Book Description
Cleis Press's Best Lesbian Erotica and Best Women's Erotica series top bestseller lists, raising and exceeding the standards and expectations of readers of erotic fiction with each new edition. Now the African-American women's erotica market will discover the same level of literate, provocative sex writing in this debut collection of a new series. Best Black Women's Erotica showcases the hottest, most arousing, and most surprising erotic literature by African-American women writers. Representing a wide range of styles and voices, these 14 new stories offer a steamy assortment of fiction from popular authors such as Nikki Giovanni, Bertice Berry, Tananarive Due, Renee Swindle, Lori Bryant-Woolridge among others.

From the Author
I don't know about you, but my body parts have names. My hands I call, "Fric and Frac." My legs are known as "Sticks and Bones." My breasts I refer to as "Gussie and Gertie." My behind is affectionately known as "Waelene." The fact that she isn't doesn't really mater. Then there's "Molly." Every woman has a Molly. Sometimes she's called "Puntang." Others may call her "Bubbles." When I first heard someone refer to her as "Vagina," I had no idea who or what she was talking about. "You mean 'Virginia,' don't you?" "No!" my classmate responded emphatically, "It's called a vagina. V-a-g-i-n-a. That's the proper name for it." Rather impersonal, don't you think? Then again, many women, particularly Black women, have a very impersonal relationship with their "M-o-l-l-y." It's a historical thang....As women, so many of us are deprived of a healthy respect of and connection to our sexuality. For some, it is shrouded in so much shame, by so many convoluted messages, that we actually become detached from our sexual identities. We like sex, but we can't talk about it. We engage in sex, but we are, at times, afraid to enjoy it. When we do enjoy the act, and our partners, we are often subjected to ridicule and heartbreak. It can get confusing and tiring. How can something so good, be bad for you? How can something that feels so good, cause so much pain? It's a question that we still ask ourselves today. Fortunately, however, we are talking more about it. As women, we are exploring our sexuality, and exhibiting our sexual identity from a more integrated perspective. We've got our heads involved now. We are thinking about what we are doing. We've got our hearts involved now. We are not allowing feelings to drive us, or deprive us. We are talking more now, about our Mollys and Mabels. We are sharing and comparing notes on how to care for this part of ourselves. How to preserve this aspect of our beings and bodies. How to satisfy our needs as an expression of, and with respect for, who we are as women. We no longer hide our sexuality. Instead, we are exploring and defining it, privately and publicly. We are no longer willing to accept our sexual identity as a "dependant appendage." We no longer limit sexuality to our body parts. We are discovering our sexual nature to be a source of creativity. A well spring of our health, and a source of pleasure for which we are now willing to accept full responsibility in manifesting. Mabel has come into her fullness. She is now known in a very private arena as "Peaches and Cream." She is not just a "Lunchable," she's a full course meal! As you move through the pages of this book, do not just read the words, feel them. Undoubtedly, they will trigger your own memories of some stories you've been told that you may want to re-write. The stories you will read here may evoke uncomfortable feelings that you may need to come to grips with on your own journey to a deeper understanding and greater appreciation of our sexual identity and nature. From a more practical aspect, you may want to consider that the fullness of sexual expression as orgasm drains your lymph nodes. In women, lymph nodes are actively involved in several forms of cancer. You may not be aware that the enzymes released throughout your body at the height of sexual arousal lubricate your skin. You may find it interesting that the same number of calories you burn with one good, thirty-second orgasm, would take twenty minutes to burn on a treadmill. If that's not enough to convince you that erotic activity and thoughts are good for you, how about the plain old truth that it's pleasurable! It's fun! Most of all, it's private. For all the years of service to others, don't you and Molly or Mabel or Peaches, or V-a-g-i-n-a deserve to have a little fun? Why not relax and enjoy? You'll feel a lot better."-Iyanla Vanzant, from the Introduction

FROM THE PUBLISHER