Okay so yesterday was my grandpa's death anniversary, and I have a separate book review in relation to that already planned for next week. In the meantime, I'm writing two book reviews to pay homage to the author who helped me read the most consistently during this past year of bereavement, specifically over the past six months: Zane. I did not have reading or writing about Zane on my 2024 bingo board, but I also needed something escapist and unchallenging to keep my readerly self going, and her work showed up to meet that need. This review focuses on two famously salacious story collections of hers, The Sex Chronicles and Sex Chronicles II.
While I did grow up in a Black Expressions household (see my review of Victoria Christopher Murray's Joy for an explanation of what Black Expressions was), I was not one of those kids who snuck and read their mom's Zane books. But that was simply because my mom didn't buy Zane. So while I'd heard about Zane's reputation as "The Queen of Black Erotica" for the past 20-something years—her raunchy material having been adapted into TV shows and films and audio drama podcasts alike—I'd never read her work until May of this year. I was browsing at my local library's spring book sale when I found a dozen Zane books tucked together, donated by a Black lady in Pontiac who'd previously stuck address labels to the inside overs. I bought the four that intrigued me most. Now would finally be my opportunity
to read Zane's work for myself and see what all the hype was about. I
figured this experiment would either be amazing, or a cringefest.
And honestly, what I've read lands somewhere in the middle, leaning toward cringe but surprising me with how intentionally Zane pushes the limits of sex on paper, not only for shock value but also to coax her early 2000s readers beyond their comfort zones. I cannot say that I am now a fan of Zane after having read four of her books; her writing is... not my favorite. And even the supposed freakiest, nastiest, or most twisted scenes in the Sex Chronicles collections might be considered tame by today's standards. But if nothing else, Zane's work is accessible and entertaining (vivid scenes and direct, uncomplicated language), and I respect the significance of her encouraging Black women to expand and even live out their sexual fantasies when they had even less space to do so than they do today. Plus, thanks to her including other Black erotica authors in subsequent anthologies, I've been exposed to a different author whose novel I currently cannot put down! (More on that in the next review.)
The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth by Zane
The Sex Chronicles is divided into three sections, meant to prime readers to more readily digest the stories as the raunch progressively increases. The highlights of these sections, according to yours truly, are as follows. Assume that all characters are Black.The first section, "Wild," is the warm-up. A woman who is often aroused by water sounds gets railed in the rain, against a tree, on the side of the road during ridiculously slow traffic ("The Interstate"). A woman stalks a barber who works at the shop her brother frequents, eventually seducing the barber at the shop after hours and getting the business in his chair ("The Barbershop"). A woman's random security inspection by a customs officer quickly becomes a lesbian encounter, and then an FFM threesome including her man ("The Airport"). A woman pleasures herself with a baton in her grandparents' attic after reading about a sexual encounter in her grandmother's diary, which she found in that same attic ("The Diary").
The next section, "Wilder," is cooking with grease. An introverted and anxious young professional/recent graduate recalls the origin of "SHE", her alter ego who's been having quick, one-off, anonymous, and nearly wordless dalliances with countless men since seducing her first target in a university library basement during freshman year ("Nervous"). A woman who has camera anxiety but also needs a professional photo taken for work, becomes instantly and mutually infatuated with the photographer conducting her photo shoot at his home studio, and winds up pleasuring herself with her eyes closed in front of him as he takes photos of her before they have sex ("A Flash Fantasy"). A woman
laid up in the hospital, depressed and in pain with an elevated broken
leg, gets treated to a picnic and lovemaking session in her hospital bed when her man sneaks back in after visiting hours to help her feel better; they listen to each other's heartbeats with a stethoscope while copulating ("Get Well Soon"). A blues singer who is newly single after
catching her boyfriend cheating, touches herself thinking about her
longtime friend and piano player in the backseat of a cab (knowing the driver is watching), and later has sex with said bandmate atop his
piano in an empty club while imagining an audience watching them ("Harlem Blues"). A bride celebrates the night before her
wedding at a male strip club and is treated with a trip to one of the private back rooms, where a male stripper dances for her and then has sex with her in
the same room where two other couples are already mid-coitus; in hindsight, she believes that the spontaneity and uninhibitedness of the experience made her a better lover for her husband ("The Bachelorette Party"). An undergraduate assistant to a chemistry
professor gets caught pleasuring herself in a lab with a test tube by said
professor, and he joins in helping her reach orgasm with it; a rare example of non-PIV sex in this book, the assistant describes it as making love, not masturbation ("Body Chemistry
101").
