Jul 31
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J Greely Comments: Nothing says alien sex like crosshairs targeting an eyeball filled with Saturn.
Published 1992
You might remember this from here. And maybe here.

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Tagged with: Ellen Datlow • eye-yi-yi • Harlan Ellison • Larry Niven • Lewis Shiner • Pat Murphy • planets • Roc Books • sexytime • sky-eyes • Unknown Artist Institute
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July 31st, 2019 at 9:51 am
Earthlings may not find this erotic, but for the space brothers this is basically hardcore porn.
July 31st, 2019 at 11:36 am
“continued on back cover” is the writers’ version of “also appearing”.
July 31st, 2019 at 11:37 am
The other eye is staring at Uranus.
July 31st, 2019 at 12:46 pm
Well, the alternative was probably just Harlan’s Hand.
July 31st, 2019 at 2:47 pm
The HBO ‘break glass in case of all the GOT prequels suck’ plan.
July 31st, 2019 at 4:38 pm
Which one’s the Fiend?
July 31st, 2019 at 6:30 pm
The cover art is actually quite nice.
The title is another story, especially as we have no idea how misleading it might be.
July 31st, 2019 at 6:59 pm
@Bibliomancer—That joke never fails 😉 GSS!
July 31st, 2019 at 7:03 pm
Ellison’s agent pushed hard to get his name listed first. Closest he ever got to alien sex. RIP Harlan (with all due respect), you old fart.
July 31st, 2019 at 7:22 pm
@B.C. – It’s astronomy’s gift to comedy!
August 1st, 2019 at 1:22 am
The original blurb read:
“Alien Sex: 19 Tales by the Masters & Johnson of Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy”
August 1st, 2019 at 4:39 am
I’d rate this as slightly less naughty than this edition. And it’s positively restrained compared to the Italian version.
August 1st, 2019 at 6:19 am
She’s the slattern of Saturn.
August 2nd, 2019 at 4:29 am
GSS, all.
Lewis Shiner had a pretty good agent, too, to get billing over some of the others — full list in @Tom Noir’s first link. Him instead of Tiptree, Willis, Farmer? Did his name just fit better?
August 2nd, 2019 at 7:40 am
Here’s the list of stories. Honestly, I had to Google some of these Masters; unless you went to a lot of Worldcons in the Eighties, it’s unlikely you’d have heard of them or seen their work.
Foreword (William Gibson)
Her Furry Face (Leigh Kennedy, 1983)
War Bride (Rick Wilber, 1990)
How’s The Night Life On Cissalda (Harlan Ellison, 1977)
The Jamesburg Incubus (Scott Baker, 1990)
Man Of Steel, Woman Of Kleenex (Larry Niven, 1971)
The First Time (K.W. Jeter, 1990)
The Jungle Rot Kid On The Nod (Philip José Farmer, 1968)
Husbands (Lisa Tuttle, 1990)
When The Fathers Go (Bruce McAllister, 1982)
Dancing Chickens (Edward Bryant, 1984)
Roadside Rescue (Pat Cadigan, 1985)
Omnisexual (Geoff Ryman, 1990)
All My Darling Daughters (Connie Willis, 1985)
Arousal (Richard Christian Matheson, 1990)
Scales (Lewis Shiner, 1990)
Saving The World At The New Moon Motel (Roberta Lannes, 1990)
And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill’s Side (James Tiptree, Jr, 1971)
Picture Planes (Michaela Roessner, 1990)
Love And Sex Among The Invertebrates (Pat Murphy, 1990)
August 2nd, 2019 at 11:30 pm
@J Greely: I did go to almost all the Worldcons/NASFiCs in the 80s, so while a couple of these are friends, and many are familiar, I never even heard of several. Friends of Ellen Datlow’s?
The Niven story really is a classic, though.
August 3rd, 2019 at 6:16 am
@GSS: She was an editor for Omni Magazine, which I recall paying well above the typical short-story rates, so I suspect lots of writers at cons were eager to be her friends. My recognition count was 10 of 19, and after looking up the rest, Lewis Shiner was the only one I’d read anything by (he wrote the Fortunato stories in the Wild Cards shared-universe books).
I only ever went to one Worldcon, myself (1996); bit too cliquish for my taste, although I enjoyed spending time with P.C. Hodgell, and Harlan Ellison’s reaction to learning C.J. Cherryh had written a Lois & Clark novel.
-j
August 5th, 2019 at 12:14 am
Maybe it’s a typo and ought to be one word, like Sussex, Middlesex, Essex, Wessex…
So the eye with Saturn and crosshairs might be what their cricket team has on their shirts.
August 6th, 2019 at 7:38 am
Others had traveled to Saturn before her, but she was going to be the first to have sex with the planet.
August 6th, 2019 at 8:22 am
@J Greely: Oh, I know who Datlow is — she’s still editing and writing, and has won a bazillion Hugos and many other awards, esp. for horror. Not for this.
@Tat: Aliensex is a rural county of Saturn’s.
@Bruce: after all, someone had put a ring on it.
August 7th, 2019 at 7:25 pm
I guess it’s true what they say…Saturn is truly in the eye of the beholder.
August 22nd, 2019 at 9:38 pm
The book release was met with furious protests from The Society of Saturnophilic Amateur Astronomers (SOSAA), whose hopes for hot man-on-Planet-Saturn action were dashed.