This anthology is captivating and gritty. While the nature of anthologies is such that not every story will suit every reader, this anthology is carefully curated to stay on theme while also providing an array of story types. If you’re a reader craving scintillating and decadent storytelling that is queer without restraint or apology, that does not cater to the oppressive demand for clean wholesomeness for queerness to be validated, then this is a collection that is bound to have something for you.

This was a first for me. The book wasn’t a bad read but it simply wasn’t for me. Perhaps it’s the subject matter although I can read almost anything and enjoy it. Monsters mixed with erotica was just to far out there for me.

Usually with anthologies, you get a fair mix of good and okay stories, with maybe one or two bad ones. I can't honestly say there was a single story in this one that I liked. They all felt rather bland or just generally poorly written. It was like reading fanfiction from AO3 tags that have less than 10 works and they're all by people with bad takes on characters you love; it was disappointing, but you had to check them all out just on the off chance you found something good in the mix. I would have DNF-ed this one if it had been any longer than it was.

Unfortunately I couldn't get on with this book. I found the characters to be annoying and without depth. I didn't like their names and everytime I read them I got more annoyed! I'm sure this book will fit some people's taste but not mine.

Whilst I appreciate that this is an anthology and I may not gel with every piece within the book - I found that I was struggling to enjoy the writing style of most of the pieces and it impacted my overall enjoyment of the book. Would I say give it a miss? No. It just was not for me.

I DNF'd this around 35%. Short stories can be difficult because some of these I thought were quite good, but quite a few came off as overly gruesome and grotesque just got shock value. Not my cup of tea personally.

I received an ARC of this book on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This upcoming anthology collects 25 stories of queer horror erotica featuring a diverse range of queer identities and horror genres, which was fun. From pirate fantasy horror over urban fantasy vampire horror to eldritch gloryhole horror there's definitely something here for everyone. However as is often the case with anthologies, this one was a mixed back for sure. Some of the stories I loved, some were actually terrifying, some were pretty hot, some were both (the best type tbh), some I hated and some I had no feelings about whatsoever. A few of them are even fuck and die, which is always a nice erotic horror trope to me personally. However, horror and erotica are both very personal topics and so your milage of enjoyment may vary. I also really, really enjoy that this anthology features most forms of LGBT representation and I absolutely adored that there's multiple trans characters of all identities in the stories! There's even multiple trans women and transfeminine people in this collection! (Small sidenote: There's no ace or aro rep (there is a cult that preaches abstaining from sex, erasing sexual desire and asexual reproduction which was fun, but that's not the same thing as asexual identity). I know some asexual fiction combining horror and erotica could have definitely added to my enjoyment and feels an obvious choice in retrospect.)
If there's not an even horror/erotica split in a story, they tend to verge more towards erotica (sometimes dark and kinky erotica, sometimes fantasy erotica) and so for some stories I found myself wondering what the horror aspect was supposed to be, which was a bit disappointing. In general - and this may have to do with my own forays into stories marketed as erogurowave, extreme horror and the darker side of queer indie publishing - I found myself wishing some of the stories had gone darker and treaded newer, more fucked up waters. However there were still more than enough stories in here that I liked. My favorites were Graphite by Amanda M. Blake, Write my Eulogy on the Gloryhole Bathroom Stall by Rae Knowles, Alphabet City Anactoria by Rain Corbyn, A Kiss With Thorns by K. M. Carmien and Motel Pozitive by j ambrose and they are definitely stories and authors I will be remembering!
I am also pushing my vote up from my individual ratings of 3.25 stars to a round 4 due to the interesting choice of anthology and the wide diversity of horror and queer identity and because of how much I enjoyed my favorites. It is definitely an anthology I can recommend, especially if you (like me) decide to enjoy it a story at a time (+ maybe a poem) instead of gulping it all down in one sitting, because I feel like taking my time greatly increased my enjoyment of many of the stories here. I will now be concluding my review with some short thoughts on each piece, including some trigger warnings when necessary.

