reviewed by Jean Roberta

This collection of 38 stories, all by contemporary writers, is the kind of history book that would have kept you awake in high school -- or awake in bed at night, reading by flashlight so your parents wouldn't find out. All the stories are skilfully written, but otherwise the tone of the collection ranges from comic-opera lightness to the darkness of Greek tragedy. Periods covered include the prehistoric (two stories based on the Garden of Eden myth and one about the first mating of our Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon ancestors), the ancient (stories set in Greece, Egypt and the Incan Empire), the Renaissance (including several stories about Italian Masters and their models), the 1700s (the French Revolution was never sexier), the 1800s (the great age of Victorian imperialism and underground porn) and both World Wars.

The period flavor of each piece seems remarkably accurate. One advantage of the historical theme is that current definitions of "gay/lesbian," "het," "vanilla," "SM" and "fetish" erotica seem irrelevant to stories set in cultures in which all women wore corsets (or nothing at all), in which the sexually segregated context of a convent, a private school or a military organization was the closest equivalent to a modern "gay community," in which incest in some royal families was required to ensure the "purity" of bloodlines, and in which routine discipline involved canes, chains and whips. The diversity of the encounters, from the Renaissance romance of an artist-model affair that saves the souls of both lovers to the brutality of the whipping and rape of a local wench by English soldiers in Scotland of the 1750s, is likely to upset readers who want their erotica neatly packaged and labeled. Modern restrictions on "underage" sex are daringly ignored; does anyone really believe that most of our ancestors kept their virginity until they reached "adulthood," however it was defined?

The writers in this collection are not afraid to tackle sacred cows. The witty retellings of the story of Adam and Eve (one told by a worldly-wise Eve herself) are sure to disturb those who take the Bible literally. One writer retells the story of King Herod and the favor he grants his seductive stepdaughter Salome (the head of John the Baptist on a platter) in a version more decadent, if possible, than the famous play written by Oscar Wilde and illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley in the 1890s. Another writer offers a wickedly funny explanation of Celopatra's death from snakebite; one reveals the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile; one offers a new interpretation of a story by Edgar alan Poe; and one offers sad glimpse of the marriage of "Jazz Age" writer Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda from 1920 to her death in 1948.

All the sex in this book is described in juicy detail, regardless of the literary conventions of the periods in which it is set. In this sense, this collection seems to fit into a current trend that could be called "Magic Realist Nostalgia." Like the exquisite black-and-white cinematography of SCHINDLER'S LIST and the clear sound of 1960s rock classics re-recorded on compact disc, the stories in this book offer us the past in a form that looks faithful to reality yet technically better than the productions of the time.

In "No Natural Magic," a surrealistic story about the narrator's obsession with Shakespeare's haunting love-crazed heroine Ophelia, Queen Gertrude sends her a note that could serve as an introduction to the book as a whole:

"O, shave away the trappings of femininity. Reject the nostalgia of an earth mother. Reject the ridiculous notion of natural magic. It is all created. There is no natural magic. It is all theater. But how well you probably know this, my pretty. I hope you have some fancy costumes to outfit our scene. Love, Q."

This collection is a dazzling sequence of "scenes," both true-to-life and artifully created. If you relish the erotica of the past (the ancient burlesque of Aristophanes, the Renaissance porn of Aretino, the eighteenth-century adventures of Moll Flanders, the classic sex guides of India, Arabia and Japan), this book would be a valuable addition to your library. Like good wine, it should be savored slowly and shared with a friend.