A Review of Jeremy Edwards' The Pleasure Dial: An Erotocomedic Novel of Old-Time Radio
by Claudia Wyckoff
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars
Like many readers of erotica, I am familiar with certain writers: those whose stories regularly titillate my mind, saturate my senses, and fill me with both a want and the weight of fulfillment. It’s not easy to find one writer who consistently delivers. Good erotica, after all, is not just sex—it’s a game of balancing the arousing with the relevant, and a great erotica writer knows how to play it well. Jeremy Edwards is that writer, and his latest work, The Pleasure Dial: An Erotocomedic Novel of Old-Time Radio, is one such story.
The Pleasure Dial is set in America in the time when radio “serials” were as beloved as today’s sitcoms. Right off the bat, the novel is as funny as one would hope: “Artie was looking up the skirt of his favorite Macy’s mannequin when he decided to head for the West Coast” (6).
Artie, the main character, is a comedy and joke writer. After being offered a job to work for the famous Sid Heffy, star of his own comedic radio show, Artie Plask follows his “lucky break” to Hollywood. There he meets Sid Heffy, Sid Heffy’s look-alike butler Lubb, and Heffy’s sexual dynamo of a daughter, Elyse. Artie also befriends Heffy’s team of writers, which includes a gay man named Benny, and Artie’s main love interest and witty woman a la Jane Austen, Mariel. Mariel is the only female writer on Sid’s team, and it quickly becomes clear that she’s the brains of the writing troupe.
The plot lights up quickly when the entire team gets fired after Artie’s first day (but not, thankfully, before his first sexual encounter with Elyse). The characters then embark on a convoluted journey to get their jobs back—which means dressing in disguise, creating new companies, and pulling a few strings—all without getting caught. And of course, there is plenty of time for sex—and their exciting play includes everything from lesbian-based voyeurism to light urine play, and lots of masturbation.
Edwards’ characters are not only sexually independent, passionate, and demanding, they are smart, funny, and endearing—and these qualities describe a cast that is largely female. Elyse, Sid’s daughter, is referred to as a pansexual goddess, but also a caring woman. Mariel is as sharp as a knife and as witty as can be, and she is the major driving force throughout the plot. Artie is loving, genuine, and easy-going. Lila, a lesbian movie star, is soft-spoken but powerful, and uses her money and influence to help out her friends. Instead of focusing on the sex scenes and minimizing characterization or emotion, Edwards lets the sex scenes fit into the story naturally, so that the story, the characters, and the sex are all well developed.
Jeremy Edwards has a way with words, and not just words like “pussy.” The sex scenes are slow to build and artistic—he isn’t a writer who uses “cock” a thousand times, nor does he refer to a woman’s butt the same way again and again. For example, there is a group sex scene wherein Artie, Mariel, and Elyse watch their two friends, Lila and Nanette, engage in sex. The descriptions of the sexuality are beautiful: “Nanette was moaning, and Lila’s mouth hung open like a wanton flower” (85). The only thing that detracts from his beautiful writing for me is that he description of Artie’s cum as “spunk”—I find that word both aesthetically displeasing and rather out-dated.
I experienced a wide range of emotions while reading The Pleasure Dial. When the “gang” was in trouble, I was on the edge of my seat—not unlike listening to a radio serial—and when Elyse touched herself, which was many a time, I felt the lusty urge rise in myself too (whether or not I indulged is my secret!). I was rooting for the characters, eager for them to succeed and also eager for them to get naked again. Though Edwards writes erotica, his strength is that his work is so well done on all fronts, from sex to character to plot, and back again.
I have a confession to make: although I’m a reader of erotica, I’ve never had the attention span to commit to an entire erotic novel. Jeremy Edwards, however, is a writer I am interested in staying with, and I read the entire book back to front without much struggle to get to the end. My interest dwindled towards the last twenty pages, because I could feel the wrap-up about to happen and was mostly looking forward to the sex scenes, but the story was entertaining, sharp, and endearing. Jeremy Edwards is an erotica writer whose work I would definitely recommend, especially to readers who might be less sure of how “erotic” they would like their erotica to be; Edwards deftly creates a blend of story and sex that is original and unusual. The characters, and the sex scenes, will stay in and on my mind for a long time hereafter.
The Pleasure Dial: An Erotocomedic Novel of Old-Time Radio is available in eBook formats from OC Press ($4.99)
Copyright January 2012, Claudia Wyckoff
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