Erotica Vampirica edited by Cecilia Tan

This is a book of short, erotic vampire tales by various authors. Vampires have long been seen as creatures of eroticism, so going a step further and making them actually have sex should be a no-brainer, right?

"Mist Kisses" by Renee M. Charles is the story of a Dhampir who finally finds another vampire to love, and she is a Pontianak, a woman who has either died in childbirth or died a virgin.

"A Most Nonsensical Night" by Cypress Quinn shows a master vampire embracing a new fledgeling. Unfortunately, the embrace leads to tragedy for the entire family of the vampire's descendants, when a group called "The Wrath of God", who polices the vampires, comes down on them hard for killing.

"When Michael Comes" by Whitt Pond has a man waiting for his vampire lover, who needs blood to remember their life together- before he completely forgets.

"Doing Time" by R. Boyczuk is a letter written by a prison inmate to his vampire lover, Michael, remembering their time together.

"Prey" by Raven Caldera imagines a future time, after the apocalypse, where even Vampires must struggle to survive. Can a group of survivalist vampires, and one vampire's human lover, fight off the desperate government soldiers who want to tear them apart?

"Desolate Dance" by Steve Eller has a vampire who becomes the lover of a woman who wants the things she dreams in the mirror. Can her death help the vampire discover the power of dreams?

"Vox Vampirica" by Alan Smale has a vampire turning to a Party Line to find new lovers and sources of blood. But what happens when he meets someone who wants to find someone just like him?

"The Razo's Edge" by Kymberlyn Tolliver-Reed has a world called Perilous Gard, a club for those whose tastes run to S&M. Will one of the Mistresses, a woman known as the Countess, be able to keep herself a top when she has an encounter with a vampire named Astin?

"Dark Freedoms" by Jim Lee has an African female vampire in the Deep South towards the end of the Civil War. To protect herself, she has become the "slave" and mistress to a series of masters. Her latest master is a mistress, who is also her lover. Can Clementina keep both herself and her mistress, Anna safe?

"Shadows" by Lela E. Buis has a woman who moves back into her grandmother's house. A series of dreams and mosquito bites convince her that something else is living in the house. But will she come to live with the vampire, or try to evict him?

I didn't like this book at all. I am used to reading erotica where the characters became important to me, so I could feel as though they meant something. While the first story, "Mist Kisses" came the closest to doing that, the rest failed to make me care for the characters in any way. Perhaps it was that they were generally too short, but without characters to care for, the sex merely becomes "Tab A into Slot B. Lather, rinse and repeat".

And I was really disappointed because this book was one I had really wanted to read, and I'd looked for it for years before finally tracking it down on the internet. And after all that, it as such a disappointment! Not all the stories were bad, but I just ended up not caring about the characters in the stories.

So, this book was a total dissappointment to me. I would not only not recommend it, but tell anyone to steer clear. It's a waste of money and reading time.