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horrorbutch 's review for:
Nerve Endings: The New Trans Erotic
by Katherine Cross, Aria Sa’id, Isz Janeway, Rachel K. Zall, Paige Bryony, Frances Stewart, Daemyn Edward Hamilton, Rian J. Lloyd, Andi Grace, Rae Walker, Adonis Alvarez, Tobi Hill-Meyer, Drew Cordes, Ahi Wi-Hongi, Eric Emily Satchwill, Hal Schrieve, Pretty Eyes Ellis, D. Scarborough, Teddy Broadbent, Rachel King, Bogi Takács, Shawna Logue, Rocket, Morgan M. Page, Venyamína MacIvèrra, John Squire, Cyd Nova, Luna Merbruja, Ryley Knowles, Allison Kapitein
Nerve Endings is an interesting trans erotic short story collection. However, I would not advise you to go into the story just for the erotica, as that is not what it delivers. First and foremost, this is a collection of transgender sexuality and bodies. Some of the stories only include slight erotica, some none at all, many of them focus on the trauma of being trans and having sex with a transgender body, some focus on other aspects of trauma, some aren't hot at all and some are actually really, really hot.
There are some stories I really loved, some I liked, some I really disliked. It is a wide variety of trans erotica (with some not being very erotic at all), but what was missing to me was trans men topping. Most of the trans guys here seem to be a bottom (and all the gay ones are) and I was left wanting for any mentions of phalloplasty in these stories. There's only four stories that mention the use of a strap on (one for a trans woman after bottom surgery, one for a genderqueer butch, two for trans men, one of them being a futuristic invention he can actually feel, the other not getting any use besides a short mention) and that just seems to be very limited to me. All the stories with strap ons featured women (cis and trans) or transfem people as partners. Trans women and transfem people get a lot more varied stories here, featuring stories where characters had bottom surgeries, didn't have bottom surgery or felt conflicted about the results of their bottom surgery, called their genitalia a wide variety of things and used their genitalia in a variety of ways and I loved that. Some of the stories have really good communication, some don't and include that as part of the erotica, some feel like sexual assaults and even that was interesting, but especially for the darker ones I would have wished for trigger warnings.
This brings me to my biggest issue with this collection, which is that there are no trigger warnings supplied anywhere. Particularly specific trigger warnings before each story would have made this anthology a lot more accessible and enjoyable as I would have been able to skip stories that would upset and trigger me and force me to take a break from reading. I hope that my collection of trigger warnings can serve as a guide and be helpful for other readers.
My rating for the short story collection in total is about a 3.5-4 stars for the stories themselves, but due to the lack of trigger warnings and the fact that this made it impossible to skip the darker stories or prepare for them and not expect an erotic story, I feel I need to lower my rating to 3 stars. Again I hope that the trigger warnings given here will enable others to have a better experience.
Rental by Morgan M Page: tws for mentions of past spousal abuse, transmisogynistic murder and violence and cheating. There's also insecurity surrounding post op genitalia. Spice level is mild, there's not a lot of sex happening, but the characters are very interesting and I liked reading this story.
Brunch Service by Tobi Hill-Meyer: tws for mentions of transphobic and fatphobic street harassment, internalized fatphobia, thoughts of internalized transmisogyny surrounding a trans woman topping, gender dysphoria. Spice level hot, there's on page sex and d/s service. I really liked this short story a lot.
How to Fuck by Cyd Nova: tws for the impact that sex work can have on one's relationship with sex, fetishization of trans sex workers, sex work burnout, bdsm sex scene with wrestling, fisting, food play, blood play and cutting. Spice level hot. I really like the characters as well.
Feelin Myself by Vemyamína Maclvèrra: tws for deadnaming and transphobia by family, transmisogynistic reaction to finding out MC has a penis by past partner, violent physical assault in prison, racist transphobic police, wrongful arrest. Spice level hot for when there's sex happening, but the sex is constantly interrupted by traumatic flashbacks. I liked the story, but the repeated switching between sex scene and trauma flashback made it a bit hard to read.
Death You Deserve by Ryley Knowles: tws for transphobic street harassment, paranoia, hypervigilance, weed use, fear of transmisogynistic violence and murder, internalized ableism re mental illness, focus on horror movies & shows, dread. Spice level okay-ishly hot. I liked the story a lot, but there's more focus on the MC's fear than on her finally having sex.
