'X: The Erotic Treasury'

Any compilation edited by Susie Bright is sure to leave even the most virginal of erotica readers wet… and not just behind the ears. Responsible not only for seminal lesbian mag On Our Backs, Bright's also the editor behind the Herotica book series, her own radio show, the lesbian sex scenes in Bound, regular columns and essays for dozens of periodicals, and a fantabulously frisky and spot-on sex blog, as well. Think of the vampy erotitrix as the Rupert Murdoch of smut, if you will. Her early-mid-Nineties breakthrough collection Susie Sexpert's Lesbian Sex World is landmark if only for making "fisting" an acceptable word at parties.

Published in September, X: The Erotic Treasury (Chronicle Books, 352 pp., $35) is her latest compilation of 40 headboard-climbers. For this torrid best of the best (some culled from Bright's Best American Erotica series), she invited the likes of Carol Queen, Robert Olen Butler, aural sex pioneer Lisa Palac, and a host of other juicy ambisexterous naughties. My personal fave is the short and oh-so sweet "Five Dimes" by Anita Melissa Mashman, which begins with shock and outrage: "You want me to do what?" (Sorry, was that a spoiler?)

Erotica, of course, is interactive and tactile and much has been made of the volume's, ahem, package. Dripping in a deep, red brocade, the textural design initially gave my hands a hard on: It visually implies that it is going to feel all warm and gushy and, well, like sticking your mitts in fresh, hungry cunt, but really, it feels disappointingly heavy, leaden, square, and cold (insert name of ex here). While the cover and slipcase are top notch, the publishers might have instead splurged on some velvet, or velour, or something furry. No big. Although it does occur to me that hardcover is an odd choice of format for what is essentially created to titillate the most bulging, throbbing, sloppiest sex organ you have: your brain. You're gonna need at least one of those two hands you are using to holding that bulky book up. Or hold off until it comes out in paperback. Meanwhile, that large die-cut "X" on the spine will look real suggestive and sexy up there on your shelf. When your guest notices, you can pull it down for some read-aloud bedtime stories.