The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories

edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Book Review by Ashley Lister

Membership of the Mile High Club is claimed by those who achieve orgasm while flying at an altitude of 5,280 ft (a mile above earth).  Purists argue that membership can only be awarded to those who were controlling the aeroplane as they enjoyed their high-flying fun.  But the truth is that many amorous couples have staked their right to membership on lusty liaisons met in long haul lavatories.

Although this method is not one of those advised by specialists, it is probably considered a good way to alleviate the long flight risk of DVT.

According to the milehighclub.com, the founding member of the Mile High Club was the young American pilot Lawrence Sperry (1892 – 1923).  Sperry was a pioneer aviator, pilot and flying instructor.  His plane plunged into South Bay, New York in 1916 and he and his female passenger/student swam naked from the wreckage.  Sperry was too much a gentleman to boast about what had happened onboard the flight.  But the incident did lead to a tabloid headline of the day announcing: AERIAL PETTING – ENDS IN WETTING.

Because there are no official records it’s difficult to estimate how many frisky fliers are members of the Mile High Club.  One source notes that 10% of air travellers claim to have qualified, with 50% of fliers hoping to join the exalted ranks. 

All of which is my roundabout way of introducing a radical concept in sexual exploration that has now been with us for almost a century: The Mile High Club.  And what better way to commemorate the impending anniversary of the club’s inception than with a collection of shorts edited by the delightful Rachel Kramer Bussel? 

There are so many first class stories in this collection that they should keep any reader riveted through the longest of long hauls.  Sommer Marsden’s ‘Scream Queen’ is exquisitely entertaining and erotic as a fan meets her idol on a turbulent flight to NYC.  Sommer knows how to keep readers glued to their seats, even if the flight attendants in her story have difficulty implanting such rules.

Jeremy Edwards, ‘Get On, Get Off,’ tells a typically Edwards-esque tongue-in-cheek tale of an innovative flight where passengers have to fasten their seatbelts but are encouraged to unzip everything else.  Jeremy is a writer who never fails to deliver a smile to both ends of a reader’s anatomy: and I don’t think anyone can ask for much more from an author. 

Matt Conklin’s ‘Wild Child’ is an exceptional character study and an intensely explicit trip that almost delivers the taming of its eponymous antagonist.  In ‘The Girl Most Likely,’ Kristina Wright delivers a pithy tale of lost love being intimately reunited on an eight hour flight to London.  Kristina Wright is a gifted writer and ‘The Girl Most Likely’ shows her talents to tell a powerful story with deft subtlety. 

And then there’s Donna George Storey’s ‘Nasty Little Habit.’  The protagonist of Donna’s story has a nasty little habit that she’s vowed to kick – a habit that involves aeroplanes and personal pleasure flights.  As always, Donna manages to deliver a cracking tale that simply soars and reaches new heights.

Ashley Lister
September 2009

The Mile High Club: Plane Sex Stories
(Cleis Press, 2009; ISBN 157344345X)
Available at: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

______
© 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

  E-mail this page

Copyright © 1996 and on, Erotica Readers Association, Inc.
All Rights Reserved World Wide. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or
medium without express written permission is prohibited.