A Clean Shirt by Allison Kaptein: tws for internalized transphobia surrounding nonbinary identity and misgendering, non negotiated kink including slight misgendering, homophobic slurs used in sexy contexts, daddy play, age play, gender play, humiliation play re transgender identity. Spice level No For Me, but potentially interesting for others. However as lots of the kink is non negotiated, the consent felt not entirely there for me and so I also want to give a TW for potential sexual assault.
Singularity by Katherine Cross: tw for mentions of transphobia, transmisogyny and sexism, especially in the tech scene. There's corset play, breath play, pain play and body modifications. Spice level HOTTTT. This is the first story I really enjoyed and will probably reread.
Please Don't Leave by Isz Janeway: tws for anxiety surrounding sexual performance, MC goes non verbal during intercourse (partner checks in and everything is fully consensual). Spice level okay-ishly hot.
Little by D. Scarborough: tws for body dysphoria. Includes little play (focussed on size) and d/s play. Spice level hot. Gender affirming sex is always great <3
The Cocksucker by Rae Walker: tws for insecurity surrounding sex post bottom surgery. Spice level okay-ishly hot.
East Oakland Part II by Aria Sa'id: tws for cheating and grappling with transmisogyny by potential partners. Spice level okay-ishly hot. The sex is just not my type of sexy, but might be interesting for someone else.
Nine Months in the Life by John Squire: tws for pregnancy by a queer trans man, repeated misgendering, constant dysphoria and ignoring a person's repeatedly stated boundaries. Spice level lukewarm, because sex does not really play a big role here and the one sex scene that exists does not work out really well (fully consensual, but pregnancy issues make it weird).
The Scholars and the Whores by Paige Bryony: tw for sex work. Spice level hot & fun. This one is really interesting to read and I like the author's voice a lot.
Lace by Teddy Broadbent: tw for sex work, misgendering due to doing sex work closeted, medical gatekeeping due to doing sex work. Spice level for the first sex scene okay-ishly hot, for the second one hoooot. Gender affirming sex with a partner that loves you is great. Plus a strap finally comes into play!
Lonely Sissy by Drew Cordes: tws for f slur and slight gender dysphoria post op, sissy play, daddy play. Spice level hot. Very interesting gender story here <3
The Sorcerer's Summons by Daemyn Edward Hamilton: tws for past transphobia by parents and sexual partners. Spice level hot.
Figuring It Out by Luna Merbruja: no tws. Spice level hot. There's no sex, but there is masturbation, it's very sweet. I liked the characters.
Hookup Culture by Pretty Eyes Ellis: tws for use of the f slur and sexual assault. While the MC does not acknowledge what happens as rape, it is very clearly non consensual and I hated reading it A Lot. Spice level No. Very easily my least favorite story here. Really can't trigger warn this enough, it's short and very violent.
Your Average Tuesday by Ahi Wi-Hongi: tw for mentions of slight gender dysphoria. Spice level hot. T4t4t <3 Fun and goofy sex. Really liked this one.
Grease For a Phantom Noise by Rian J. Lloyd: tw for transphobia. Spice level Not. There's no sex here, it is only thought of as a potential future thing once in a few sentences. I liked the story otherwise, but it was not erotica.
A Night in Early December by Hal Schrieve: tws for eating disorder (calorie counting), weight loss, detransitioning and suspicions of potential pedophilia (there's no actual pedophilia happening, but it was uncomfortable). Spice level Meh. There's sex happening, but it did not really interest me, because the pedophilia suggestions took me out of the story and put me on edge as I didn't know what to prepare for.
Dinner Party by Eric Emily Satchwill: tw for mentions of past transphobia. Spice level not very hot to me personally, but still fun and might be more interesting to other people.
To Rebalance the Body by Bodi Takács: tws for body horror, insects, illness, d/s relationship and master kink. Spice level not. Again, no sex, but it is replaced by the d/s aspects of their relationship.
Welcome by Rachel K. Zall: tws for misgendering and illness. Spice level not suuuper hot to me personally, but still fun to read and might be more interesting to other people.
Hot Story for a Cool Day: tw for use of racist anti-Asian transmisogynistic slur, jealously, suicide mention. Spice level: there's sex here, sure, but I disliked the characters too much, so it wasn't hot to me.
How She Is After Work by Frances Stewart: tw for ableism, child abuse, slavery, capitalism hell. Spice level no. There's no sex, but I did like the story, it was interesting.
Ocean Calling Home by Andi Grace: tw for heartbreak, climate change and threats of species extinction. Spice level hot.
