as is common for mw with anthologies and short stories collection; I like some more than others. Despite all the stories being written anonymously it felt like the authors were holding back. Overall I think I was expecting a little more smut.

From Canada comes this anthology of anonymous sex fiction. The premise is that because we (the general reading public) still have hang-ups about sex, writers tend to write gently around the theme of sex, but if given the opportunity to write about sex and remain anonymous, how much more open, explicit, and erotic would the fiction be? Twenty-four "prominent authors living in Canada" have stories here, centrally themed around sex. (Side note: I didn't recognize any of the names of the authors included here.) As editor Russell Smith notes in the introduction:
Writing sex scenes is notoriously difficult: one walks a tightrope between the crude and the laughable (especially in English, a Germanic language that lends itself to the silly or the ugly). When describing body parts, one must choose between the correct word — which can sound clinical, as if one is reading a medical textbook — and a slang word, which almost always sounds more crass than the rest of the language one’s character is using.
Add to that the anxiety over coming out to one’s family and mortifying one’s mom. And add to that an anxiety over being mocked for imagining sex at all. A particular strain of conservative critic tends to imagine the authors themselves in all the positions described, because that’s almost always amusing.
As with almost any anthology, I found some of these stories very well written and entertaining and some of them were dull and dry and not at all interesting.
The first story that I enjoyed was "Comet" which begins with the sentences: "A home movie of us making love. The bedroom back on Mercer Avenue." It is a story of reflection. Of remembering. Of rekindling.
"Watching You Watching Me" was a really great short story. Stronger, more graphic sex in this story compared to "Comet" but the introspection (again, reflection) was powerful. The story begins:
My lawyer laughed when you stipulated that I couldn't write about you after the divorce. [...]
She'd never represented a writer before. [...]
After twenty-three years of marriage, you did not understand my career, my process, or me. I only wrote about subjects that interested me, people I wanted to understand, themes I felt like thinking about.
I did not feel like thinking about you.
Of course the oddity is that the story is absolutely about the person the writer doesn't want to think about.
"Cloudburst" was odd, but in a fun way. It was like something from the 1960's/1970's that Harlan Ellison or Phil Dick or Thomas Disch would have written.
"Calliope" was also quite odd, but I did not enjoy it at all. In large part I didn't care for the second person narrative.
"An Archive" was another strong story. How can you go wrong with a story that includes sentences such as:
"The song playing on the radio was on so many stations that we eventually gave in and decided to like it."
"We only dated for three months but it took me three years of therapy to get over it."
"The sexiest moment of my life wasn’t even sex."
I enjoyed the story "Maria" - though it was probably the raunchiest of the stories that I liked. There was something that seemed very 'real' about the characters that appealed to me.
With the exceptions above, most of the stories here were fine, though not particularly memorable. There were only a handful that I felt were anonymous for good reason and generally it wasn't because of the sex, per say, but the ferocity or violence of the sex.
The authors represented here are: Angie Abdou, Jean Marc Ah-Sen, Tamara Faith Berger, Jowita Bydlowska, Xaiver Michael Campbell, K.S. Covert, francesca ekwuyasi, Anna Fitzpatrick, Drew Hayden Taylor, Victoria Hetherington, Marni Jackson, Andrew Kaufman, Michael LaPointe, Pasha Malla, Sophie McCreesh, Lisa Moore, Heather O’Neill, Lee Suksi, Susan Swan, Heidi von Palleske, Aley Waterman, Zoe Whittall, David Whitton, Michael Winter.
The contents here are:
Introduction
"Sext"
"Tulip"
"Comets"
"Niche Parade: Hotel Maid Compilation"
"At the Wreckers"
"Restoration"
"Timeless Sophistication"
"The Politics of Passion"
"Bite"
"Watching You Watching Me"
"Praying Mantis"
"Cloudburst"
"After Nicolette"
"Calliope"
"An Archive"
"My Skin Isn’t What It Used to Be"
"Party, Party, (Sex) Party"
"Maria"
"Labefactions of a Thwarted Patootie"
"Patience"
"Gold Star"
"Content Farm Confidential"
"Mirror, Mirror"
"Portrait of a Lady"
Looking for a good book? The anthology Secret Sex edited by Russell Smith suggests that if an author can remain anonymous, their writing about sex can be more explicit and daring. Few of the examples here show that to be true. The best short fiction included is still about people - about people having sex, about people thinking about sex, about people remembering sex. The stories about sex are less interesting.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Sex is a life force, a physical act that is spiritual with its power of creation and destruction.

