Steamy Screams
Jack Burton editor

Blood Bound Books
Trade Paperback, 159 pages, $ 13.99
Kindle edition $ 3.39
Review by Mario Guslandi

Sex and horror are a deadly combination which has long since been intriguing and haunting readers.

Horror fans will certainly remember, for instance, the acclaimed series of Hot Blood anthologies, featuring a competent and excellent crew of expert authors of that sub-genre.

Steamy Screams carries on the tradition of erotic horror by providing twenty-one original stories penned by a bunch of comparatively new writers. The results are, predictably enough, rather variable in terms of tone, ranging from subtle eroticism to explicit hardcore. Whatever you prefer, you’ll fine in the volume some interesting item apt to satisfy your taste. Quality is also diverse, as usual in any anthology, but fortunately, there is a fair amount of good stories.

Tonia Brown’s “Dirty Little Fish Story” is the well crafted portrait of a lonesome fisherman lured to a lake isle by the sight of a sleeping beauty whose true nature will be revealed only too late.

“The Libidonomicon” by Gregory L Norris is a powerful, vivid cocktail of lust, gay sex and supernatural horror, while “Phantom Deposit” by Larissa Alloway is an odd mix between a wet dream and a ghost story.

In the enjoyable “Hag Ride” by Eden Royce an unfaithful husband gets his punishment through black magic and in the bizarre “Killer Nails” by MP Johnson we encounter a peculiar form of fetishism.

Kenneth Whitfield contributes “Blackout” a strong tale (not for the squeamish) about sex, drugs and murderous instincts, while Kenneth E Olson provides “Moonlight Ride,” a graphic take of the “sex and death” time-honored concept with, in addition, a nice touch of vampirism.

In “Among Us” Jenny Corvette skilfully describes how a casual meeting at a funeral results in occasional sex and in the discovery of an unexpected reality.

“Electric Love” by Chris Reed is an offbeat, kinky piece featuring a woman who can reach orgasm only under peculiar circumstances and at her own risk.

JD Stone’s “Queen of the Night” (my favorite story) is a sparkling, yet deeply disturbing tale where a she-male has sex with a very odd customer.

All in all this is a very good anthology, able to elicit frissons of a dual nature, good for fans of either erotic or horror fiction (or both)

About Mario Guslandi

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