OBSESSION
A Magnificent collection of 14 stories of Gay, F/F, Erotica, Passion, Love and Paranormal
$5.95 US
.pdf 
OBSESSION by Jean Roberta
Obsession is the theme of these erotic tales in a range of spicy flavors. Meet men who desire women, women who risk everything for men, women driven to ecstasy by a female touch, young men drawn to the power of older men who cherish their "boys," couples who enjoy intimate games with their friends, ordinary humans seduced by the magical tricksters of myth and folklore.
Fantasy meets reality in settings as diverse as a haunted hotel in the 1930s, the forest home of an enchantress, a beach in modern Chile, an ominous field in the Canadian midwest, and a gay bar in a nameless city. Enter a world where darkness is never far away and where close encounters are rarely predictable.
A Magnificent collection of 15 stories of Gay, Erotica, Passion, Horror, Love and Paranormal.
Everything you would expect from a Jean Roberta novel.
Brief Story Synopsis:
The stories cover a spectrum of sexual orientations.
This collection of fourteen erotic stories includes paranormal (fantasy), contemporary realistic and historical tales, as follows.
"The Lady of the Moon" - pansexual fantasy story (over 10,000 words, longest piece in the collection).
"A Little Knowledge" - lesbian story about a generation-gap relationship.
"Slippery When Wet" - lesbian fantasy story about a shapeshifting snake-woman.
"Moonbeam" - darkly comic male/female story, realistic contemporary.
"The Hungry Earth" - male/male horror story.
"Eros and Psyche" - realistic story based on the Greek myth. A lesbian falls for a transman or FTM.
"Leavings" - realistic contemporary story. Bisexual woman, left by her male lover, returns to her ex-girlfriend.
"Alejandro" - realistic contemporary. Young woman agrees to a series of no-strings encounters with male political refugee.
"Century Red" - realistic contemporary story about a female prostitute who outwits a stingy male customer.
"Kol Nidre" - realistic period story set in the 1930s. Young woman has threesome with a brother and sister.
"Taste" - fantasy story about a woman's encounter with a male gargoyle.
"Update" - realistic contemporary story about bisexual woman who reunites with former classmate, now a transman, after many years.
"When Less Is More" - realistic contemporary male/female story.
"Queremos" - realistic contemporary male/male story.
The stories cover a spectrum of sexual orientations.
This collection of fourteen erotic stories includes paranormal (fantasy), contemporary realistic and historical tales, as follows.
"The Lady of the Moon" - pansexual fantasy story (over 10,000 words, longest piece in the collection).
"A Little Knowledge" - lesbian story about a generation-gap relationship.
"Slippery When Wet" - lesbian fantasy story about a shapeshifting snake-woman.
"Moonbeam" - darkly comic male/female story, realistic contemporary.
"The Hungry Earth" - male/male horror story.
"Eros and Psyche" - realistic story based on the Greek myth. A lesbian falls for a transman or FTM.
"Leavings" - realistic contemporary story. Bisexual woman, left by her male lover, returns to her ex-girlfriend.
"Alejandro" - realistic contemporary. Young woman agrees to a series of no-strings encounters with male political refugee.
"Century Red" - realistic contemporary story about a female prostitute who outwits a stingy male customer.
"Kol Nidre" - realistic period story set in the 1930s. Young woman has threesome with a brother and sister.
"Taste" - fantasy story about a woman's encounter with a male gargoyle.
"Update" - realistic contemporary story about bisexual woman who reunites with former classmate, now a transman, after many years.
"When Less Is More" - realistic contemporary male/female story.
"Queremos" - realistic contemporary male/male story.
Excerpt
Bertrand, in dragon form, lay the girl on the bed and ripped her clothing from her shoulders, but changed into a man to explore her fair, helpless body. She squirmed with pleasure and surprise when he stroked and suckled her breasts. She sighed when his rough hands, so different from her own, gripped her womanly hips as he descended to the dark hair between her legs. In spite of herself, Lucinda delighted in his passion and the strength in his arms, and she watched with interest as his red cock rose from its own nest of tawny curls. After all, she felt that she had nothing more to lose.
"You must not be frightened," her new master told her. "I can breathe fire into you without destroying you." She cried out when he spread her lower lips apart and peered within, but before long, she clasped him between her legs as he plunged deeply into her center, which had been neglected since her own girlish fingers had strayed there on the day of her first blood.
And so time passed, and Lucinda grew familiar with Bertrand's moods. When she accidentally burned his supper, or did not wash his clothes as soon as they were soiled, the smoke curling from his nostrils told her that she would be compelled to lie over his lap and submit to a switch made of green twigs. Yet even when he punished her, Bertrand preferred to shame her with unexpected pleasure than to beat the remaining willfulness out of her.
