w 7IK ALSO BY SUSIE BRIGHT: Susie Bright Sexual Reality 's Susie Sexpert's Lesbian Sex World Editor, Best American Erotica 1993 Editor, Herotica, Herotica 2, and Herotica 3 The Best American Erotica 1994 Edited b y Susie Bright A TOUCHSTONE BOOK Published by Simon & Schuster New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore TOUCHSTONE Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10020 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and inci- dents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Introduction Copyright © 1994 by Susie Bright All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form whatsoever. TOUCHSTONE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc. Designed by Hyun Joo Kim Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 ISBN 0-671-89942-2 This 1994 volume ofBestAmerican Erotica isdedicatedtothe memory ofJohn Fyeston and John Rowhemj. Contents Acknowledgments I I Introduction: How to Write a Best Erotic Story I 3 Gorgeous Maynard 22 J. C Is for Closet, Crevice, and Colossus Marianna Beck 26 From The Same River Twice Chris Offutt 32 Absolution John Preston 43 ?G Diary Linda Hooper 57 Contents Big Nouns, Unconjugated Verbs Bart Plantenga 76 Love Art Debra Martens 8 I Better Safe Michael Lowenthal 91 Slow Dance on the Fault Line Donald Rawley 109 Cool and Clean and Crisp Mark Butler 127 Unsafe Sex Pat CaMfia 133 Elegy for Andy Gibb Danielle Willis 143 Finally, a Coherent Explanation of Straight White Male Sexuality Sigfried Gold 147