Like an Iron Fist — Cecilia Tan

Dystopias are never precisely the opposite of utopias--they are closer to being failed “perfected” societies than evil empires by design. And one of the first orders of business for a fledgling dystopia is to figure out what to do about sex. Ban its non-reproductive forms like 1984? Encourage no-strings-attached orgies like Brave New World? Allow sexual variety only for an elite like The Handmaid's Tale?

Seven authors investigate sex in the shadow of totalitarianism in Circlet's latest anthology Like an Iron Fist: Dystopian Er*tica. Each story explores the lengths people will go through to satisfy their illicit cravings. An ID code-branded stripper with a secret undulates for the pleasure of off-world punters. A Scarlet Lettered young woman craves intimacy in a police-state Heartland. A space pirate plunders corporate booty (in more ways than one). And a shell-shocked former POW confronts a world where his personal horror has become an erotic roleplaying game.

The most bloodthirsty dictatorship can never entirely eradicate the most primal of urges.  The stories of Like an Iron Fist burn with the smothered passions of the silenced and the oppressed. Read them before it's too late...

Table of Contents:

We are Jones by Eric Del Carlo
Performance Anxiety by Reina Delacroix
The Corporation Loves You by Monique Poirier
George by Steelwhisper
Orion Rising by Angelia Sparrow
A Vision in X-Ray and Visible Light by Nobilis Reed
Tragedy, Then Farce by Peter Tupper