An introduction from Russell Smith says that most authors redact the sexual scenes because their family or partners will be going to read it. Some feel that they might see themselves in those characters or that the characters was inspired by them. Many readers he says assume sexual proclivity of author from the sex scene they have written, also can imagine author writing his own fantasies.

I for one , do not agree with this Statement. Not a single time in my life I have entered any world with that presumption in my mind or even felt this while reading the sex scene. And to be honest I read a lot of smut when I'm in slump, otherwise I don't.

Coming to the stories, like Russell Smith said these are not erotica but all related to sex one way or other. Either there is direct sex in the story or sexting or some other kind of sex story. To be honest I was quite intrigued with the blurb of the book and even when I read it introduction I was mostly thinking — oh yes bring it on. But sadly stories are not that great or shocking. Some are really boring while others are just normal short stories without anything really standing out. Even then I tried to finish the book and I'm glad I did because some stories at the end were one of the good ones.

* Sext - Sext is what the title claims it is, sex texting between a man and a woman and it goes just the way it goes in real. So that's what made me like it. But just okay.
Rating : 2.5/5

* Tulip - "Love was glued on to sex,
just a salty veneer. Sex was the zenith, the rainbow, the ring." Tulip is a story of a young girl who works as sex worker naming herself Tulip.
Rating : 3/5

* Comets - It is about a couple who are sex addicts and like to shoot themselves while doing it. Didn't see the point of the story at all if there was any.
Rating : 2.5/5

* Niche parade hotel maid compilation - Compiled entirely from the titles of the videos on pornhub. This was creative if there had been an underlying story or something but without that it felt like a very lazy author's work in my opinion.
Rating : 2/5

* At the wreckers - a very normal story with one sex scene in between which was not even implicit, it really felt out of the place to me.
Rating : 3/5

* Restoration - "Edna X was thIrty- four years older than me" that's how story starts, a young man of 22 having affair with a much older and quite prominent lady with amputed leg. And him getting aroused about it & fantasizing even. There was a yuck factor to the story but that's what makes it fit to this compilation for me. This is one of the most interesting story in the compilation.
Rating : 4/5

* Timeless sophistication - " I need rest. A time that excludes me from myself, one filled with realistic dreams of improvements to my life, or simply escapades of joy. Sleep is my best chance for that, to avoid the hovering blow from your indifference. And waiting is like a slow high. I think of ways to change my life. An exit from myself and the people I interact with, measuring their motivations until I’m too tired to do it anymore, until I’m too tired to try and find someone good."
A girl in a toxic relationship but something she can't escape. A story of many relationships in today's world. The most Realistic one. Not my favorite yet I couldn't stop thinking of about it.
Rating : 4/5

* The politics of passion - A story of passion that takes two lawyers of opposite parties attracted to each other in an instant coz of the confidence oozing from both and intelligence that was unmistakable. How that instant attraction makes them draw closer to each other and ending up having sex. Frankly this felt like a story from a Hollywood movie.
"It was, after all, treaty negotiations. Somebody was bound
to get fucked." Interesting story and very well written.
Rating : 4/5

* Bite - Dominance and submission. Sadism and mosaicism. Bondage. BDSM. Now this was a story that definitely belonged here.
Rating : 3.5/5

* Watching you watching me - " In some marriages, energy trickles away, each year a little less spark — as if a relationship is a well- used string of Christmas lights."
A couple. A divorce after many years. A man blaming woman for everything, his failures his loss of dreams. Woman on path of sexual escapades but realising in the end "being with him — being with anyone — required the invention of an unreal version of myself."
Ain't that true with almost every woman on this earth? A woman loses so much in companionship, a man doesn't except what "they feel" is loss of their freedom. But a woman loses everything including her identity. One of the stories told through a pov of a woman, most relatable.
Rating 4.5/5

* Praying mantis - " I’ve been in pain over loving you, I’ve debased myself, destroyed my days and my solar system, removed my sleep, focused solely on getting you back, on trying to stir something, and I made myself tragically unhappy. But now that we’re here, and now that I’m thinking about it, I know that my mistake was thinking that it was transactional, that it needed to be returned. It doesn’t.
I don’t need anything from you anymore. I don’t need you to show up, I don’t need to convince you. The gift is in me loving
you, in being capable of loving this deeply and tragically, yes, but ultimately, this gift is freedom — no one can forbid me loving
you, not even you. This is the power of love — it can exist independently of the parties involved. " This was one of my favorite from the whole collection. Weird and totally worth the attention.
Rating : 5/5