Accomodations by Shawna Logue: tw for misgendering, imprisonment, dysphoria, past child abuse, scarring, past sexual child abuse by father, trauma due to it, flashback to past abuse during sex. Spice level sweet. Like there is sex, but it's sex that helps you reclaim your body after trauma and so its very gentle and sweet. I really liked the story and I would like to read more about this world (and transgender orcs <3).
A Boy in a Bar by Rocket: tw for f slur, fear of transphobic reaction by potential sexual partner. Breath play. Spice level hot. I really enjoyed the way the bartender looked out for what the MC liked and what he didn't.
We Anticipate a Smooth Flight by Rachel King: public play. Spice level hot.
There are some stories I really loved, some I liked, some I really disliked. It is a wide variety of trans erotica (with some not being very erotic at all), but what was missing to me was trans men topping. Most of the trans guys here seem to be a bottom (and all the gay ones are) and I was left wanting for any mentions of phalloplasty in these stories. There's only four stories that mention the use of a strap on (one for a trans woman after bottom surgery, one for a genderqueer butch, two for trans men, one of them being a futuristic invention he can actually feel, the other not getting any use besides a short mention) and that just seems to be very limited to me. All the stories with strap ons featured women (cis and trans) or transfem people as partners. Trans women and transfem people get a lot more varied stories here, featuring stories where characters had bottom surgeries, didn't have bottom surgery or felt conflicted about the results of their bottom surgery, called their genitalia a wide variety of things and used their genitalia in a variety of ways and I loved that. Some of the stories have really good communication, some don't and include that as part of the erotica, some feel like sexual assaults and even that was interesting, but especially for the darker ones I would have wished for trigger warnings.
This brings me to my biggest issue with this collection, which is that there are no trigger warnings supplied anywhere. Particularly specific trigger warnings before each story would have made this anthology a lot more accessible and enjoyable as I would have been able to skip stories that would upset and trigger me and force me to take a break from reading. I hope that my collection of trigger warnings can serve as a guide and be helpful for other readers.
My rating for the short story collection in total is about a 3.5-4 stars for the stories themselves, but due to the lack of trigger warnings and the fact that this made it impossible to skip the darker stories or prepare for them and not expect an erotic story, I feel I need to lower my rating to 3 stars. Again I hope that the trigger warnings given here will enable others to have a better experience.
Rental by Morgan M Page: tws for mentions of past spousal abuse, transmisogynistic murder and violence and cheating. There's also insecurity surrounding post op genitalia. Spice level is mild, there's not a lot of sex happening, but the characters are very interesting and I liked reading this story.
Brunch Service by Tobi Hill-Meyer: tws for mentions of transphobic and fatphobic street harassment, internalized fatphobia, thoughts of internalized transmisogyny surrounding a trans woman topping, gender dysphoria. Spice level hot, there's on page sex and d/s service. I really liked this short story a lot.
How to Fuck by Cyd Nova: tws for the impact that sex work can have on one's relationship with sex, fetishization of trans sex workers, sex work burnout, bdsm sex scene with wrestling, fisting, food play, blood play and cutting. Spice level hot. I really like the characters as well.
Feelin Myself by Vemyamína Maclvèrra: tws for deadnaming and transphobia by family, transmisogynistic reaction to finding out MC has a penis by past partner, violent physical assault in prison, racist transphobic police, wrongful arrest. Spice level hot for when there's sex happening, but the sex is constantly interrupted by traumatic flashbacks. I liked the story, but the repeated switching between sex scene and trauma flashback made it a bit hard to read.
Death You Deserve by Ryley Knowles: tws for transphobic street harassment, paranoia, hypervigilance, weed use, fear of transmisogynistic violence and murder, internalized ableism re mental illness, focus on horror movies & shows, dread. Spice level okay-ishly hot. I liked the story a lot, but there's more focus on the MC's fear than on her finally having sex.
A Clean Shirt by Allison Kaptein: tws for internalized transphobia surrounding nonbinary identity and misgendering, non negotiated kink including slight misgendering, homophobic slurs used in sexy contexts, daddy play, age play, gender play, humiliation play re transgender identity. Spice level No For Me, but potentially interesting for others. However as lots of the kink is non negotiated, the consent felt not entirely there for me and so I also want to give a TW for potential sexual assault.
Singularity by Katherine Cross: tw for mentions of transphobia, transmisogyny and sexism, especially in the tech scene. There's corset play, breath play, pain play and body modifications. Spice level HOTTTT. This is the first story I really enjoyed and will probably reread.
