Best Women’s Erotica 2009 is erotica by women, for women — contemporary, realistic, and explicit. Editor and best-selling author Violet Blue knows what women are looking for in an erotic anthology, and she delivers it here, with an amorous abundance of risky, romantic, heart-pounding thrills. Joyful, daring, and authentic, these steamy stories revel in erotic adventure, from the sparks between strangers to the knowing caresses of long-time lovers. Filled with strong characters and clever narratives that show how sexual experience is different for every woman, this seductive anthology is a glorious celebration of the finest and friskiest female erotic fiction today.

Vampires have a timeless allure, mesmerizing us in every medium from books and graphic novels to movies and television shows. Immortal, eternally beautiful, strong, and sexy, these creatures take what they need, stealing the life force from those unlucky enough to cross their paths — or from those whose luck leads them to the most thrilling experience of their lives. Edited by noted erotica writer D. L. King, The Sweetest Kiss takes readers into shadowy alleys, dark bedrooms, and more mysterious spaces to experience the frisson of terror and delight that only a vampire can produce. Mostly straight, these stories also feature bi and queer vampires satisfying their lust in contemporary and period settings. These blood-drenched tales give new meaning to the term "dead sexy" and feature beautiful bloodsuckers whose desires go far beyond blood.

In a powerful collection celebrating sex between black men, Best Black Gay Erotica raises the standard for literary porn. From the slowly building heat of Reginald Harris’s love story “The Dream,” to the raw lust of Jay Russell’s “Rude Boys,” in which two tops at a sex club negotiate which of them will give it up, these stories serve up a rich feast of erotic imagination.

The narrator of Canaan Parker’s “One for the Road” recalls the particular skill that made his finest lover, Marco the Magnificent, famous on the streets. And Samuel R. Delany’s “The Sleepwalkers” is a paean to the heyday of gay sex in New York, when a night among the burly beer-swigging men of the Mine Shaft ended only at dawn. With contributions by Thomas Glave, Belasco, and James Earl Hardy, Best Black Gay Erotica presents some of the hottest and best-written erotica in print today.