I recently read "The Pleasure in Pain: A Queer Horrortica Anthology" edited by Roxie Voorhees, and overall, it was an interesting experience. This collection of short stories and poetry mixes eroticism with visceral horror, featuring a wide range of queer identities among both characters and authors.

I appreciated the diversity in storytelling styles and the unique narratives. Some stories stood out more than others, with "A Gift So Sweet" by Zach Rosenberg, "Graphite" by Amanda M. Blake, "I Wander the Earth Longing to Taste Your Beating Heart" by Minh-Anh Vo Dinh, and "Mantis" by Dori Lumpkin being my favorites. These stories explored complex relationships and emotions in a hauntingly beautiful way.

However, not all stories hit the mark for me. Some felt less engaging, and I found myself skimming through a few sections. The horror elements leaned more towards gore than actual fear, which didn't always work for me. The anthology also felt a bit unorganized at times, with poems and stories not always blending seamlessly.

Despite these issues, the collection offered a refreshing take on queer narratives and erotica. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys darker, more complex stories with a queer focus. Overall, it was an entertaining read with some standout pieces that made it worth my time.

I am giving this book 2 stars. Although, it was a great mix of authors and different writing styles to explore - it disappointed me. For me there were more misses then hits within this Anthology. With an Anthology I don't expect to like/love everything however, I do hope to at least enjoy 50%. I found myself quite often confused and bored. I was excited to pick this book up because the mix of genres sounded appealing. Unfortunately, I was happy to put this down. Maybe it was my fault because going into the book I was expecting a shock factor but it never came for me.

I look forward to reading this during the Halloween season and hopefully have a better review than this one 😅

This collection was very hit-or-miss for me. I don’t think the overall theme translated well across the genres of story. A lot of the pieces felt like class assignments trying to mimic renaissance works or other older works. I would definitely check out another collection, but this one didn’t do it for me.

An anthology with 25 queer horror erotica stories with a divers range of queer identities and variety of writing styles.

From the very first page this anthology definitely held my attention and I found myself captivated by how thought provoking every story was.

The one that stood out the most for me was ‘I wander The Earth Longing To Taste Your Beating Heart’ by Minh-Anh Vo Dinh. Exceptional. Both the writing style and the story itself. Hauntingly beautiful.

“There are no sanctuaries for boys with a craving for human flesh.”

“I would give up immortality if it meant providing you warmt for the remainder of our days. I can be your sanctuary. Let my frozen corpse be your home.”

This anthology offers a wide range of stories and a refreshing perspective on queerness, love, desire and death. It’s a captivating anthology with a story for everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring each tale and I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a thought provoking read with a exceptional variety of storytelling.

This anthology was riveting and so interesting. It wove together the themes of intimacy, sexuality, varying expressions of queerness, all with this underlying horror and terror that ran through all of the characters (and myself as a reader). Some of the stories stuck with me a bit more than others, whether on the basis of content or structure, but the differences between them all kept me incredibly intrigued and engaged. Standout favorites were “A Gift So Sweet”; “Graphite”; “Mantis”; and “White and Wolf.” Highly recommend, 3⭐ for me

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Firstly, thank you for allowing me to be an ARC for this book. I was initially intrigued by the cover and that it is a collection of short stories with more LGBTQ representation which was a big plus for me to want to read this book.
I was expecting different styles and stories, however, I found the stories to be very similar in style and tone, and almost like the FanFiction style layout that you would find on websites like AO3.

While I found the first story interesting, although it felt like it started in the middle of a book rather than the start, the others didn't hold my attention and I found myself skim-reading large sections and not taking much of it in.

The horror elements of the stories were more gore horror than I was expecting them to be, however, I did not find it particularly 'scary' it was more disgusting and over the top.

I did not really care for this half way threw I dnf it. a very different type of read for me. The stories are even scary.

Sadly DNF at around 20%.

Ultimately just wasn’t for me. I persisted because I was hoping to find a story that hooked me but it just didn’t happen for me.

The pleasure in pain is a set of short stories and poems that combies lust, horror, and LGBT characters. I was intrigued by the premise of this book and I love to see more LGBT representation in writing, so I was excited to get the opportunity to read this. However, the horror aspect of this novel might have been a bit too much for me. Perhaps that suggests that I'm not the right audience, and that for those who do love horrors, this might really be a great read for them.

The stories were a mix; some I found well written, with an almost Shakesphearen style of writing, but others I ended up having to skim through as they just didn't engage me. It's hard to give a justified rating because of this, as some stories on their own could merit a 4 star, and others a 1/2.

With the title and blurb, I was expecting more "pleasure in pain" through BDSM aspects, but I was wrong on this front. The pain truly does refer to the macabre and grotesque, and this was just not something that worked well for me.

Thank you for the ARC!

DNF at 20%. I actually really enjoyed the first few stories but at some point it got rather dark for me and I just didn't see myself enjoying the rest of it. The writing was wonderful but the some of the stories were a bit too much for me.

The Pleasure in Pain: A Queer Horrortica Anthology curated by Roxie Voorhees features a well rounded group of authors that focus on the exploration and intersection of erotica and horror when existing within the same space. They are stories that feature gruesome scenes and imagery that often conflicts with the erotic nature of the writing, and because of this, it leans heavily into the taboo side of sex and lust.

