Carnal Machines by D.L King is a very hot collection of steam-punk themed erotica. First thing that I want to admit was that it took me a little while to understand exactly what steam-punk meant prior to finally reading this collection after having it for some time. For those of you who might feel similar to the way I felt, just think Victorian times and inventions. This is my simple description, although I know steam-punk entails more than this.

There are 14 stories in this collection, although this is less than the usual number of stories in most anthologies, these stories have much more detail and story line to them. I found that I got just as sucked into the technology and description of the machines and inventions as I did the erotic components. The creativity and imagination that the authors used really blew my mind.

There are stories by: Teresa Noelle Roberts, Janine Ashbless, Renee Michaels, Poe Von Page, Kannan Feng, Jay Lawrence, Delilah Devlin, Lisabet Sarai, Kathleen Bradean, Elias A. St James, Essemoh Teepee, D.L. King, Tracey Shellito, and Elizabeth Schechter. As you can see, some of these names are present in many other erotic anthologies and some of these might be some you haven’t seen before. I think that all of the authors did a wonderful job with the theme and the erotic component of their stories and I hope to read more stories by all of them.

I will admit that there was not a story in this anthology that didn’t do it for me. I found them all entertaining in their own way, erotic, well written, and in some cases they even made me smile. It was hard to pick my favorites but I have to go with the following stories:

Doctor Watson Makes a House Call by Essemoh Teepee

Her Own Devices Lisabet Sarai

Deviant Devices by Kannan Feng

The Servant Question by Janine Ashbless

I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word of this anthology and HIGHLY recommend it. I just wish that I read it sooner instead of letting it sit for so long. After reading this I also have a new opinion of sex machines and it made me think about all the years and technology that people have explored in the pursuit of pleasure.