And last but not least, "Off Da Damn Hook" is where Zane takes the most audacious swings. An assistant district attorney in DC explains the structure and activities of Alpha Phi
Fuckem, the secret sex sorority for educated and professional Black
women that she's a member of; they have monthly, themed, meticulously
planned sex parties and orgies with Black men who are specially recruited
for each event ("Alpha Phi Fuckem"). The general manager of an underground sex mall called Valley proudly lists its variety of offerings, including strip clubs, massage
parlors, bathhouses, individual sex show booths and custom porn
studios, a sex toy shop, a porn shop, restaurants and bars that serve
bodily fluids/food made with fluids/food shaped like genitals/food that's
eaten off of employees, and a matchmaking service
based on sexual compatibility ("Valley of the Freaks"). A woman who's just been dumped by her boyfriend because he doesn't
find her freaky enough and thinks he can set her aside for later, gets her revenge by showing up
to his college friend's masquerade birthday party and boinking the birthday boy in front of everyone before escaping unrecognized ("Masquerade"). A clearly bisexual woman, clocking how disengaged her man is, calls her
female dominatrix roommate and sex buddy from college to put on a
woman-on-woman show to entice her man instead of, I don't know, having that same woman-on-woman
experience to gratify her own needs ("Wanna Watch?"). A proud
nymphomaniac shares her sexual philosophies and her journey
getting pleasured by sexually-skilled men whom she
refers to as "mad fuckers," including one she seduced into railing her
twice at a house party for all to see ("Nymph"). A woman
who moved to Alabama for work meets two men at a juke joint who are
first cousins (to each other, not to her), and proceeds to have sex with
both of them at the juke joint, in their car, and at the apartment of one
of the men ("Kissin' Cousins"). A new divorcée and her
friends travel from Detroit to an all-Black sexual playground in an
unspecified Caribbean country ("Sex Me Down Village"). A sex worker explains
why she views herself more as a "dream merchant" than a call girl,
describing a few clients for whom she fulfills fantasies in a way that those
men's wives or girlfriends won't due to Madonna-Whore complexes ("Dream Merchant"). A women's university student waits desperately for three years to be visited by a mysterious man who sneaks into students'
dorm rooms at night to pleasure them orally before escaping back out their windows each time ("The
Pussy Bandit"). The same narrator from the "Alpha Phi Fuckem" story
recounts recruiting her male "playmate" for the national convention in Atlantic City, where a gigantic private casino orgy precedes a
spa sex session and a formal banquet ("Alpha
Phi Fuckem—The Convention").
Of course, The Sex Chronicles does have some issues. With few exceptions, the sex
scenes are heteronormative,
penetrative (focusing on PIV), and raw. The acts described are rather repetitive, pulling out is rare, no one is explicitly on birth control, and there is zero exchanging of STI test results before coitus. Condoms are
not mentioned until page 89 (in a story called "Wrong Number"), and then
again in only two
other stories. Granted, as irresponsible as it may be for Zane to overlook these things, the heteronormativity and the lack of safe sex
practices are probably typical of that time. I'm also willing to cut her
some slack for the fact that ultimately, this is a self-published book of
erotica, the realm of fantasy, not a sex ed brochure or public health pamphlet.
On
the plus side, the leading ladies in this book always get exactly what they want
sexually, exactly how they want it, and they always come away satisfied. In fact, most
stories end happily ever after with the woman married to or in a
committed relationship with the man who's pleasuring her, regardless of
if the trysts were initially meant to be casual or singular or not. Even
the stories
where women commit infidelity end optimistically,
because
they believe they've gained the skills to please their significant others better, or at the very least to be more comfortable
expressing and exploring what they desire.
