cover image When She Was Good: Best Lesbian Erotica

When She Was Good: Best Lesbian Erotica

Edited by Ali Liebegott and Tristan Taormino. Cleis Press, $15.95 trade paper (266p) ISBN 978-1-62778-069-8

Liebegott guest-edits a superb installment of Taormino's renowened lesbian erotica series. Some tremendous writing is represented here, from Taormino's brilliant foreword to Peggy Munson's exquisite final story, "The Storm Chasers." Liebegott's autobiographical introduction, "Dumpster Diving," is as arousing as any of the fiction, and Tamai Kobayashi's "Different Girls" is an excellent opening to the anthology proper. There are a few missteps, such as Chandra S. Clark's "The Waiting Is the Hardest Part," an uncomfortably nonconsensual revenge fantasy, but they are more than balanced out by the high-quality works. This is a standout anthology that showcases queer female sexuality at its best. (Aug.)