Review
Obsession by Jean Roberta
Review by Cassie at Bitten By Books
Categories: Adult Content, Anthologies, Book Reviews, GLBT, Paranormal, e-books
Fourteen short stories - Each one distinctly different and each one enticing in its own way, there is only one common thread through all of these stories - Sex, lots and lots of sex.
These stories of gay, erotica, passion, paranormal, horror and love truly have something for everyone. A diversity of settings; an enchanted forest, a haunted hotel, a beach, a gay bar, as well as the Canadian Midwest among others, take you on a trip around the world within these pages.
1. The Lady of the Moon, the longest story in the collection shows a brother and sister the passions that can be found in their enchanted world.
2. A Little Knowledge is a story about two women one older than the other and their odd yet playful relationship.
3. Slippery When Wet is a lesbian fantasy about a shape shifting snake woman and her search for love - and sustenance..
4. Moonbeam is about a one night stand between a man who wants nothing to tie him down and a woman looking for - well stalking for- commitment.
5. The Hungry Earth is the story of a man and his male lover that end up facing an ancient evil in the Canadian Midwest.
6. Eros and Psyche is about a lesbian who falls for a mysterious secret admirer who signs the name Eros and takes her on a wonderful journey of passion.
7. Leavings is a story about a bisexual woman who returns to her ex-girlfriend after her male lover leaves her and the rather surprising welcome she receives.
8. Alejandro is about a young woman who agrees to a series of no strings attached encounters with a male political refugee.
9. Century Red is about a female prostitute who outwits a stingy male customer in a most interesting way.
10. Kol Nidre is set in the 1930's and is about a woman seduced by a brother and sister in their family hotel.
11. Taste is a fantasy story about a woman's encounter with a male gargoyle who opens her eyes to a world previously unseen.
12. Update is a contemporary story about a bisexual woman who reunites with a former classmate after many years.
13. When Less Is More is a contemporary story about a man and a woman and their slightly master/submissive encounters.
14. Queremos is a story about a young man's meeting his hero, an acclaimed male author, and the passion they share.
Of the fourteen stories in this collection I found The Lady of the Moon, Slippery When Wet, Leavings and Kol Nidre and to be my personal favorites.
All of the stories were well written and with so much variety I am sure there is something is these pages to make any reader happy. All in all an enjoyable read if you are looking for more sex than substance.
Obsession
14 stories of literary erotica spanning the genre and sexual orientation gamut. Obsession is the theme of these erotic tales in a range of spicy flavors. Meet men who desire women, women who risk everything for men, women driven to ecstasy by a female touch, young men drawn to the power of older men who cherish their "boys," couples who enjoy intimate games with their friends, ordinary humans seduced by the magical tricksters of myth and folklore.
Running the gamut of sexual orientations and the continuum of paranormal, Obsession offers something for everyone: historical, contemporary, mythical, folklore, horror, and fantasy. Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgendered characters sport across the pages. 14 stories are sure to entice any reader's attention. Not the routine fairy tale nor sweet romance, these stories embody realistic characters in a variety of orientations and situations, whose underlying constant theme is "obsession," that consuming drive and desire, no matter what the focus. The characters are well-developed and character evolution is often intense. The plots are just twisty enough to showcase the strong erotic nature of each entry.
Heavily erotic, yet literary, Obsession tangles with the dark side of human (and inhuman) relationships and eroticism. BDSM and generational erotica, human/nonhuman mating, and more "realistic" stories also compete to snare the reader's attention, and sizzle quotient. These are definitely NOT read while in the doctor's waiting room or standing in line at the ATM stories.
Review by Frost's Fancy
Rainbow Reviews
Obsession
By: Jean Roberta
Eternal Press
March, 2008
Reviewed By: Steven Hart
Erotica Revealed
Obsession is the topic and the title of Jean Roberta's new collection of short stories. She has got the title right, but the book does not deal with sexual obsession as I suppose most of us think of it. It is not a book about sexual fixation. It is about obsession as a state of being of which sex is a key part. Her principal characters fasten onto others in sexually obsessive ways but they want more from them than an orgasm. It is not at all certain they will get whatever it is, nor should one be too confident that fulfilling their desires is the best fate for them. In that sense, they are much like many of Shakespeare's characters who yearn for some possession, conquest, or revenge in the name of completing themselves. That is often as much a flaw as it is an objective.
