Genre(s): Short Story, Erotica
Pages: 305
Website: http://www.ldbrownbooks.com
[xrr rating=5/5]
Mind-blowing is the best way to describe WALK LIKE A MAN, Laurinda D. Brown’s first foray into erotic fiction. Brown compiles 11 tempestuous tales featuring the whole gamut of Black lesbian lust. Her writing is sharp, and the message is clear: exploring sexuality uninhibited.
In the prologue, Brown explains the book’s title and sets the tone for what’s between its pages. It begins with an unnamed narrator describing what it’s like making love to another woman-feeling like a man underneath the exterior of a female.
After the prologue, Brown puts it down. In “An A For Ashley,” Dee falls hard a pretty girl with a playa mentality, and goes so far as to tattoo an “A” on her arm. Once Dee finds out she’s been used, she seeks her revenge and shows Ashley who wears-or owns-the panties.
Next, Monique becomes “Mo,” in this tale of a girl abandoning her prissy ways and adopting a stud persona after to deal with being assaulted by a neighborhood store owner. Then in “Natasha,” an employee mixes business with pleasure when she embarks on a trip with her sexy boss.
Brown tackles sexual roles in “Dom and Dommer,” which humorously describes the relationship between two dominant women. Who wears the pants? Who pumps the gas? They can’t decide, but know that their love encompasses more than their sexual personas. Even including a little politics, Brown writes with heart in “Dress Right Dress,” about an older lesbian falling in love with an army lieutenant who abides by a “don’t ask, don’t tell” mentality.
Humor is also interspersed in these sexy stories, as evidenced by the next two tales. “Tastes Like Chicken” amusingly captures Iris as she finally savors the flavor of woman’s nectar. In “Pimp,” a womanizing stud gets beat at her own game by a sneaky one-night stand; she forgot to abide by Pimp Rule 1: Never leave your cell phone lying around.
Brown revisits Mo years later in the story “Strapped,” while in “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” Frankie doesn’t get to share her feelings with the woman who stole her heart-her wife makes sure of that.
Finally, the bonus tale, “Caught Up,” ironically features four sides of a love triangle. Everyone has her own version of how things went down, including the wife, the cheater, the mistress, and her girlfriend.
Every story in Walk Like a Man is enjoyable. Brown has done an outstanding job creating these stories of passion and pain. It goes a lot deeper than simply getting you off, but touches on every aspect of sexuality. It also features an assortment of lesbian characters from the roughneck stud to the professional femme.
Definitely read at your own risk, as these tales will leave you craving more.
Reviewed November 2005
Publisher/Date: Writer’s Club Press, Sept. 2002