Oedipus Wrecked by Kevin Keck
(Cleis Press; November 9, 2005; ISBN: 1573442224)
Available at: Amazon.com / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

Oedipus Wrecked is not for the faint-hearted. Kevin Keck’s memoirs are a shockingly open account of one man’s exploits in sexual discovery.

Things seldom go right for Kevin.

However, from his opening revelations, where he slyly borrows his mother’s vibrator, the reader begins to understand that Kevin doesn’t incline himself towards a successful outcome. Like slow-motion footage of a car crash, you can see the outcome of each tragedy before it’s presented, but you can’t drag your eyes away from the terrible beauty of how it will get there.

There are stories of Kevin’s obsession with phone sex and there are tales of his bewildering variety of masturbation techniques. Amongst other things Kevin touches on erectile dysfunction, the loss of his virginity and his brief sojourn into the territory of the homoerotic.

All of these are articulately presented and lurch with dizzying speed from arousing to moving to shocking and then on to hilarious. Most disturbing of all is that Kevin expresses his drives with an innocent charm that is so forthright his actions are almost immediately forgivable and acceptable.

Intelligently written and frank to a degree where the honesty becomes unsettling, Kevin repeatedly shows that learning about sex and sexuality is a journey that we all make alone. The only difference is that Kevin has had the courage to explore several back-roads on his circuitous route and he is not afraid to candidly recount details regardless of whether they make him look like a hero, a buffoon or an out and out bastard.

As I said before: Oedipus Wrecked is not for the faint-hearted. But if you want to read something that is simultaneously honest, hilarious, explicit and tragic, I can’t imagine a more satisfying read.

Rode Hard, Put Away Wet: Lesbian Cowboy Erotica
(Suspect Thoughts Press; June 2005; ISBN: 0976341107)
Available at: Amazon.com / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

I’ll be honest and admit I hadn’t encountered much lesbian cowboy erotica before reading this anthology but it’s easy to see why this variation on the genre is so popular. The women are strong (and they are attractive because of that) and they are succeeding in the manliest corner of a man’s world.

Sacchi Green and Rakelle Valencia have collected stories from a competent posse of authors and herded together more then two-dozen tales of women with their roots in the Wild West. The quality of writing is consistently high and features contributions from many well-known talents.

And this unusual marriage of western drama and lesbian erotica does make a refreshing change. The editors have been careful to balance the collection so that no stereotypes take predominance over the book. The anthology flows from each vivid and individual character with a remarkable array of voices.

Cheyenne Blue (The Other Side of the Rockies) presents an exquisitely poignant tale of a woman finding the love she craves in the arms of a beautifully butch cowboy. Saachi Green (The Flight of the Prairie Lily) tells an evocative tale of a balloon flight across the plains of a freshly conquered Wild West. Stephen D Rogers (Tether is the Night) shows what happens when a spunky city girl finds herself lassoed and branded.

The variety of stories is surprising. The strength of eroticism and description make this collection a delight for all lovers of quality lesbian fiction.

© 2006 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.