Selling Venus

by Cecilia Tan (Editor)

"I like the idea of doing an anthology of erotic fiction on the subject of the sex industry. Technically, this book itself is a part of that industry--the exchange of money for sexual stimulation or gratification, in this case in the form of smut/erotica/porn...Whatever you wish to call it, this is, without a doubt, a book intended to stimulate." --From the Introduction by Cecilia Tan

Includes stories by M. Christian, Melanie Fletcher, Evan Hollander, Jim Lee, Yvonne Navarro, Thomas S. Roche, Dave Smeds, Doug Tierney, Jarrett Trane, and Renee M. Charles.

100 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Susie Bright says, "Cecilia Tan is simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature." Since the publication of Telepaths Don't Need Safewords in 1992, she has been on the cutting edge of the erotic form, often combining elements of fantasy and science fiction in her work. She is also founder and editor of Circlet Press.

RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence from GRW in 2013. She has been publishing Daron's Guitar Chronicles as a web serial since 2009 and her Secrets of a Rock Star series (Taking the Lead, Wild Licks, Hard Rhythm) is published by Hachette/Forever. In 2018 Tor Books will launch her urban fantasy/paranormal series, The Vanished Chronicles. In her other life, Cecilia is also the editor of the Baseball Research Journal and publications director for SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.

Reviews

[Squirrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dated:
1)It opens with a story about a man writing porn about transgender women that uses slurs
2)This is a sci-fi collection from the early 90s. Despite a plethora of androids, there is no internet.
3) This collection is straight as hell and everyone is white and thin. There is one story that references same sex acts, but the protagonist does it because the chip in his head tells him to, not because he chooses it.
Yeah, sure, there are some interesting points about agency and sex work and some of the writing was kinda hot, but Circlet Press has released a lot of newer, better stuff so if you're considering buying this book, maybe skip it?

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

In order to do a proper review, I suppose I would have to actually reread this book, which, frankly, I do not think I can bear to do. I probably would give it more stars, except that I had such high expectations for it (I love a lot of Tan's other stuff, and, ok, I'm not gonna lie, I might just kinda glorify/fetishize sex work and sex workers), but this book left me feeling annoyed on every possible level.