The best example of sexual obsession in Shakespeare is Lord Angelo in Measure for Measure. He has an uncontrollable desire to sexually possess Isabella, a votary in the strict order of St. Claire. It is precisely unyielding chastity which draws him on to her. He is completely aware of that, but he cannot help himself. Like many of Ms. Roberta's characters, Angelo's mania is driven by the fact that what he desires is what he would otherwise never allow himself. What is more, he would never have been possessed by that need if fate had not thrust the object of his desire in front of him.
In Jean Roberta's world, obsession is most often the result of existential disconnection, a sense of drift that the characters feel more than they see and sense more than they articulate. It is the low level uncertainty that I believe all modern people feel as we are barraged by irrational bits of information and formless disorder. Sex does not fulfill her characters as it gives them a way to define themselves, regardless of whether they like the picture that forms or not.
Her characters' problems cross all the lines of age, gender, and sexual proclivity. We may all be very different people in her mind, but we all come to the same dumb obstructions and forced turns in life. Her stories include gay and lesbian couples as well as straight sex. There is a fair amount of D/s and BDSM that is ranges from the overt to the symbolic. The greatest strength of these stories is the authenticity of the sexual play.
It is not that Roberta's writing is unusually graphic or clinical. They are not, even though the sex is often earthy, often mildly comic, and hotly detailed. Her sense of the erotic is highly sensual and she has a remarkable sensitivity to the emotional impact of scent, taste and touch. You feel the presence of a lover's body in these stories as a source of power, attachment, arousal and comfort. She uses sex as a deeply human form of faltering connection in an unreliable and harsh world.
The better stories in Obsession penetrate the superficially banal lives of middle-class Canadians. The stories range from incidents of the moment to broad political themes, but the resolution is never more than partial by design. Roberta is not trying to dig out the nasty - and tedious -- secrets of the bourgeois. She seems to me rather more interested in the ways in which the condition of being - and sexual being - evokes the conflicts that we can never fully understand or escape inside ourselves. That extends from erotic punishment in the form of racy spankings to the results of procreation, having children.
What do these things mean? They surely mean something, but what? We will never fully know. In that sense, sex in these stories defines itself as the medium of passion and affection. Why do we love and make love as we do? It is because that is who we are. I believe this passage from "Taste" reflects that very well :
"I wished I could tell Simone about my latest dreams and hear about hers, but that kind of exchange hadn't happened between us for years, and now it just didn't seem possible. Despite her attitude, her values, her portfolio and her apartment, she still seemed like a child in many ways. How much could she know about the kind of need that is too strong for politeness, discretion, or remorse? Ironically, she was the result of that kind of need, as perhaps all children are. Nonetheless, they rarely seem to understand it in themselves, let alone in us." Overtly this story is about the abrasion created by the difference of a mother and daughter's sense of taste in such banalities as clothing. Unlike other authors, Roberta does not use the quotidian as a clue to the deeper self. Here the mother deeply understands that their differences of taste deeply express the difference of their sense of the sensual and thus their view of the world. It is very moving to read because these are two intelligent likeable women speaking across an uncrossable gulf.
Ms. Roberta's style varies in quality. In a few cases, her writing becomes stiff if not rather starchy, as though she were over-explaining some nuance of literary irony to a class of dunderheaded undergraduates. As one can see though, the passage quoted above has a wonderful sense of flow and insight. It is nearly poetic. She sometimes has a hard time with dialogue. The nature of dialogue is that people do not say things when they talk. They talk to discover what they are saying.
"The Hungry Earth" is a about the Serlingesque misadventures of a gay couple in a cornfield. As any casual fan of sci-fi will tell you, grain is menacing stuff especially when it is still on the stalk. In this case, the narrator feels compelled to tell us that having abandoned the "liquid flesh" of his former wife, he sought, "to discover the good solid earth of another man." If the image were not painful enough, what he ends up with seems to be a twink who sweetly inquires, "I want to go to the farm today. Will you take me in a wheat field?" Apparently the old rake will because he replies, "My dirty boy. You sure you don't want a date with a sheep?" Heady stuff, eh?
"The Hungry Earth," however is the exception in this collection. I can only imagine that this story is as it is because it is so far from direct experience. She clearly does best with narrative environments that are based in the concrete and recognizable. It is in such places that her characters seem able to discover and expand their awareness, which is the reason Roberta sets them before us in the first place.
Just as Measure for Measure ends in shady resolution, many of Roberta's stories end in uncertainty. In some ways the stories remind one of "The Graduate" wherein there is a happy ending of sorts, but it is hard to say just what it is and what will become of the characters. The people of Roberta's world may well be perfectly comfortable with their fate; but the reader is hardly reassured, and we are not meant to be. What we do know is that the world of the characters has been shaken and disturbed by deep, obsessive tremors of eroticism.
