Was it Confucius or Marvin the Martian who once asked, “Where is the kaboom?” I’ll tell you where it is. It’s in Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures. Kaboom. Kerplowee! Other explodey noises. Do you hear that? That is the sound of my mind being blown. Because this book done blew it.


Edited by Lynne Jamneck and packing a wallop with 13 stories, finely crafted, all of them, this anthology delivers upon the sacred promises of science fiction and erotica alike: it twisted my brain in circles, and then it spun my libido around like a little, whirling dervish of a top. (Or bottom. Whatever. Ahem.)

In “They Came From Next Door,” Kristyn Dunnion offers up a dystopian look at a future where the middle class is literally history, and guerilla have-nots are wreaking revolution upon overly-complacent haves. Caught somewhere in the middle, a butch/femme couple carves out time for one last roll in the hay before separating to play each their own part in the struggle ahead.

With “Touching Fire,” author Nicola Griffith puts a heady spin on desire and crossing the line between artistic genius and madness. She had me at the title, undoubtedly a nod to Kay Redfield Jamison’s Touched with Fire; but throw in a virtuoso who can create incredible music simply by the way she moves her body, and I was hooked. In “Ishtaru,” Lyde Morehouse writes a future where the only safe place to be queer is under the designation of sacred whore, and of a rebirth of faith through the sweetness of desire.

“The Voyage Out” is probably my favorite offering here. Positing a future where criminals (violent and “political” alike) can be shipped off to scrape out a living on a new world or die trying, Gwyneth Jones spins a captivating tale of hope and desire in a dark place. Really, I was bummed that this one wasn’t an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. I wanted more!

On another tack entirely, “Devulban Dreams” is a sweet story of love lost and found again. “Silver Skin” was one of the most imaginative of the bunch, with a mechanized substance that encases the body like a second skin playing a role both in the sexiness as much as the plot. This story also boasts giant, man-eating turtles, a touch which filled me with geeky glee.

Celebrated erotic writer Cecelia Tan’s offering, “The Spark,” was incredibly sexy, with a healthy heaping of starfuckery and angst. I did find this piece a little lacking in the development of its sci-fi element, but the rock and roll aspect was fun, and perhaps the author was merely being coy.

Finally, Sharon Wachsler’s “Sideways” was another favorite of mine here, with what I thought were probably the hottest sex scenes of the bunch. In this tale of openly corporate-owned political parties, a disabled lesbian and her younger lover wage secret subversiveness against a U.S. government that considers the non able-bodied to be expendable. The scenes between the two characters here are not just wicked hot, but beautifully tender as well. And as for the future depicted in this one? It’s chillingly, eerily believable and made moreso by being set less than 60 years in the future.

After drinking in this anthology, I find my appetite whetted for more. It never before occurred to me how well the aims of queer theory and science fiction mesh — both question the world as we know it, turning it upside down and shaking it to see what falls out of its pockets. In short, Periphery got my brain pumping along with my blood.

Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Edited by Lynne Jamneck
Lethe Press, 2008
ISBN: 9781590211014
216 pages, Paperback
GENRE(S): Anthology, Science Fiction, Lesbian, Erotica