Entertainment :: Books
Eight Inches by Christopher Verleger
EDGE ContributorFriday Sep 11, 2009 Sean Wolfe, author of the erotic anthologies "Taboo," "Aroused," and "Close Contact," returns with his steamy fourth short story collection, "Eight Inches," which comes complete with his trademark hardcore scenes of explicit sex amongst mostly troubled young men who are all loosely intertwined.
Representing an inch for each story, the men featured in these eight titillating tales range across young and older, wealthy and destitute, high-powered and unacknowledged, well-bred and uneducated. The most apparent common thread they share is a primal hunger for raw, unadulterated sex with men.
Carlos, a half-Mexican teen flees his home and an abusive stepfather for a life of on the streets, where he befriends fellow hustler Ricky in "Street Smart."
College freshman Justin plays football for UCLA and reluctantly services the instructors who threaten to fail him--until he meets psychology professor Richard Norman, in "Head of the Class."
Rafael Suarez is a closet-case whose aspirations to become president of Mexico are potentially compromised in "Politico."
The privileged Corey, introduced in perhaps the juiciest entry, "Frat Frenzy," is a Yale upperclassman who pines for his childhood friend-with-benefits, Roger... until, that is, he meets Carlos (from "Street Smart").
The weakest, and most disturbing, story, "Tick Tock," is about the mentally ill Adam, a Walgreen’s store clerk plagued by hallucinations of insects and vermin, a condition dating back to college where he met (and never got over) Manuel--a character later to be seen in "Big As Hell" (Inch Seven) as a South American billionaire.
In DudeSearch, a recovered Adam reappears as a prison inmate, where his friend, Harmon, works as a guard, and makes the acquaintance of Roger (from "Frat Frenzy") via an online hookup site.
Most of these characters return for the final entry, "No Looking Back," where all loose ends are tied up, perhaps a little too neatly.
The author’s effort should be commended, because while each story could potentially stand on its own, there is an actual running storyline, complete with a discernible plot. There’s also some thoughtful dialogue that isn’t just sex talk, and one or two underlying themes.
That being said, erotica fans will not be disappointed because the sex sequences will satisfy those into romance as well as raunch. Having read only one of the author’s three previous collected works of erotic fiction, I will likely now seek out the other two.
However contrived, it was refreshing to read about characters that have some really intense sex, as opposed to mere descriptions of sexual acts where the participants could easily be nameless.
by Sean Wolfe
Publisher: Kensington. Publication Date: September 1, 2009. Pages: 352. Price: $15. Format: Trade Paperback Origianl. ISBN-13: 978-0-758-234-322
Chris Verleger is an avid reader, aspiring novelist and self-professed theater geek from Providence.
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