Obsession by Jean Roberta
Review by Cassie at Bitten By Books
Categories: Adult Content, Anthologies, Book Reviews, GLBT, Paranormal, e-books
Fourteen short stories - Each one distinctly different and each one enticing in its own way, there is only one common thread through all of these stories - Sex, lots and lots of sex.
These stories of gay, erotica, passion, paranormal, horror and love truly have something for everyone. A diversity of settings; an enchanted forest, a haunted hotel, a beach, a gay bar, as well as the Canadian Midwest among others, take you on a trip around the world within these pages.
1. The Lady of the Moon, the longest story in the collection shows a brother and sister the passions that can be found in their enchanted world.
2. A Little Knowledge is a story about two women one older than the other and their odd yet playful relationship.
3. Slippery When Wet is a lesbian fantasy about a shape shifting snake woman and her search for love - and sustenance..
4. Moonbeam is about a one night stand between a man who wants nothing to tie him down and a woman looking for - well stalking for- commitment.
5. The Hungry Earth is the story of a man and his male lover that end up facing an ancient evil in the Canadian Midwest.
6. Eros and Psyche is about a lesbian who falls for a mysterious secret admirer who signs the name Eros and takes her on a wonderful journey of passion.
7. Leavings is a story about a bisexual woman who returns to her ex-girlfriend after her male lover leaves her and the rather surprising welcome she receives.
8. Alejandro is about a young woman who agrees to a series of no strings attached encounters with a male political refugee.
9. Century Red is about a female prostitute who outwits a stingy male customer in a most interesting way.
10. Kol Nidre is set in the 1930's and is about a woman seduced by a brother and sister in their family hotel.
11. Taste is a fantasy story about a woman's encounter with a male gargoyle who opens her eyes to a world previously unseen.
12. Update is a contemporary story about a bisexual woman who reunites with a former classmate after many years.
13. When Less Is More is a contemporary story about a man and a woman and their slightly master/submissive encounters.
14. Queremos is a story about a young man's meeting his hero, an acclaimed male author, and the passion they share.
Of the fourteen stories in this collection I found The Lady of the Moon, Slippery When Wet, Leavings and Kol Nidre and to be my personal favorites.
All of the stories were well written and with so much variety I am sure there is something is these pages to make any reader happy. All in all an enjoyable read if you are looking for more sex than substance.
Obsession
14 stories of literary erotica spanning the genre and sexual orientation gamut. Obsession is the theme of these erotic tales in a range of spicy flavors. Meet men who desire women, women who risk everything for men, women driven to ecstasy by a female touch, young men drawn to the power of older men who cherish their "boys," couples who enjoy intimate games with their friends, ordinary humans seduced by the magical tricksters of myth and folklore.
Running the gamut of sexual orientations and the continuum of paranormal, Obsession offers something for everyone: historical, contemporary, mythical, folklore, horror, and fantasy. Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgendered characters sport across the pages. 14 stories are sure to entice any reader's attention. Not the routine fairy tale nor sweet romance, these stories embody realistic characters in a variety of orientations and situations, whose underlying constant theme is "obsession," that consuming drive and desire, no matter what the focus. The characters are well-developed and character evolution is often intense. The plots are just twisty enough to showcase the strong erotic nature of each entry.
Heavily erotic, yet literary, Obsession tangles with the dark side of human (and inhuman) relationships and eroticism. BDSM and generational erotica, human/nonhuman mating, and more "realistic" stories also compete to snare the reader's attention, and sizzle quotient. These are definitely NOT read while in the doctor's waiting room or standing in line at the ATM stories.
Review by Frost's Fancy
Rainbow Reviews
Obsession
By: Jean Roberta
Eternal Press
March, 2008
Reviewed By: Steven Hart
Erotica Revealed
Obsession is the topic and the title of Jean Roberta's new collection of short stories. She has got the title right, but the book does not deal with sexual obsession as I suppose most of us think of it. It is not a book about sexual fixation. It is about obsession as a state of being of which sex is a key part. Her principal characters fasten onto others in sexually obsessive ways but they want more from them than an orgasm. It is not at all certain they will get whatever it is, nor should one be too confident that fulfilling their desires is the best fate for them. In that sense, they are much like many of Shakespeare's characters who yearn for some possession, conquest, or revenge in the name of completing themselves. That is often as much a flaw as it is an objective.