The Pleasure in Pain is a fascinating collection of short stories with a variety of themes, ranging from sweet and obsessive to deranged and violent. Each are well written and well explored in their content, which is perfect for horror fans who want a bite of something new, or for those who enjoy darker and harsher sexual themes. They are gruesome, nasty, sometimes petty, and often sensual, dirty, and disgusting.

My main and only criticisms for this anthology collection is that it feels a little unorganized in the non-final version I read, and the content itself felt overall "tame" for something labeled horror. The poems felt scattered rather than thematically placed with likeminded short stories, and each story itself seemed randomly placed alongside others. This isn't necessarily distracting, but I think stories could have been more adequately organized. And likewise for how tame some stories felt, it wasn't a distraction, but I was hoping for more bizarre, more extreme stories mixing gore and erotica.

The standout stars of this anthology, however, were (in no order) "MOTEL POZITIVE," "Little Saddleslut Grows Up," and "Graphite," among man of the others in this collection. Definitely pick this one up if you are seeking out a macabre, sensual, and conflicting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dragon Roost press for this arc.

I do love short stories/anthologies, they are normally a lovely mix of good with perhaps one or two bad shorts. Unfortunately I can honestly say there was not a single story I wanted to/or was glad that I had read. I skimmed a fair amount of this book (probably 85%). This screamed indie but not in a good way, it all fell rather flat and was unnecessary in a lot of places.

Bar the poorly written narratives I felt like I was plopped on Fanfiction or AO3 (no shade, there are a lot of stories I adore from these two sites. I still visit both regularly).

I was hoping for some great LGBTQ+ titles but was just fair too woke from the first story. I was really bored and wanted to DNF but felt like I needed to give it a fair shot (a decision I truly regret).

Think the editors need to take another look at this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dragon's Roost Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

The book as a meal: Today I was hungry for something different, and it ended with a salty aftertaste
The book left me: Feeling very filthy?

Why did this call out to me?
These two genres combined is something I haven't read yet, so I thought it would be fun to pick up. I had a hope this would please my inner "monster-f'er"

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Sadly, put-down-able. A lot of the stories blend together and don't do enough to feel different from one another. They also drag for a long time. Although I appreciate the "details", I wish it was a bit more "action" oriented rather than "described".

Issues:
Very very filthy material that borderlines on the disgusting
Several stories last for too long
Almost every single story feels or reads the same way

Good things:
Dares to wade in water that is usually a little too out there for many
Described in a way that let me "live in the moment" of the stories

How did it feel to read?
It felt like reading something off AO3 with enough tags to break the system. It has "indie author" written all over it (yay indie authors). I was thrown back to a time where I hid my screen away from the door in the fear that my parents would catch me interacting with something way above my age rating. But even when I am old enough and don't have to worry about it, I still felt the compulsion to tilt my phone far away

What mood would I read this in?
It is late at night, I can't sleep becasue tomorrow is halloween, and I need something to get that energy out ;--)

Where does this fall in my tier list ranking?
Sadly this is a high D tier book. Although I liked some of the stories well enough, it didn't capture me in the way I hoped it would. I might not be the right person to read this book, but I do know some people in my life that would love it

Favorite poems/stories:
Graphite
Bite
The Roses of Heliogabalus
The Leatherman
What they don't tell you about the Mummy's Curse

I didn’t really enjoy this one - the writing style of some of the short stories was really clipped and created an odd reading experience, while the others weren’t really my cup of tea. It’s a great concept and I know a few friends who would like this anthology but it just wasn't for me

After reading this book I’m beginning to think these short stories aren’t for me. Most of these were way too short and left me very confused on what I just read. However, I did enjoy the poems, some of the short and longer stories. I enjoyed a couple of short stories: Franklin & Jackson and Silicone Toys. Also, I loved the poems Where to Draw the Dotted Lines and Invitation. My favorite was probably What they don’t tell you about the Mummy curse. I wasn’t a fan of the really short ones like Regina di Santana and This Living Hand. All and All this wasn’t a horrible book and it wasn’t an amazing book.

The pleasure in pain is an LGBTQ+ anthology.

When I picked this up, I decided I wanted to go in blind. I learned very quickly that this wasn’t the run of the mill horror anthology, but erotica. Which is fine, I have nothing against the genre and I love supporting my fellow LGBTQ+ authors.

It has a wide variety of stories, and stretches all across the spectrum which I personally appreciated. There is not only diversity in the queerness but writing styles. And while not every story suited my personal preference I still enjoyed them.

I’ll be checking out all authors in the future.

I was excited to read this book since it included several short story’s, which is a little outside my normal reading. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the book and it was hard to get through. Several of the stories just did not make sense, and were hard to follow.

As an avid reader of both horror and erotica, I was thrilled by the idea of the melding of the two genres. As all anthologies go, there were some stories that appealed to me much less than others. I don't consider that to be a fault though, as I'm sure that there were other readers who were drawn to those ones and perhaps weren't as fond of my favorites. This collection of stories and poems felt cohesive and I don't really have any negative criticism of it.

Dnf sorry I really didn’t enjoy the first 25% of the book and unfortunately I did not wish to continue reading. I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. I also didn’t connect with any characters. I don’t anticipate the story to peak my interest after what I did read. I haven’t thought of the book since I put it down which makes me not want to finish it in the future. I really appreciate the arc and I wish I did enjoy it more but unfortunately it’s not for me. I’d be willing to try something else from the author just not this book. Sorry again I really hate to dnf a book but I want to love what I’m reading not counting down the pages until it’s over.