A Gift so Sweet by Zach Rosenberg - quite hot, there's monster fucking, jewish mythology, dominance struggle and a nonbinary top! Also pirates and booty. I like a good fuck and die. TW: death, gore

Regina di Santana by Grace R. Reynolds - biblical, filled with death and gore and classical music, rather short and filled with metaphors, unfortunately not really my style, TW: gore

Caught in the Moment by Sapphire Lazuli - very lyrical, follows the creation of erotic art with a grisly ending, unfortunately not my style, TW: death, gore, body horror

Franklin & Jackson by JB Corso - an erotic encounter with the goal to summon the dead, interesting and dark but I wish character motivations had been explored more, it was definitely fun though, I love evil gays <3 TW: cheating, murder, slight boundary pushing

Graphite by Amanda M. Blake - a collection of erotic art that gains life in a dream soon turned nightmare, kinky, messy and fun! TW: dubcon. One of my favs <3

where to draw the dotted lines by M. Lopes de Silva - short kinky poem, fun but unfortunately veeeery, very short

Write my Eulogy on the Gloryhole Bathroom Stall by Rae Knowles - An otherworldy encounter in the men's bathroom. Very, very fun. Who doesn't love a cosmic horror gloryhole? Gorey af and really hot. TW: gore, self harm, drugs, death. One of my favs <3

I wander the Earth longing to taste your beating Heart by Minh-Anh Vo Dinh - A flesh eating serial killer attracts a vampire stalker, dark fantasy, which can be fun, but is generally not really my style and unfortunately did not really rouse my interest this time either, TW: murder, self sacrifice

This Living Hand by Aleksandra Ugelstad Elnaes - tfw somebody lends you a hand from beyond. Short, but a fun erotic encounter.

Mantis by Dori Lumpkin - A person cursed to kill anyone they kiss. But is it really a curse? Fun and depraved, I quite liked it, TW: animal cruelty, murder, suicide attempt, incestous kiss (for murder purposes)

Bite by Arthur DeHart- t4t rave sex, what if the stranger you picked up is not just trans like you, but also some kind of creature? Could have been scarier tbh, but I liked the atmosphere. TW: drug use

Alphabet City Anactoria by Rain Corbyn - Trans woman MC experiences a supernatural glory hole experience, very interesting world building, fun, hot and gorey. TW: body horror, death. One of my favs <3

Silicone Toys by Violet Mourningstarr - What if your sex toy had feelings and felt betrayed when you bring a new partner home? Also what if it was poetry? I liked the story (even if it is a biiiit cliche), but unfortunately did not enjoy the poetry. TW: Murder

By a Thread by Caitlin Marceau - A lesbian relationship faces a lot of strain because of one partner's need for rougher sex and cheating when her wife doesn't provide it, until the wife decides to deliver her gruesome revenge, gorey, kinky and sooo messy (like emotionally), but sooooo good. TW: manipulation, cheating, sexual boundary pushing, unsafe bdsm, murder, blood and gore

Hunger, the Sea by Charibdys - A cook renowed for his seafood cuisine and the mermaid that visits him at night to feast, veeery gory, very hot. TW: gore

The Roses of Heliogabalus by Sofia Ajram- A poet renowed for his sexual prowess, an emporer with unusual tastes, a bacchanal they plan together. Also many, many roses and lovely gore. Unfortunately too lyrical for my enjoyment and the end did not work for me. TW: murder, gore, mentions of child sexual abuse

The Leatherman by Darren Black - A short and interesting poem about bdsm, stylistically fun but I wish it had been longer.

Little Saddleslut Grows Up by Avra Margariti- dark Fairytale, after eating her sisters a woman craves her girlfriend's flesh but dares not touch her for fear of hurting her, kinky and quite sweet but I wish it had been a biiit scarier. TW: cannibalism, cheating

White & Wolf by Marisca Pichette - Another dark Fairytale, this time Snow White & Red Riding Hood inspired, features a dual POV which due to the short lenght of the story did not really work for me, it is still interesting and lyrical and it was fun. TW: murder, attempted sexual assault (implied)

A Kiss with Thorns by K. M. Carmien - Another rose horror, epic dark fantasy inspired this time, very fun, I loved the rot, the body horror sex, the weird, sexy, scary dreams and that we got a nonbinary MC with a cock, it was horrifying and gross and fun and sexy, or as I liked to call it hornyfying. TW: gore, murder, body horror. One of my favs <3

What They Don't Tell You About The Mummy's Curse by Anton Cancre - A man that gets his rocks off with rocks sometimes (he likes ancient things) discovers a new obsession when a Mummy rises from his sarcophagus, quite gorey, fun, I enjoyed the character's voice, the sex made me cringe in pain (there's mummy nails involved), but it's part of the pleasure. TW: gore, unsave sex, unsanitarity, consensual necrophilia (in a way?)