And
that last part is truly the most endearing commonality across these
stories, male-centered though it may be: Women are
often eager to be more sexually adventurous, eager to be the "freaks"
men say they want, and would actually exhibit that if given the chance. That is
to say, if
men or situations made them feel safe enough to do so. If the men
they wished to experiment with were to want them back, and also be open to what
they have
in mind without judgment. If men would pay more attention to the
multitude of ways in which their women have
already been repeatedly indicating an interest in shaking things
up in the bedroom (or elsewhere). If men would listen to constructive
criticism that would
make them better lovers. If men would be receptive to women
leading, making more brazen demands, and introducing them to
something new. If women could access services and a sense of community that
would allow them
to enact their fantasies with support and anonymity. Black women in the
year 2000 are not as prudish as people might presume them to be, and Zane
clearly empathizes with their unmet needs and secret
longings in a way that was groundbreaking when The Sex Chronicles was published.
If you need something easy, are already a fan of Zane, or are simply curious like I was, then read this book!
Favorite quotes:
"For my loyal readers, I love each and every one of you, no matter what your race, no matter what your sexual persuasion. Making love is universal" (xiii).
"Glancing over at you sitting on the piano bench and watching all the passion from your soul escape through your fingertips, I began to fantasize about how it would be if we made love, what your passionate fingers would feel like all over my body. Would you play my body with the same intensity as you played the piano, would you make me forget all the shit Kendall had done, would you show me what making real love was all about? (123).
"I told myself that once I hit thirty, I was going to take the sexual-prime theory to heart and let go of all my inhibitions... The sexual-prime theory must be true, because the day after I turned thirty, my pussy gained a mind of its own. I was daydreaming about dick all the time, masturbating every dayum day, and began asking myself one question: If I can't wake up to a bagel with cream cheese and a stiff dick, why wake up at all?" (149-50).
Sex Chronicles II: Gettin' Buck Wild by Zane
Published two years after the first book, Sex Chronicles II is divided into the same "Wild," "Wilder," and "Off Da Damn Hook" sections as its predecessor. What I consider to be the highlights are as follows. Assume that all characters are Black.
"Wild" is aight. As an example of how her boyfriend has helped her become more sexually liberated, a woman recalls having a very enthusiastic "train" ran on her by her boyfriend and his three friends when the friends came over to watch a football game one day ("Down for Whatever"). A husband and wife come home from volunteering as Santa and Mrs. Claus at a local hospital and commence to getting frisky, which includes playfully dancing for each other while stripping their costumes
off, decorating each other with egg nog and
frosting, and even using a candy cane as a penetrative object ("Under the Mistletoe").
"Wilder" is still mostly aight, and attempts to address queerness more than last time. A woman who's been in a committed relationship with a woman for seven years and has been secure in her lesbianism for over a decade, starts craving penises again and blows up her relationship to act on that craving; she spends an entire night with a random man she spots while out one day, and after getting dumped and thrown out by her girlfriend, she dates bisexually with a preference for men ("Back to the Dick"). An exotic dancer and
aspiring model/actress from Idaho is artfully seduced by a fellow
female model from Kentucky, while they're waiting at a photographer's
loft for a nude photo shoot to start; this is the Idaho model's first time with another woman, she absolutely loves it, and what follows is a
threesome with the photographer and a pivot toward even more nude projects in her career ("Do You Really Want to Touch It?").
