Carnal Nation: Brave New Sex Fictions

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria, B.C.

Carnal Nation is an interesting collection of 32 erotic tales, or sex
fictions, whose subject matter includes homo- and heterosexual
encounters, incest, gender identity, video porn, taxidermy, and more.
Camilla Gibb depicts a wonderfully charged relationship between Penny
Hill, who dreams of being a Russian Princess called Oksana Vladivostok,
and Trudy, who would much rather be referred to as “Rudy.” Rachel
Rose’s “Want” powerfully evokes contemporary loneliness and
isolation, while Mark MacDonald offers the unforgettable “Penis”:
“It wasn’t too long after we met even, when he proposed that we make
things official and buy ourselves a new penis. It seemed like a wise
decision to firm things up like that.” Perhaps the most experimental
story is Sonja Ahlers’s “Let’s Erase the Human Race (& Start All
Over Again),” which consists of a series of commentary sketches,
poetry drafts, and word collages.