MOTEL POZITIVE by j ambrose - This short story has it all: biohazard symbol tattood above the cock, mushroom spores, glittering sperm, an incredibly powerful aphrodisiac that kind of turns you into these ants that just keep climbing! Fun, sexy, there's a spooky motel and soft body horror (literally quite mushy), this one's a fuck and don't die but instead become part of the mycelium network and live forever - TW: death, suicidality, bad mental health. One of my favs <3

The Taste of Ash & Blackberry by Clar Hart- an interesting story where growing fruit from your chest is normal, sweet and somewhat spicy but otherwise not my style, one of the least scary stories in here unfortunately

We're All Family Here by Shelley Lavigne - A fitness cult that preaches perfection and asexual reproduction. I think the horror could have been darker, but the body horror was quite fun. Eroticism through it's denial makes for good horrorotica as well, TW: mindcontrol, cults

Invitation by Jessica Swanson - A very short country horror poem. It was fine, but very short and I wish the horror of it had been explored in deeper detail. One of the stories where I failed to find any real eroticism.

Thanks to Netgalley for sending me this ARC!
A good anthology is always a fun gamechanger between longer novels for me. This erotic horror one delivered. There is some absolutely gorgeous prose in this book.

This wasn’t a story for me or poems for me. I found it hard to get into I got through two chapters before i simply couldn’t. Each poem is a different something. If you enjoy spice and enjoy poetry I would recommend this to you. I’m just not that person. The cover is beautiful.

The Pleasure in Pain promises to be an unguarded exploration of queerness through twenty five stories filled of, what else, but pleasure and pain.

Like many collections, this one is a mixed bag. I find that horror and erotica tend to be the most divisive genres, as what scares you is just as personal as what excites you. I definitely experienced that here, and it’s always an interesting experience to run into writing that you find very skillfully crafted that doesn’t actually do anything for you. I kept a personally running talley of ratings story by story and at the end, the overall rating for me sat at 3.24. This is one of those times where a three star rating covers a ranged experience. I found stories I loved, stories I loathed, stories I was indifferent about, and stories I loved and loathed that tore me back and forth.

When the stories in this anthology aren’t doing horror and erotica, they tend to just steer towards erotica. This on its own is fine, but the promise of horror, not erotica, was what grabbed my interest. The majority of the horror is body horror which both makes sense considering pleasure’s relationship with the body and happens to be a personal favorite subgenre of mine.

Structure matters a lot to me for anthologies and I found myself frustrated here. For the most part, there tends to break between longer stories with poems but there’s a wide range of fantasy, historical and contemporary fiction mixed in with the horror and erotica that doesn’t seem to be ordered in any meaningful way. When the same subgenre does line up for stories, sometimes you end up with very similar themes back to back that can blur together. I think the opening story, while enjoyable, is not the one I would have picked to go first in this collection. Some of the strongest examples of craft are followed up by the weakest which will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

My personal standouts were Graphite by Amanda M. Blake, I WANDER THE EARTH LONGING TO TASTE YOUR BEATING HEART by Minh-Anh Vo Dinh, Mantis by Dori Lumpkin, and What They Don’t Tell You About The Mummy’s Curse by Anton Cancre. I think all of these thread the needle of queer erotic horror in memorable ways that invite examination from the reader if they so desire. Graphite is probably my favorite, and it happens to be the house from the blurb that made me interested in the collection.

Overall I enjoyed my time reading this anthology. All of these authors are new to me, and I’m looking forward to seeking some of them out for further reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Dragon's Roost Press for the eARC.

My favorite stories from this collection are:
Write My Eulogy on the Gloryhole Bathroom Stall- Raw Knowles
By a Thread- Caitlin Marceau
What They Don't Tell You About the Mummy's Curse- Anton Cancre
Little Saddleslut Grows Up- Avra Margariti

To me, these authors perfectly balanced the horror and erotic elements of their story, and they have stuck with me for days now.

