Demon by Day, from the book's artwork, is an anime fantasy novel by Helen Madden published by Mojocastle Press. It starts with a demonic male on male pile driver of a buttfuck and goes upward from there with gleeful decadence. You don't have to be one of 'the boys' to find this scene quite steamy.  You may have to be a devotee of hard kink and rump riding, but is that really such a stretch for most modern eroto-sophisticates?

The plot is an outrageous fling into a demi-world of hot kink.  The demon characters -- though generally quite vile -- are sexy, haughty, supernatural folk who are so overdressed that they could model on Project Runway.  They remind you of Clive Barker's meaner vampires when they’re in a particularly putrid mood.  And why shouldn’t they be cranky?  The demons are a dying race.  Cursed with infertility, their upper caste cannot procreate. It doesn’t help that demons regularly torture and assassinate each other, and that anal sex between males is overwhelmingly the fuck of choice just ahead of backdoor fist fucking.

The hero, Orziel, a half-human and half-demon, bestrides this world and like everyone else conducts a campaign of subversion, betrayal, mayhem, and treason worthy of the Bush White House.  He has a personal penchant for twinks who he regards as possessions.  Twink A, the Demon Prince Asheru, proves that no amount of cute or sexual versatility can compensate for being a whiney bitch. Twink B, a mortal lap dancer, shows that loyalty in the face of bad temper and absurd odds can earn you a place in the heart of your abusive lover.  At times these relationships are hard to stomach, but they are more than compensated for by the novel’s action.

The subterranean world of the demons (who cannot stand sunlight) is reminiscent of the Silk Road in say the 1500s with a heavy dose of Star Wars.  There is multi-cultural (if not multi-species) flavor to this world’s genetically warped and skewed inhabitants.  Magic replaces reason, and power is the medium of exchange.         No one seems to want anything so much as to fuck someone else up, or to just fuck them. They are greedy, short-sighted, cynical egoists having a Neoconservative field day of self. Beyond that they have no objectives.

The dialogue has the 1930s ring of out-takes from Ming the Merciless as he is about to disembowel Buck Rogers.  Ming, who I always admired as a child for his hammy delivery, never had any luck undoing Buck, anally or otherwise, but he really could turn a tortured phrase.  Who doesn’t like a really stylish creep, be it Dracula or Hannibal Lecter?  In Demon by Day, when Prince Asheru is boldly manhandled by the dashing Orziel and threatened with all manner of rough sexual delights, he rejoins, “I’ll scream!” One can only mutter that he seems to have committed himself to a lifetime as a screamer.  Much of this is intended I suppose as camp, but it does not get there because the characters’ behavior is so repulsive. Characters who employ camp have to inspire affection to be forgiven their linguistic self-indulgences.

On the other hand, Demon by Day is fraught with no end of ingenious erotic torments, brandings, maimings, immolations, disembowelments, murders, and truly cutting remarks.  These delights frame a panoply of detailed deviant dalliances, insanely stretched sphincters, and fabulously ferocious fucks so that dainty literary and thematic concerns pale by comparison.

Ms. Madden’s top skill is her sense of pacing and action.  Most erotica, if it has any plot at all, shows a pathetic sense of narration.  “Just get to the fucking,” is the usual formula, and that can get redundant pretty fast.

Helen Madden is one of the most energetic writers I’ve ever met. She sets incredible goals, and reaches them. She produces a weekly comic on her hugely popular Cynical Woman website, produces cover art and websites for publishers and writers, and produces a weekly webcast that demands a fresh story every week. Not only is her output amazing, but the quality of her work is enviable. With a strong base of stories to choose from, it came as no surprise that she was releasing a collection.

As the title of the collection suggests, Helen’s stories are speculative fiction. The collection begins with a flash fiction (ultra short) piece “Circus Circus” that serves as an introduction as well as a story. It sets the tone for what will come.

“Event Horizon” reminds me of the restaurant at the end of the universe in the HitchHiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A man is in a bar with a view of a star nursery nebula that is about to implode. There, he meets Shiva, who promises to show him how to go out with a bang.

If voting were ever like “The Voting Booth,” we’d have 100% citizen participation. Heck, I’d vote early, and vote often, if the candidates worked that hard to get my vote.

“To Birdman with Love” is set in the superhero universe. Ever wonder if those villains and superheroes running around in latex catsuits are a bit kinky? The line between bad and good was never so hard to draw, especially when they’re all writhing on the floor in a huge spandex orgy. You’ll be cheering for the sidekick who finally comes into his own.

“Husbands and Wives” is a melancholy tale set in an alternate universe that will linger with you for days. Lovely execution.

“Future Perfect” is the longest story in the collection. In this contemporary science fiction novelette, a researcher perfecting a line of sex toys begins to have visions while she and her submissive boy test her products. To her boy’s dismay, she immediately runs off to prevent her visions from coming true. That leads to a rift in their relationship. But the visions of danger don’t stop, and despite being apart, they are drawn back to the scene until the future finally plays out.