Girls on Top

Edited by Violet Blue

Book Review by Ashley Lister

Violet Blue makes it clear from the opening of the introduction to this book that Girls on Top is not simply a collection of stories about dominant women. 

“You might think it’s about ladies in leather and dungeons and whips.  Or a typical run-through of BDSM scenes in which women are in charge.  While there might be one story like that here, when it comes to sex, being a girl on top is much more rich, complex, arousing, and fun than the first conjured stereotype.”

Rather than being stories about women who are dominant in the traditional/stereotypical sense of the word, Girls on Top aims to have more substance.  Consequently Violet Blue presents an anthology of stories about female protagonists who are realistic because they know what they want and these stories show how they go about realising those goals.

One of my favourite stories in this collection comes from the inimitable Remittance Girl.  In ‘Central Registry,’ Remittance Girl shows us how her heroine, Candice, deals with the nuisance of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  I have to admit, Candice’s method is more hands-on than my own way of dealing with nuisance calls from religious zealots.  The last time I was dragged away from my writing by a grinning God Botherer, the conversation went like this:

Me: Hello?
JW: Can you believe that a man rose from the grave for our sins?
Me: D’you mean zombies?  Are the zombies coming?  Are they coming to get me?
JW: [placating]  No.  No.  I’m talking about Christ’s resurrection.
Me: [relieved]  Ah.  I refuse to subscribe to the bible because its inherent sexism sympathises with a patriarchal hegemony that shows no tolerance for the equality it purports to represent.
JW: OK.  Have a nice day then.

Yet Candice takes action in a much more practical, humorous and sexually satisfying fashion. 

In ‘The Woman in His Room,’ the delicious Saskia Walker weaves a lascivious narrative about a young woman, Karen, an older man, Luke, and another woman, Lisa.  As with all the stories in this anthology, the emphasis relies on the central character’s self-awareness of what she wants and how she is going to get it.  Karen begins the story sure that she only wants Luke.  However, by the time Karen has reached the story’s cleverly crafter climax, Karen has discovered she doesn’t only want Luke – she wants the world of sexual pleasures to which he and Lisa have introduced her.

In Rebecca Boyd’s ‘Balzac’s Monster,’ this beautifully frustrating story relates the tale of one very competent woman and her reluctantly obliging man.  Again, this is another enjoyable story about a woman who knows exactly what she wants and exactly how to get that from a lover. 

Although Girls on Top is written by women and aimed predominantly at a female audience, this does not mean that the stories can’t be enjoyed by men.  In truth, if more men accepted that the women in their lives are driven by goals, desires and ambitions as torrid as their own, then the potential for gender equality would undoubtedly move closer to an absolute parity. 

Ashley Lister
March 2009

Girls on Top, edited by Violet Blue
(Cleis Press, February 2009; ISBN 1573443409)
Available at Amazon.com  / Amazon UK

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© 2009 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.


About the Author: Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms.His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books; ISBN: 0753511355), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley’s non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica. Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto. He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Websites: www.ashleylister.co.uk / ashleylister.blogspot.com

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