Erotica With a Message

Title: 4:Play
Author: Jess Scott
Publication Date: 2009
ISBN-10: 1448647665
Format: eBook/Print
Length: 243 pages
Genre: Erotic Fiction

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Jess Scott's 4:Play

“For the docile, nice, and naughty—“ writes author Jess Scott, as an introduction to her collection of erotic stories entitled 4:Play. Truer words were never spoken: I, at various turns, felt docile, nice and very naughty reading this book—this brash statement, meant for those of us locked up in the safety of our social norms.

Every piece in this collection crosses some invisible line of comfort many of us will have drawn in the sand of our lives. The author asks a number of questions, in her own words and her own way. Questions like: What do the type of genitals I have got to do with love? Maybe you’ll find your own answer to that question in the strange array of situations you’ll experience in 4:Play. Or, as the author claims to believe, you might find that “the erotic nature of human beings continues to evolve, along with the human species itself.”


1. Black Velvet

The story begins with Alyson Urban writing a stream of consciousness story about self-love—in the most physical of terms. She’s of the opinion that the experience is everything she needs. I understood why.

I’ve never been one for real-time computer chats, but I have done a little email flirting. The second part of Black Velvet is a complete chat as Alyson shares her story with her friend Christian. The two friends also exchange nude photos. The experience gave me an idea of what voyeurism might be like.

The photo exchange leads to the former school acquaintances meeting for a movie and dinner. Instead, Alyson and Christian end up having wild sex in the women’s washroom.

In the end, Alyson discovers that the real thing is much better than going it alone.

Black Velvet is a very intimate read, and represents something new under the sun for me. If you like erotica, the story might be a refreshing experience.


2. Wicked Lovely

Brother and sister love: all the way. The forbidden... What would you think of yourself? What would you do? How would you solve the problem?

Once more, Jess Scott takes us inside the heads of the players. Sometimes the story is structured; sometimes it’s stream of consciousness. While stream of consciousness conveys emotion well, I found it more irritating than useful in this particular story.


3. The Devil in Fey

Fey has found a new friend. And it just so happens that he’s an incubus. No problem. Fey likes him a whole lot more than the creep she just spent the night with. But... her attraction has a downside: it’s killing her. Can she stop what’s happening before she loses her soul? And what’s with these new powers she’s developing? More to the point, in my opinion, what are these abilities revealing about the nature of Fey? Pick up a copy of 4:Play to find out what happens to the Devil in Fey.


4. Tongue-Tied

A succubus who likes women has been stalking Adriana. Just some homework for her next adventure, she tells herself. Is the woman straight or, let’s say, bi-curious? Some investigatory time leads to a different question... Adriana is able to see the succubus. What’s with that? Caught in some kind of inner turmoil (this succubus doesn’t do emotion, just lust) the creature decides to set matters straight. Things do not go as planned.

The question posed here is not so much Can a succubus love? as it is Can you really separate love from the physical? I enjoyed this story.


5. New Order

A young man dreams of the impossible while a concert pianist performs. But as his dream unexpectedly unfolds, we are carried along to that very moment of perfection, then...


6. Status Married:

The memory of a childhood kiss and ceremony between two girlfriends is carried next to the heart of one of them until, in her twenties, the other girl swirls back into her life. Society still refuses the two of them, but their bodies and lips prove the lie.


7. Oral Fixation:

Gay street sex. Male on male.

Sheer fantasy, I suppose. But too crude for my tastes. Perhaps this was the collection's example of what sex without love or any real strength of emotion is like.


8. The Gift:

A contest, a sexy superstar, and a simple blindfold wins Natalia more than she could ever have imagined.

Again, a very graphic posing of the questions: Is it the sex or the emotional relationship? Can the two even be separated?


9: Appetizers:

Poems designed to get you ready for the main event. And forget about lines drawn in the sand.


10. 30+2: Haiku:

Haiku for the erotically inclined.


11. 4:Play

After 4 years of friendship, two men are tiring of trying to figure out their sexual nature. A girlfriend of one of the men decides to help them out in her own out-of-the-box way.

I think there was a little too much philosophizing in this story. One could sense the author trying to make or emphasize the message she wanted the reader to take away.


My summary:

When all is imagined, said and done, 4:Play is erotica with a story. Some of the experimental writing techniques aside, I would much rather read something like 4:Play, which made me uncomfortable a number of times, than one of the many so-called erotic romances that serve as vehicles for written pornography. I give Jess Scott points for making the effort.


Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye



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