There were a few stories that leaned too much into the prose and descriptive language that made it confusing to read or understand what was happening in the story. "Caught in the Moment" by Sapphire Lazuli was a bit confusing for me in that regard, but it did add to and fit the story. "The Taste of Ash and Blackberry" by Clar Hart was probably one of the most confusing in that area. I understand not wanting or needing the spoon-feed the audience every clue about what was happening, but there was a major element of the story that was not clear until the end if it was actually happening or just a strange metaphor.
I think a lot of the authors struggled with balancing horror and eroticism. Some of them were erotic but didn't have any clear horror elements, or vice versa- horror but not erotic. But maybe the author's were including kinks that I don't know about?

For an erotic anthology, nearly all of these stories were disappointingly sterile. I'm very tired of monster romance consisting of humanoid individuals having normal, straightforward sex, except one is blue or slightly large or something. I want novelty! I want uncharted territories!

'The Pleasure in Pain' is the first time I've tried a book in this scope; both as an anthology and as erotic horror. As one would expect from any anthology, its a bit of a mix bag of things. There were stories I really enjoyed, others I didn't like as much, and few that just weren't for me.

Standouts include 'A Gift so Sweet' by Zach Rosenberg, 'Franklin and Jackson' by JB Corso, 'Graphite' by Amanda M. Blake (probably my favorite of the collection), 'Bite' by Arthur DeHart, and 'The Roses of Heliogabalus' by Sofia Ajram.

I was also a fan of how the poetry and short stories were paced. I think they flowed well with each other.

Overall, 'The Pleasure in Pain' was an enjoyable read.


Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC for review!

"The Pleasure In Pain" anthology unearths raw, unfiltered narratives of love, lust, and queerness, shedding light on hidden desires and forbidden passions. With a provocative mix of twenty-five stories and poems, this collection fearlessly traverses the spectrum of human emotion, from twisted fairytales to eerie scenarios where love and pain intertwine. Each tale offers a unique exploration of identity and longing, inviting readers to confront their own hidden truths. Bold, daring, and unapologetically honest, "The Pleasure In Pain" is a literary excavation that reveals the beauty and complexity of queer experiences, leaving an indelible mark on the soul.

God, it's fun being queer!

The stories are not the kind of erotica/horror writing I was expecting, and thus they’re not my thing. The quality of writing isn't consistently high enough (up to the point I DNF’d, anyway) to hold my attention despite not being my thing. I hope they find the right audience out there.

A trifecta of Horror! Scary, Sexy and funny! 24 queer short horror stories and poems by queer authors gave a true inclusion to all people in love with the genre. "Whether you're gay, lesbian, transgender, bi" there is a story for you

Anthologies are always a toss up/mixed bag. Right off the bat, I wasn't a huge fan of the first story, so I skipped to the next. I thought I was the target audience for this. I'm queer. I like reading queer stuff. I like dark stuff and horror stuff. But I didn't feel pulled in to any of the stories. I would start reading a bit and then lose interest and go to the next. Just not quite for me or it's just not the right time for me to be reading this. I'm giving it four stars because it makes me happy that it exists and I want to go back and revisit it and try again.

A book I was not expecting, exploring love, must, passion, pain and experiences. Some stories written in verses and some in prose. Surprisingly good in a way I had not anticipated !

A collection of short stories and poetry that blend the erotic with visceral gore and horrifying situations. Featuring a wide range of queer identities both in characters and authors, each story explores a facet of the complicated relationships queer people often have. While there are some misses for me, I found a majority of the collection to be entertaining.
I enjoyed the variety in both identities and storytelling styles. A few favorites include A Gift so Sweet by Zach Rosenberg, Graphite by Amanda M. Blake, and I Wander the Earth Longing to Taste Your Beating Heart by Minh-Anh Vo Dinh, and Mantis by Dori Lumpkin. A small thing but I also thought the spacing between poems and short stories made a good blend. There wasn't much I disliked, I just found some stories to be less enjoyable.
Overall it makes for a good anthology that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys queer stories or likes their erotica darker.

As with every story collection/anthology written by various authors, there will be differing feelings for each writer and piece. That being said, there are some truly amazing writers in "The Pleasure in Pain" that standout amongst the crowd. Some really beautiful, lyrical prose that just speaks to you and allows you to vividly imagine each scene/backdrop. Each piece is unique to the others and I found myself enjoying more stories than not. And of course, we always need more queer horror, I always enjoy reading books/stories that involve queer characters and/or written by queer people. It's a marvelous thing to feel "included" in the stories you read (however creepy they may be.)