$16.95
ISBN 1595910085
available through Amazon

Reviewed by William S. Dean
(05/24/06)

I guide him between my thighs. Normally, I would let Harry take his time, let him take the time that he thought I wanted, needed. But not tonight, not here in the dark with my daughter out there. I am wet already with what I have seen, what I have grasped. The inside of my belly trembles like it's filled with fish and stream. I pull Harry into me, fast, sharp. He slides inside me so quickly that he gasps and falters. He opens his mouth. I am afraid he will apologize. He will ask if he's hurt me, and then all of this -- this light, this heat, the hunger -- will fall away.

The cover of Aqua Erotica 2 shows a young face dripping with moisture. Maybe it's ejaculate or sweat or rain or the drizzle from a showerhead. Maybe it's all of the above. No matter. As it clearly states in a small circle, the entire book is "Waterproof for your pleasure." Subtitled "12 Stories / No Boundaries," Aqua Erotica 2, like its predecessor, is a book specially treated for sweaty hands, bathtub reading, or increased steamy activities in a sauna. DuraBooks, as they are called, are printed on polypropylene and inorganic fillers. They haven't been around that long. Charles Melcher only received Patent No. 6,773,034 in August two years ago. He published Aqua Erotica 1 even while the patent was pending.

The twelve apostles of erotica included in this follow up anthology would be proud, I am sure, if readers got wet reading their tales. The names of many will be familiar to readers of the genre: Debra Hyde, Cecelia Tan, Thomas Roche, Rachel Kramer Bussel, and Simon Shepard. Readers of Clean Sheets will also recognize our own Bill Noble, Shanna Germain, Mary Ann Mohanraj, and newcomer Mike Kimera on the Table of Contents page.

Wetness, moisture, water, and showers are fittingly part of the theme running through the stories, which is as it must be when dealing with hot, steamy erotica. The "No Boundaries" subtitle assures that this is not your basic vanilla sex anthology, however. There is even a punning sense of humor running through the book, as in Shanna Germain's "Entry Point" (quoted above), a tale of canoes and paddling which is also about spanking.

Having for a time been caretaker for a classic yacht built for silent screen star Tom Mix, I can attest to the veracity of the sexual highjinks Michael Hemmingson portrays in "The Yacht People":

Stephanie and I were going at it a second time. She was sucking me off and helping me up for the adventure. Erin walked in on us. She leaned against the wall and said, "Isn't this something." She said," Isn't this a sight."

Stephanie popped my dick out and said in a raspy tone, "Wanna join us, you pervert?"

Erin's dress seemed to slip off her body, and she was naked and standing next to the bed. "If you don't mind, I'd like to, yes."

"Do you mind?" Stephanie asked me.

I said, "Only a fool would mind," or something like that.

I knew this was going to be a mistake, but at the moment I didn't give a fuck. Or I did give a fuck -- two fucks and a blowjob, actually.

The idea of an erotica book impervious to wet stains is definitely one of those ideas whose time has come. Frankly, I wish it had come sooner. I can think of several occasions in saunas and Jacuzzis -- and even on sweaty sheets -- when some stimulating wordplay would have enhanced the skin games I was engaged in, but there's no use now crying over spilt...whatever...

Wetness is, of course, expected in good erotica, but the tales in Aqua Erotica 2 are more than mere fuck stories. Poignancy is highlighted as well, particularly in Simon Sheppard's "The New World" and Bill Noble's "Out of the Closet," in which the writers probe a bit deeper into their characters' psychology to reveal the dichotomies which can arise from sexual relationships. But the primary functions of the book are to make the reader hot, steamed, sweaty, wet, moist, and yearning to spill out wetness in whichever way seems right at the moment. You can't ask more from a book than that...except -- in this case -- that the wetness won't harm the book.

The reader, I suspect will be left at the end much as the lead character in Debra "Hyde's How We Play:"

...with thoughts of Carl's cum and my juice on his tongue, of his fluids leaking out of me and running down my leg, I'm ready to go home. I'm ready for them to send me back.

Only they're not. I gag on a cock that tastes of cunt, while my ass protests against a protrusion larger than a thumb. But I accept both. I give myself over, ass and mouth, to even more fucking. I sink into yet another rough delight. This, too, is how we play.

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