Carrie Cuinn

I know what you're thinking - tentacle porn. Tentacle porn that would put the manga and anime people to shame. Tentacles everywhere, filling every orifice. That's the image we come up with when someone suggests combining the world of Lovecraft and erotica. Don't be ashamed, I thoughts so as well. So much so, that I went into reading Cthulhurotica with a chuckle. Carrie Cuinn, the editor, pulled a fast one over us lovers of Lovecraft. We suckers will buy just about anything with Cthulhu show more plastered on it, right? Of course, we'd be wrong.

Combining the monstrous science fiction horror of Lovecraft with the literary erotic word must've been a hard task for the writers featured in the collection. The stories range from creepy to cute to downright arousing, touching on all ranges of attraction. Some writers dip into the bisexual landscape while others are a tad more conservative. In "Transfigured Night," K.V. Taylor spills out a homoerotic tale that skirts on necrophilia. Whereas, in "Le Ciél Ouvert," Kirsten Brown introduces us to a character whose sexual appetite can only be sated by something otherworldly. "The C-Word" by Don Pizarro, a May-December romance is reignited in the town of Innsmouth, showing that love has no age boundaries, as well as, cursed ones.

The collection is well worth the read for lovers of the Cthulhu Mythos, as well as, those who simply just love. The collection also includes three essays, beautifully drawn images, and a few lines of Lovecraft's poetry. show less

This collection of Yog-Sothothery has some stories with the sort of explicit sex the title might suggest, but in others, the authors simply offer stories of the "Mythos" where sex is not thoroughly ignored (in contrast to Lovecraft's originals)! The vein most represented here is the Deep Ones lore of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (in stories such as "The C-Word," "Transfigured Night," "The Fishwives of Sean Brolly," and "The Assistant from Innsmouth"), although of course stories inspired by show more "The Dunwich Horror" are not in short supply either, and there is a considerable variety overall. The one jauniste tale ("Flash Frame") was unsurprisingly one of my favorites, but there were a lot of good stories throughout.

Short fiction is not the entirety of the contents, though. There are black-and-white drawings illustrating many of the stories, mostly by artist Galen Dara, who shows some real versatility as well. There also three pieces of criticism at the end of the book, each of which has its merits. The first of them addresses the proliferation of Yog-Sothothery generally, the second anatomizes the erotic potentials of the Lovecraftian weird, and the third applies scholarly tools of genre and trope criticism to the actual fiction in the book. Also there are a couple of poems: Lovecraft's "Astrophobos" is excerpted at the start and finish of the story collection, and the anonymous "Victim of Victims" is a filking of "Fiddler on the Roof" which really isn't worthy of the rest of the volume. show less

Probably one of the strangest books I have ever read, but I loved it! I joined the Vaginal Fantasy book club a few months ago and this was September's main read.

It is a collection of Lovecraft-esque tales of Cthulhu in various romance/sexy/rape-y scenarios. Each author portrays Cthulhu in a different light usually incorporating a female protagonist (something Lovecraft never did...read up on him if you don't know why...).

The stories range from "Oh my god! So it's THAT kind of book!" to "I show more may not be able to sleep tonight" to "LMFAO!!! That is the funniest thing I have ever heard!" to "Did I read that correctly?".

Overall I loved it. I was so different than anything that I would have EVER chosen to read by myself. So with all that said, watch what the Vaginal Fantasy girls had to say about it. And you know what? Pick up the next title and read along with us! :) We have fun, I promise!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Kk6ERQ577aQ
(The link WILL contain Spoilers...) show less

I didn't think I'd like this book, but I did. I wouldn't necessarily call most of the stories erotica, though they were provocative and wonderfully weird. The essays at the end of the collection were insightful. While I have some knowledge of Cthulhu--mostly from playing games themed after the mythos or from reading collections such as [book:Lovecraft Unbound|6505011], I haven't actually read anything by Lovecraft.

After reading this book, I bought the complete works of Lovecraft for a crazy show more great price of $2.99. I then went ahead and bought a Robert E. Howard collection as well as a Clark Ashton Smith collection to round out this literary trinity. Then I'd like to revisit this collection as well as Lovecraft Unbound to see what I think of the stories then. show less