Liquid Silver Books, $3.99, ISBN 978-1-59578-696-8
Fantasy Erotica, 2010
Sunny Moraine’s short story Hieros is a fantasy romp set in a place and time with temples, agriculture, and possibly songs about painting colors in the wind. It can be compared to anything from a Mayan settlement to a Sumerian village, if you ask me, because the world building here is rather flimsy.
Jaith and Shoa are two young men who are picked that year to become the Chosens are the temple at the Chamber of the Sky. All they know is that they have to spend one night at the temple, undergoing some mysterious rites, in order to ensure that the crops will be plentiful for everyone. Little do they realize that they will have to reenact the wedding night of the gay mountain gods Hozah and Keth.
The sex scenes are not as envelope-pushing as I initially expected, but they work nonetheless in a sensual and erotic context. A small part of me questions just how old these kids are, but what the heck, this is a native earth-mother shaman kind of story. The world building is flimsy, as I’ve said, but since this is a short story, that is understandable. The focus is on the erotic ritual performed by Jaith and Shoa, with a romantic ending thrown in. The romantic ending works too, because these two are already close before they are chosen to shag for the gods.
All in all, Hieros is a pleasant short erotic interlude. The usual limitations of a short story apply here, but who knows: if you are reading this one for the right reason – the boinking thing – you may not be disappointed. I know I’m not.
