Favorites -- Recent Reports on Progress Toward Fusion

I thought I'd go through my own collection of erotic stories and tell you why I like them.

Recent Reports on Progress Toward Fusion is one of my very favorite erotic short stories. Written by Bill Noble, it was collected by Susie Bright in an edition of America's Best Erotica. It's currently available online at Clean Sheets Erotica Magazine.

At first glance, it's a very odd story with a very odd premise -- conjoined male twins are courted and introduced to sex by a randy young woman. The twins, who are joined at the hips and therefore have only one pair of legs and one set of genitals, are nevertheless very different individuals. It's a menage a trois story with a different geography.

Meg Kapinksi tells us the story of meeting these unusual brothers. She's smart, funny, honest, and horny, but she's not any ultra-mega-lighting babe. She's very human, which makes her dealings with Hannie and Steve Arenson believable. She's fascinated with the brothers, but not in a way a reader might find shallow, perverse, or distasteful. She deals with them both as a single entity and as two separate individuals. I had huge sympathy with the problems of their relationships as well as with their resolution. The first time I read the story, I cried happy tears at the end. I've read it many times since, and occasionally still get choked up. The poignancy is not contrived. The story has several laugh out loud moments as well as thoughtful ones.

Here's the kicker -- while the sex is hot, that's not what I love about this story. Oh no, this tale has a lot more than tail in it. It calls a lot of assumptions into question, questions about the nature of incest-- if two brothers share a single set of genitals, is masturbation incest? -- as well as the nature of polyamorous relationships. How do they deal with each other in terms of affection and sexuality? How do they have relationships at all, since the brothers are always together? Do either of them have privacy? Do the laws of our society have to stretch -- can they stretch, will the rest of us allow them to stretch -- to accommodate a situation which is not controlled by the brothers (they cannot be separated and yet want to marry)? If it can stretch for this situation, should they stretch for other situations which are not in a person's control (such as allowing same sex marriage or legal protection for poly families)?

I love a story that makes me think and this story makes me think. It's also pretty damn hot reading. Still, the thinking part lasts a long time. I highly recommend this one.