* Cloudburst - a weird story, a story of raining dicks. And those too perfect ones but what does every dick wants? You know the answer and that's the correct one. This was again a story of liberation of woman in my opinion.
Rating -3.5/5


* After Nicolette - This is the longest story in the collection. Written with a beautiful prose this story tells us how different being over a relationship for the partners can be. The one who has moved on doesn't even look back while the other keeps thinking about where the things went wrong.
Rating - 3.5/5


* Calliope- This was an interesting story. There's a doctor and there's Rene in his lab of some sorts. Doctor falls in love with calliope but something awful happens. You will never guess the end of the story.
Rating : 4/5

* An Archive "Sex with perfect- looking people is boring. You can’t have an earth- shattering orgasm while thinking
about your angles." An archive was some sex tales written by the protagonist when a friend asks— So tell me about your
best sex. There are very short 5 stories.
Rating 2.5/5

* My skin isn't what it used to be
Another one long story of a professor cum author who is obsessed with a form and tattoos. The ending was sad though.
Rating 3/5

* Party party sex party I don't even know what really happened except the guy had threesome at a party while being high.
Rating 2/5


* Maria - internet can make your life hell with just one mistake and that's what this story tells you. Rating 2.5/5

* Labefactions of a Thwarted Patootie
I have no idea what this was
Rating -1/5

* Patience - "In silence, she covers me with herself, all woman. She made me a man. My pleasure saved me, and she floated above me like a dream." A detailed sexual encounter. It's quite bold.
Rating 2.5/5

* Gold star - This was saddest story in the collection. A complex relationship between three friends Jessa, Teddy and Guy. One of my favourite.
Rating -5/5

* Content farm confidential- A startup, which deals with content creation and legality of it all. It can soon be a reality from where the world is actually headed.
Rating: 3/5

* Mirror mirror - This was one of the most erotic stories in my opinion. A girl stalking her neighbour everyday until something unexpected happen.
Rating 5/5

* Portrait of a lady
"Men went through life having the objects in their life derived somehow from women."

Finally a vampire story. A good one.
Rating : 4/5

Overall it was good but not great. I have read even darker and bolder stories that this collection so I was a bit disappointed. Some stories are great while other drag and brings the whole book down.

Overall rating 3.5/5


Thank you Netgalley and Dundurn press for ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This collection of shorts comes from a talented range of established Canadian contributors, some with Jamaican, Polish and Nigerian roots, many with experience in a vast array of genres, and none of them identified here as the writer of their own story. I was surprised that their blurbs didn't mention erotica specifically, and I liked seeing the inclusion of achievements like opera librettist, film actor, and award winning journalist. All this to say that I found this to be a more thoughtful anthology than many of its ilk. From story to story I never knew what to expect, the surprises were entertaining and a few of them prompted me to google authors and add books to my To Read list.

A buffet of writing styles centering around sex.
I enjoyed some more than others, but I prefer some authors over others. Don't we all?
What threw me the most is that there is little context and character development for each story. I know they are short stories, but I expected a bit more stand-alone quality. Overall, I appreciate what this group of authors created and recommend this collection to anyone looking for a variety of short stories focused on physical intimacy.

This was an interesting anthology of 24 stories about sex from an impressive list of Canadian authors. The premise that humans (authors) will redact their true intent when writing about sex because it could be read by partners, family and friends. Readers assuming that the actions of the characters are the proclivities of the author. And while they may, they may just be the embodiment of the characters themselves. The goal here was to allow authors to write about sex anonymously. I will mention that I do not typically read short stories. I prefer to read longer character and plot driven stories personally. I did enjoy reading this collection. The stories are not necessarily erotic in nature. Some barely touch on the sex. Others feature graphic and sometime humiliating outcomes. The stories cover love, and lust. Passion and need. Some stories focus on more traditional sex (human to human) so enter into the world of the supernatural and beyond. I would recommend this book for someone who wants to experience of the experiment and love interesting Canadian literature. And of course, sex! ;)

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

While I enjoyed this book, I recognize that there is a specific group of people who would enjoy or gain something from these stories. I appreciated the range and how different everything was - from something similar to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs but cocks, to horror, contemporary fiction, fantasy, thriller, etc. every story was very, very different. There were few stories I didn’t care for, but I understand the motive behind them. Overall, I highly recommend this book for the sexually free, the sexually curious, those who see sex as a vital form of expression. I look forward to hearing this anthology being discussed.