The best example of sexual obsession in Shakespeare is Lord Angelo in Measure for Measure. He has an uncontrollable desire to sexually possess Isabella, a votary in the strict order of St. Claire. It is precisely unyielding chastity which draws him on to her. He is completely aware of that, but he cannot help himself. Like many of Ms. Roberta's characters, Angelo's mania is driven by the fact that what he desires is what he would otherwise never allow himself. What is more, he would never have been possessed by that need if fate had not thrust the object of his desire in front of him.
In Jean Roberta's world, obsession is most often the result of existential disconnection, a sense of drift that the characters feel more than they see and sense more than they articulate. It is the low level uncertainty that I believe all modern people feel as we are barraged by irrational bits of information and formless disorder. Sex does not fulfill her characters as it gives them a way to define themselves, regardless of whether they like the picture that forms or not.
Her characters' problems cross all the lines of age, gender, and sexual proclivity. We may all be very different people in her mind, but we all come to the same dumb obstructions and forced turns in life. Her stories include gay and lesbian couples as well as straight sex. There is a fair amount of D/s and BDSM that is ranges from the overt to the symbolic. The greatest strength of these stories is the authenticity of the sexual play.
It is not that Roberta's writing is unusually graphic or clinical. They are not, even though the sex is often earthy, often mildly comic, and hotly detailed. Her sense of the erotic is highly sensual and she has a remarkable sensitivity to the emotional impact of scent, taste and touch. You feel the presence of a lover's body in these stories as a source of power, attachment, arousal and comfort. She uses sex as a deeply human form of faltering connection in an unreliable and harsh world.
The better stories in Obsession penetrate the superficially banal lives of middle-class Canadians. The stories range from incidents of the moment to broad political themes, but the resolution is never more than partial by design. Roberta is not trying to dig out the nasty - and tedious -- secrets of the bourgeois. She seems to me rather more interested in the ways in which the condition of being - and sexual being - evokes the conflicts that we can never fully understand or escape inside ourselves. That extends from erotic punishment in the form of racy spankings to the results of procreation, having children.
What do these things mean? They surely mean something, but what? We will never fully know. In that sense, sex in these stories defines itself as the medium of passion and affection. Why do we love and make love as we do? It is because that is who we are. I believe this passage from "Taste" reflects that very well :
"I wished I could tell Simone about my latest dreams and hear about hers, but that kind of exchange hadn't happened between us for years, and now it just didn't seem possible. Despite her attitude, her values, her portfolio and her apartment, she still seemed like a child in many ways. How much could she know about the kind of need that is too strong for politeness, discretion, or remorse? Ironically, she was the result of that kind of need, as perhaps all children are. Nonetheless, they rarely seem to understand it in themselves, let alone in us." Overtly this story is about the abrasion created by the difference of a mother and daughter's sense of taste in such banalities as clothing. Unlike other authors, Roberta does not use the quotidian as a clue to the deeper self. Here the mother deeply understands that their differences of taste deeply express the difference of their sense of the sensual and thus their view of the world. It is very moving to read because these are two intelligent likeable women speaking across an uncrossable gulf.
Ms. Roberta's style varies in quality. In a few cases, her writing becomes stiff if not rather starchy, as though she were over-explaining some nuance of literary irony to a class of dunderheaded undergraduates. As one can see though, the passage quoted above has a wonderful sense of flow and insight. It is nearly poetic. She sometimes has a hard time with dialogue. The nature of dialogue is that people do not say things when they talk. They talk to discover what they are saying.
"The Hungry Earth" is a about the Serlingesque misadventures of a gay couple in a cornfield. As any casual fan of sci-fi will tell you, grain is menacing stuff especially when it is still on the stalk. In this case, the narrator feels compelled to tell us that having abandoned the "liquid flesh" of his former wife, he sought, "to discover the good solid earth of another man." If the image were not painful enough, what he ends up with seems to be a twink who sweetly inquires, "I want to go to the farm today. Will you take me in a wheat field?" Apparently the old rake will because he replies, "My dirty boy. You sure you don't want a date with a sheep?" Heady stuff, eh?
"The Hungry Earth," however is the exception in this collection. I can only imagine that this story is as it is because it is so far from direct experience. She clearly does best with narrative environments that are based in the concrete and recognizable. It is in such places that her characters seem able to discover and expand their awareness, which is the reason Roberta sets them before us in the first place.
Just as Measure for Measure ends in shady resolution, many of Roberta's stories end in uncertainty. In some ways the stories remind one of "The Graduate" wherein there is a happy ending of sorts, but it is hard to say just what it is and what will become of the characters. The people of Roberta's world may well be perfectly comfortable with their fate; but the reader is hardly reassured, and we are not meant to be. What we do know is that the world of the characters has been shaken and disturbed by deep, obsessive tremors of eroticism.