"Off Da Damn Hook" isn't as thrilling as in the previous book, but does delve deeper into the profession of sex work (emphasis on profession) in a way that feels ahead of its time. A woman discusses her job running Vixen Headhunters, Inc. an agency that sexually tests men out for career-focused women who want suitable mates but are too busy to date; she's blunt about most men and their appendages being unremarkable, but identifies one rare example that impressed her ("The Headhunter"). A doctoral student waxes
fondly about semen's various properties and her passion for swallowing it;
she goes on to describe her two "cum daddies," a younger man and an older man she regularly has sex with because she loves the way they
reach orgasm (their respective "cum styles") and the way their ejaculate
tastes ("Cum for Me Boo"). A sex worker boasts
about her work having phone sex with male clients and then going a step further
by collaborating with them to enact those same fantasies in real
life, like boinking in an adult bookstore while other customers watch,
or boinking on the Staten Island Ferry with waves crashing against
the side of the boat ("Kandi Kan Make U Kream"). A female corrections officer brags about the secret sexual relationship she's been having for
over a year with her favorite prisoner, whom she is newly pregnant by
and plans to marry upon his release; she explains how this relationship started, and how she exchanged sexual favors with two other
guards so they would be her lookouts during visits to her prison bae's cell ("Penitentiary"). A woman goes behind her lackluster boyfriend's
back to pay $5,000 for an 8-hour foursome with a
renowned and discrete trio of male sex workers, so she can finally
experience an "earth-shattering orgasm" for her 30th birthday ("The Dick You Down Crew").
Whereas The Sex Chronicles was originally self-published, Sex Chronicles II came out after Zane secured a deal with a major publisher, as evidenced by how much the writing has improved in this collection. Ironically, however, I actually appreciate The Sex Chronicles more because it's more imaginative and daring than its successor. And this might be nitpicky, but even as an inexperienced 31-almost-32 year old who might be on the ace/aro spectrum, I can't abide by the
"settle for a good-enough man but cheat and get a little extra peen on
the side if you need to" message that Sex Chronicles II's final story ("The Dick You Down Crew") ends on. A man (the aforementioned lackluster boyfriend) literally tells a woman (the main character) that no one else is ever going to love her as much as he loves her, and she not only agrees with that statement, but also accepts his marriage proposal in that same moment. I thought we were telling the girlies not to settle in the first book, Zane! What happened?
There's also a perplexing contradiction that I noticed in The Sex Chronicles which is even more pronounced here. So many of Zane's characters seem so unapologetic about cheating on their men, having sex with other women's men, being ruthless about how they "get theirs," or even having sex for money, and yet those same characters insist that they're proverbially not like the other girls in some way or another. They have a wanton appetite for all varieties of sextivities, but they're not "hoes" or "whores" like other people are. They're resentful and hyperaware of being looked down on by women they deem to be prissy, self-righteous, possessive, or not as "uninhibited" as them, but they still take solace in the pettiness of, "Well, I still screwed your man at the end of the day." They have sex for money, but they're not "hookers" like other women who have sex for money. And so on. It's as if Zane has this beautiful mission to provide Black women in the new millennium with a playground to let their horny imaginations run wild, where they can mentally indulge in their desires in a universe that's largely free from concerns about judgment or infection or unwanted pregnancies... and yet, at the same time she feels compelled to reassure those same readers that they're still better than the next woman somehow. To be clear, I am against slut-shaming, but I also can't not notice the hypocrisy here. I'm not arguing that so-called sluts should be shamed or feel shame, I'm saying let the sluts be sluts! If Zane is determined to write sexually liberated women in their full glory and complexity, then why can't these characters proudly own being hoes (or own being perceived as such) without qualification or caveat? I understand that it's rare for people (even fictional ones) to never care what others think, but the defensive and insecure one-upmanship feels out of place in both The Sex Chronicles and Sex Chronicles II. True to life, perhaps, but still out of place.
Again, if you need something easy, are already a fan of Zane, or are simply curious like I was, then read this book!
Favorite quotes:
"So imagine that I'm touching you. Imagine that I'm always around, always there for you. Just close your eyes and feel me. Feel my hands all over your body. Feel me inside you. Feel my love surrounding you... Will you try to do that for me?" (93).
"I'm not saying he was a manwhore like the guys from Deuce Bigalow when I met him, but he was surely knocking on whoredom's door" (105).
"It was like a scene from an old, romantic black-and-white movie, walking off into the bedroom to finish the feelings. The only difference was, we both had innies instead of outies. And what a nice, delicious, scrumptious innie Betty had... It was such a strange and wicked feeling, but I loved it from jump street; having my mouth bursting at the seams with the meat of another woman" (205-206).
"A sister can always fantasize, though, because what happens in a person's private thoughts carries no risk or judgment" (254).
.jpg)