This book is like a glass of red wine or decadent chocolate melting sensuously on your tongue and delighting your senses. At times these short stories were thoughtful and deep. Others were blatant and overtly sexual. Either way, these stories were beautifully written and a delight to experience. I cannot recommend this artistic collaboration enough.

I’m really not sure how I felt about this one. I’ve been wanting to branch out to more international books and authors. Usually I love these types of books since I started reading them from Zane stories. So when I saw this one I thought why not this will be a great way to start reading other authors. But for some reason I really struggled with this book. From what I could tell each chapter was a different story which I’m used to. Some of the stories were a bit confusing on what was actually going on. I know they are short stories but I really felt like I dropped in a middle of a story and not in a good way. Some stories were just too much for me while the others were pretty good. I think my problem was how it was written. No matter I will try again on this author and others.

“Secret Sex: An Anthology” edited by Russell Smith

Thank you to NetGalley and Rare Machines for permitting me to read this work prior to its release. Though I didn’t care for all of the short stories in this anthology, a few were pretty good and touched on the complex emotions that accompany sexual desire, like longing and self-awareness. I’m a big fan of Anais Nina and some of the stories in this work had a similar vibe to “Delta of Venus”, in the way that the sex depicted is raw and real. This wasn’t a fave but I appreciate the work that went into writing and editing such a diverse work of desire and connection.

Secret Sex by Russell Smith is a refreshing book. I've enjoyed a few sex stories which are really interesting. However, some stories are maybe just lack of depth which may cause the story to be awkward.

This book was really interesting. However, I think I liked the book more in concept than what it actually turned out to be. I enjoyed some of the stories, thought some were funny or fun, and it was entertaining to think about who could have written them. But in the end, it was a bit of a mismatch of stories, which I guess is a risk with any short story collection. I still do really love the concept, though.

I’m not usually a reader of erotic fiction but I also appreciate how beautiful, sexy or simply poetic it can be.

And I also know a bad sex scene when I read it - and I read them a lot. But as Smith addresses in the introduction, many authors censor themselves through fear of judgement, fear of revealing their sexuality, fear of sharing their innermost desires, so through this book each writer isn’t attributed directly to their piece to allow complete freedom and there is something beautiful about that. But sex is natural, it’s fun and it’s a key part of a lot of relationships even ones with our own bodies - and we should definitely be able to talk and write about it without fear.

From subtle sexuality, to evocative and meaningful, to slapstick, graphic and intense, to fantasy, to even one just made out of pornhub titles, there is such a range of different moods, themes and styles - it is not just about sex, but the way we feel, think and talk about all the different incarnations of sex.

I enjoyed this short collection of stories. It covered the relatable awkward and sometimes messy moments of sex. I will definitely be adding this book to my TBR. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

I always pick up short story collections and always seem to be just a little bit let down by them but this one was definitely one of my favourites. With any collection there are a few that were duds to me but as they were all different authors it didn't have that same-y quality to each one that taints a lot of other collections. I knew of some of these authors but I really look forward to checking out the ones I hadn't heard about!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


The cover art and description threw me to this title. The stories and writing is as varied as the contributor list. There will be some stories you love and others you might hate. If you are familiar with the contributors other works, you might be able to figure out who wrote what. The styles and stories will leave you guessing. This was a quick read, some stories were steamy and others were a bit demure. I hope this is the first of a series of anthologies.

I was excited for this book because it was a really cool concept - what would writers write if their name wasn’t attached to it?

But, the execution fell flat for me. There were more stories that I disliked than ones I enjoyed. Due to it being an anthology, I knew the stories would be varied but I ended up bored and it took me a while to get through them all (even with some skimming by the end).

With the variety, I am sure anyone could find at least a couple stories they enjoyed which is definitely a plus. I did enjoy the diversity offered by the stories as well.

Thank you Dundurn Press for providing an early arc of this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was intrigued by this concept, and even looking to possible share some of the stories with my Gender and Women's Studies students. Unfortunatley, this anthology wasn't quitethe right thing, though some of the individual stories were certainly spicy and well-written! I think this needs more editing and curation.

This novel is interesting, however an editor needs to be utilized to ensure that grammar and punctuation. This novel has the potential to thrive.

A cool concept, and I appreciate the emphasis on consent in the piece I just read. It feels like a community effort.