cover image Amazons: Sexy Tales of Strong Women

Amazons: Sexy Tales of Strong Women

. Thunder's Mouth Press, $16.95 (328pp) ISBN 978-1-56025-760-8

This anthology ""sexy tales of strong women"" has 21 stories, the majority of which vacillate between the predictable, the formulaic and the senselessly absurd. The title story, by editor Christian, is a lesbian group S&M sex adventure-complete with a dwarf-featuring a humorless who's-dominating-whom plot. Felix Baron's ""Fully Functional"" is about a man who with a facial deformity who finds solace in two blow-up dolls who inexplicably come to life and turn him into a doll. However, ""Sex with Ducks,"" by Hannah Strom-Martin, makes for a bright spot: her story is fresh, well-paced and filled with raw emotion. On the whole, however, these stories eschew both plausibility and an in-on-the-joke tone, and the uninspired writing assures the stories' inability to arouse.