Best Black Women's Erotica.

Best Black Women's Erotica edited by Blanche Richardson Cleis Press, July 2001, $14.95 ISBN 1-573-44106-6

Best Black Women's Erotica offers fiction articulating the diverse desires and experiences of black women. This volume gives good story. In the stronger pieces (e.g., "The Spice Woman," "Bring on the Bombs," and "Courtship Rituals") the characters are multifaceted and much of the interior dialogue as well as the writing is refreshingly unique ("my mouth is filled with stars and they're burning their way through my vagina"--from "Sex Hall") rather than cliche ("she moaned, her breaths coming in quick short gasps" from "Homecumming").

With an introduction by Iyanla Vanzant, and new works by Tananarive Due, Nikki Giovanni and Bertice Berry, the stories are presented from an intelligible point of view and this anthology gives readers permission to do what many mothers have warned us against: exploring the fullness of our sexual selves. While this gathering of stories may not be considered the best of black women's erotica, Richardson has done a praiseworthy job of collecting quality erotica full of sensual possibilities.

Askhari is the moderator of an online writing workshop for black writers (www.deGriotSpace.com) and the coeditor of Convictions, the forthcoming anthology on the black prison experience (www.Askhari.com).