The great thing about short stories is that you can choose where you begin. If you like a certain title listed you can skip ahead. For example, whenever the mood strikes you for some hardcore BDSM you can flip to The Story of O Birthday Party by Susie Bright or Blue Light by Steven Saylor writing as Aaron Travis. If, instead, you want to read lesbian erotica read Tennessee by Patrice Suncircle. Or if your need requires a story that combine politics and sex, read End-Of-The-World-Sex by Tsaurah Litzky.

Never before has a collection of stories been so accurately described as ‘The best of the best, the hottest of the hot.’ The variety is impressive and the talent unparalleled. It’s varied not only in the choice of stories but in choice of authors and their personal sexual preferences. Below are some of the juiciest lines, be it group sex, dominant, submissive, lesbian, gay or straight erotica:

“When it snapped on my ass, my legs turned to Jell- O and for the first time, I screamed. I screamed so loud I scared myself...” The Story of O Birthday Party by Susie Bright.

“Naked. Cock hard and circled with cold steel. Arms bound. Choker around my neck. Leather strap on the right, marking my subservience.” Blue Light by Steven Saylor.

“‘Keep your hand moving,’ said Jill, and it moved. She fucked you with the dildo and it felt good, and now you were crying. Christ. You were a faggot. This meant you were a faggot. ‘Open your eyes,’ said Jill. ‘And now come.’” The Program by G. Bonhomme.

“...she increased the speed with her mouth and hand so that I started to cum. At the same time, I felt Andrew’s spasms inside of me.” Playing Doctor by Eloise Chagrin.

“His prick fills me up to the top, hooks me into the center of life. I’m so hot I think I must be burning him... he moves, thrusting higher and higher into me as I open wider and wider until we are at ground zero.” End-Of-The-World-Sex by Tsaurah Litzky.

This is Susie Bright’s last year as editor of The Best American Erotica. She succeeds in making this her legacy - her footprint in the world of erotica. When she began as editor ‘American Erotica was oxymoron’ and now there are women writers, queer writers, writers constantly pushing boundaries.

The Best of Best American Erotica 2008 combines intelligence and eroticism. These stories are unique in that they can get you off; they make you so hot that you have to stop and relieve yourself of that urgent desire and then make you think. Think about human relationships, war, dishonesty, and so much more.

This book is an amazing testament to the fact that we now have erotic literature. It shows us that stories made to get us off can be funny, sad, illuminating and intriguing all at once. This is an exciting book because it shows us how far we’ve come in writing erotica and how limitless the possibilities are. A book that does all that and give us a happy ending? Now that’s a diamond.