INTRODUCTION:
ACT ONE

I feel like I’ve finally arrived, being asked to edit Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year. And then, of course, I feel like an imposter; they got it wrong, they couldn’t have meant me. The Best Lesbian Erotica series is so iconic and I feel so honored to join the great names in lesbian erotic fiction who have gone before me. This edition marks the twenty-first year of the book’s continuous publication. That’s a lot of history, and a lot of smut. I’m not going to talk about how this book legitimized the feelings of generations of women or how it helped pave the way to acceptance and normalcy (if there is such a thing—and if one would want to identify with a word like that). Those sentiments have echoed down the line of past series editors and they have said it so much better than anything I could hope to add. But I will tell you about what the experience was like for me.

After the reality set in, I settled back and began the work that would bring an anthology to life. I consider myself an old hand at editing erotica anthologies. I’ve done a good number of them and have the mechanics down. So I put out a call for submissions and waited until the deadline to begin reading—at least that was my plan. I knew, from friends who had edited Best Lesbian Erotica, that they got a large number of submissions, but I wasn’t really prepared for the deluge that arrived in my inbox. I started reading a little early to get a handle on things and not fall hopelessly behind.

No problem, I thought, it’ll be easy to weed out the poor and mediocre submissions. But there weren’t all that many poor, or even mediocre stories. No, the writers did not make it easy for me. What that means is you, dear reader, hold a collection of truly excellent stories in your hand. At least I hope you will find them excellent. Tastes differ and what I find erotic may not always be what you find erotic. But this I can promise. Each of these gems is a superlative piece of storytelling—a world in microcosm and a piece of someone’s soul. I know, that sounds a little highbrow for a work of erotica, and I don’t mean it to. What I mean is that I stand in awe of these writers and am so happy they chose to share their stories with me so I could share them with you.

This book, like all my books, is eclectic. That’s because my tastes are scattered. I’m like the child who can’t stop picking flowers in a field because the next is even more beautiful than the last. There’s no theme here, other than women and sex, but that’s what you want in a book of lesbian erotica, isn’t it? The stories meander from dramatic to funny to important to sad, from long-lost love to down and dirty raunch. I’ve often heard people say, “It’s an anthology. Feel free to skip around.” I always cringe when I hear that because (here’s a little secret) I agonize over the order of the stories. I’m pretty sure all editors do. But I get down on the floor and move them around, like pieces on a game board. It takes a while, and I have to keep shooing the cat off them. But it’s important for the order to work for me (and hopefully for you, if you don’t skip around).

The first story—in this case, “Act Two,” by Tamsin Flowers— sets the stage for drama; it gets you primed and ready for all that will follow. And the last story, “A Sense of Coming Home,” by P. A. Nox, brings you to where I hope you want to be—a new beginning. And, in between those two stories? The meandering path of life: a sorority initiation; a lover who knows your worth, even when you don’t know it yourself; envy, jealousy and the heat of competition; meeting the kind of good, perfect girl you never thought you’d be into; karaoke night in your favorite girl bar. Like I said: life. Add the unexpected (because life does that from time to time), like a story of Victorian manners; a spy versus spy tale or that of an Apache and a curandera in 1800s Arizona; and then, just for fun, a revolutionary tale; of fetishistic clothing and the proletariat.

There are authors you’ve come to love and expect to find in a book of this caliber, like Sacchi Green, Radclyffe, Valerie Alexander and Annabeth Leong. There are old friends, like Tamsin Flowers and Roxy Katt. And then there are writers with whom you may not be familiar, but I’m betting you’ll hope to see again and again, like Elna Holst, P. A. Nox, J. Belle Lamb and Samantha Luce.

Like I said: eclectic.

Yes, it’s Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, but it’s also a D. L. King book. If you like that sort of thing, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. If you don’t know whether you like that sort of thing or not, I hope you’ll also be pleasantly surprised. Enjoy the meandering. Sure, skip around if you must, but if you’d like to get into my headspace, read these snippets of life in the order laid out before you and be transported.

D. L. King

New York City