In the beginning was the dirty word.

I have always loved one-handed fiction, erotica, pornography, smut, dirty stories, whatever. It delivers much more than ordinary visual pornography can provide. If it is crap erotica, it quickly makes itself known and you move on; If it is well written, you have an entire scenario to play with in your head. You have the design, but can furnish the faces and bodies to a hot script that you control.

So, why have a guy review Best Women’s Erotica 2010? Let’s just say the hottest thing I read as a kid was not my dad’s Playboys, but my mom’s copy of Nancy Friday’s torrid tome Men in Love.

And for women out there who love erotica, but want more fucking and less longing, this is the kind of smut you are looking for — a collection like this should be stuffed deep in a stocking for you.

This is amazing work. For the most part, written erotica directed at a male audience follows a very simple plan: the setup, the act, the resolution, the end.

We don’t ask much from our porn. I really want more women to write erotica.

Best Women’s Erotica 2010 moves through voyeurism, domination, topping from below, straight sex, bi-sex and toys. There is candy for every taste in this collection and for the most part, they are very, very satisfying. Women’s erotica builds a much more fleshed-out fantasy world to turn you on and get you off — something that is often lacking in erotica written for men.

The scenes are much more important to the story and the setup. In “Where the Rubber Meets the Road,” you get a tour of San Francisco’s infamous kink fest, the Folsom Street Fair. In the story “Stable Manners,” you are shown a detailed debauch, featuring an equestrian stable, before a righteous pounding in the hay.

A common theme throughout the collection is a freer hand on the till, an urge to explore without fear or hesitancy. In the spirit of the book, the stories were written by and for women and more often than not, feature a refreshing fluidity of sexuality — guys with guys, girls with girls — all part of a banquet of sweet and salty tales. If you are looking for a way to stay warm this season, Best Women’s Erotica 2010, edited by Violet Blue, would be a great way to avoid having to wear that pullover you got for Christmas.