worth a read if you are into women receiving orgasms. The stories are all written from a woman’s point of view, so this book was mostly intended for a female audience. They all will be prety arousing and enjoyable to read, and if you enjoy reading erotica, I’d definitely recommend that you pick this collection up.