Please Don't Leave by Isz Janeway: tws for anxiety surrounding sexual performance, MC goes non verbal during intercourse (partner checks in and everything is fully consensual). Spice level okay-ishly hot.
Little by D. Scarborough: tws for body dysphoria. Includes little play (focussed on size) and d/s play. Spice level hot. Gender affirming sex is always great <3
The Cocksucker by Rae Walker: tws for insecurity surrounding sex post bottom surgery. Spice level okay-ishly hot.
East Oakland Part II by Aria Sa'id: tws for cheating and grappling with transmisogyny by potential partners. Spice level okay-ishly hot. The sex is just not my type of sexy, but might be interesting for someone else.
Nine Months in the Life by John Squire: tws for pregnancy by a queer trans man, repeated misgendering, constant dysphoria and ignoring a person's repeatedly stated boundaries. Spice level lukewarm, because sex does not really play a big role here and the one sex scene that exists does not work out really well (fully consensual, but pregnancy issues make it weird).
The Scholars and the Whores by Paige Bryony: tw for sex work. Spice level hot & fun. This one is really interesting to read and I like the author's voice a lot.
Lace by Teddy Broadbent: tw for sex work, misgendering due to doing sex work closeted, medical gatekeeping due to doing sex work. Spice level for the first sex scene okay-ishly hot, for the second one hoooot. Gender affirming sex with a partner that loves you is great. Plus a strap finally comes into play!
Lonely Sissy by Drew Cordes: tws for f slur and slight gender dysphoria post op, sissy play, daddy play. Spice level hot. Very interesting gender story here <3
The Sorcerer's Summons by Daemyn Edward Hamilton: tws for past transphobia by parents and sexual partners. Spice level hot.
Figuring It Out by Luna Merbruja: no tws. Spice level hot. There's no sex, but there is masturbation, it's very sweet. I liked the characters.
Hookup Culture by Pretty Eyes Ellis: tws for use of the f slur and sexual assault. While the MC does not acknowledge what happens as rape, it is very clearly non consensual and I hated reading it A Lot. Spice level No. Very easily my least favorite story here. Really can't trigger warn this enough, it's short and very violent.
Your Average Tuesday by Ahi Wi-Hongi: tw for mentions of slight gender dysphoria. Spice level hot. T4t4t <3 Fun and goofy sex. Really liked this one.
Grease For a Phantom Noise by Rian J. Lloyd: tw for transphobia. Spice level Not. There's no sex here, it is only thought of as a potential future thing once in a few sentences. I liked the story otherwise, but it was not erotica.
A Night in Early December by Hal Schrieve: tws for eating disorder (calorie counting), weight loss, detransitioning and suspicions of potential pedophilia (there's no actual pedophilia happening, but it was uncomfortable). Spice level Meh. There's sex happening, but it did not really interest me, because the pedophilia suggestions took me out of the story and put me on edge as I didn't know what to prepare for.
Dinner Party by Eric Emily Satchwill: tw for mentions of past transphobia. Spice level not very hot to me personally, but still fun and might be more interesting to other people.
To Rebalance the Body by Bodi Takács: tws for body horror, insects, illness, d/s relationship and master kink. Spice level not. Again, no sex, but it is replaced by the d/s aspects of their relationship.
Welcome by Rachel K. Zall: tws for misgendering and illness. Spice level not suuuper hot to me personally, but still fun to read and might be more interesting to other people.
Hot Story for a Cool Day: tw for use of racist anti-Asian transmisogynistic slur, jealously, suicide mention. Spice level: there's sex here, sure, but I disliked the characters too much, so it wasn't hot to me.
How She Is After Work by Frances Stewart: tw for ableism, child abuse, slavery, capitalism hell. Spice level no. There's no sex, but I did like the story, it was interesting.
Ocean Calling Home by Andi Grace: tw for heartbreak, climate change and threats of species extinction. Spice level hot.
Accomodations by Shawna Logue: tw for misgendering, imprisonment, dysphoria, past child abuse, scarring, past sexual child abuse by father, trauma due to it, flashback to past abuse during sex. Spice level sweet. Like there is sex, but it's sex that helps you reclaim your body after trauma and so its very gentle and sweet. I really liked the story and I would like to read more about this world (and transgender orcs <3).
A Boy in a Bar by Rocket: tw for f slur, fear of transphobic reaction by potential sexual partner. Breath play. Spice level hot. I really enjoyed the way the bartender looked out for what the MC liked and what he didn't.
We Anticipate a Smooth Flight by Rachel King: public play. Spice level hot.