Good Vibrations Magazine

The year 2000 was a landmark year for sex — and it showed most of all in the sheer volume of high-quality erotic books and videos released for public consumption. Along with other retailers, we sold more adult books and videos than ever, and with the year’s incredibly talented offering of writers, artists, directors and actors, we can easily see why customers are clamoring for more.

Any of these books and videos can be ordered from our web site or by calling us toll-free at 1-800-BUY-VIBE (1-800-289-8423).

The 10 Best Books…

…are superbly written, well edited, and extremely clever. The erotica is hot and explicit — written to get you off — and includes believable protagonists within realistic situations, integrated into storyline and character. Sex guides on the list are clear, open, essential, and stick to the topics, including accurate sex information in non-judgmental tones. Art books are drop-dead gorgeous, juicy and innovative, with no negative stereotyping. These books are, simply, the best.

1. Best Women’s Erotica 2001, Marcy Sheiner, editor
   This collection contains some of the most engaging fiction released all year. Women authors tell tales of love, lust, romance and revenge from the point of view of women whose needs and desires overwhelm the reader as they subsume the narrative. Intelligently spun tales take us into worlds dotted with explicit, shockingly arousing sex. Mostly heterosexual (and a few lesbian) stories visit sexual hauntings, a chef who seduces with food, and even some downright angry sex in a book that can’t be missed.
2. The Ultimate Guide to Strap-on Sex, Karlyn Lotney
   Sexpert Karlyn Lotney left no stone unturned in her quintessential guide to the world of strap-ons, dildos, vibes, lubes and more. Open to all preferences and desires, this book makes sure that no matter what you’re seeking, it’s in here, in concise, open and frank language.
3. Digital Diaries, Natacha Merritt
   Take a look at the red-hot future of erotic art in one young woman’s personal photographic account of sexual exploits. Incredible composition, lighting and sexual situations make this book the sexiest one of the year.
4. Nymph, Francesca Lia Block
   A long-awaited collection, this beloved author’s erotic short stories draw the reader into nine interconnected tales, beginning with a lonely surfer in Los Angeles who meets a mysterious wheelchair-bound sea-nymph and winding its way through a fantastical gamut of characters, including skinny punk boys, a goth girl with a special gift, and strange surgically-altered strippers. Ever hinting that a magical world lies beneath our own, the stories immerse the reader into the realities of love, loss, eroticism and sexual courage.
5. Exhibitions: Tales of Sex in the City, Michelle Davidson, editor
   Great short stories by today’s best erotica writers are strung together with a theme of sex in the open. Quality pulses behind each selection — and, more practically, only a few are too short to really wank to. The stories run the gamut, defying gender pairings, playing deliciously with explicit sex in many forms and showcasing skilled fiction in a variety of flavors. Some encounters are so arousing, it becomes difficult to control oneself — M. Christian’s “Four Views of Mt. Fuji” drips off the pages as a man enjoys four different Japanese women; Thomas Roche’s “St. Stephanie” brings us to climax in the shrine of a saint; and Andi Mathis’ character in “Penny Candy” gets fistfuls some gals only dream about.
6. Noirotica 3: Stolen Kisses, Thomas S. Roche, editor
   Acclaimed editor Thomas Roche took the concept of film noir (literally translated as black movie), married it with crime-detective novella-style storytelling, insisted on explicit, raw sex in the plot lines and brought us an anthology as smart as a street urchin and as unpredictable as crooked cop. Great writers weave brilliant stories that twist, turn and have us loving and hating characters whose last breath will most likely be the drag of a cigarette.
7. Still Doing It: Women and Men Over 60 Write About Their Sexuality, Joani Blank, editor
   Good Vibrations’ founder Joani Blank can’t seem to stop pioneering the reaches of sex and sexuality! Her latest project is a breathtaking, enlightening and heartwarming tour through the eyes of folks over 60 who have discovered sexuality as a rewarding and life-giving force. In a first-of-its-kind book with writers who are just like you and me, this collection will change the way we look at sex after 60 forever.
8. The Bride Wore Black Leather — And He Looked Fabulous!, Drew Campbell
   Another groundbreaking idea manifested itself as a must-have book for anyone with friends or family members who chose alternative lifestyles: an etiquette book! At the dinner table with a racist? Want to tell auntie your “friend” is going to be your “friend” forever? Campbell’s well-researched and clearly formatted guide has advice for every public situation, and presents ways in which we can all keep our dignity while maintaining our personal beliefs.
9. The Multi-Orgasmic Couple, Mantak Chia, Maneewan Chia, Douglas Abrams and Rachel Carlton Abrams, M.D.
   The authors of our number-one-selling book for men, The Multi-Orgasmic Male, took their brilliant techniques, ideas and teaching style and incorporated them into an incredible tool for couples to bring sex and intimacy to higher levels. This guide blends Eastern sexual techniques with Western sex styles and shows how everyone can achieve multiple orgasms, simultaneous climax, and unbelievable closeness in exercises that really work.
10. Seductions: Tales of Erotic Persuasion, Lonnie Barbach, Ph.D., editor
    This top-seller for 2000 has remained so for its flawless formula: great erotic stories for couples with realistic situations and delicious fantasies coming true for the characters. Lighthearted, explicit and very inspiring, indeed.

The Ten Best Videos…

…go beyond the standard fare that porn has to offer. Their sex is hot, dripping with chemistry between folks who really want each other, and have genuine orgasms onscreen. Women and men losing control in riveting displays of desire, emotion and release. The directors try to make art, the writers tell interesting stories, and the actors craft their characters. While porn still has a way to go to escape soap-opera-quality filming and scary surgical androids, these movies thumb their nose at the mainstream, providing films closer to modern independent film than their colleagues.

1. White Lightning, Veronica Hart, VCA Pictures
   This one upped the ante in adult filmmaking in ways that will be felt in the industry for years to come. Its layered storytelling would give any mainstream movie a run for its money, while excellent acting and white-hot sexual encounters go where no Hollywood movie ever can. A pair of married police officers is at the center of energetically told overlapping stories about blackmail, lust, temptation, and redemption. Every sex scene drips with the tension of real passion, genuine chemistry and out-of-control orgasms for women and men alike. Chloe excels as a blackmailing cop. She sets the screen on fire, turning a handjob under a table into public sex and unforgettably dominating Mickey G. Ginger Lynn is magnetic as the wife who finds a voice for her own sexual needs on the couch of therapist Nina Hartley, showing us hot fantasies she has involving two anonymous male officers, her closest friend and a waitress, and a one-on-one with Mickey G that shows the most tender lovemaking outside of our own bedrooms. One glimpse at the abundance of natural bodies, shuddering orgasms, fantastic lighting, acting, storyline and camerawork, and you’ll quickly see what made this the best film of the year.
2. Hard Love and How to Fuck in High Heels, Shar Rednour, Jackie Strano, SIR Productions
   Destined to become an art-house classic, two films in one show lesbian and dyke lust in its most realistic and arousing incarnations on the screen to date, through the lenses of two incredibly gifted directors. Their first two entries, Bend Over Boyfriend and Bend Over Boyfriend 2, made their mark with what was to become their signature style of real couples having hot sex. In “Hard Love,” they reach a point of mastery with great acting, visceral storytelling, beautiful cinematography and lighting and real sexual heat. The butches are handsome, hard-edged and horny. In the opening scene you are confronted with graphic need unrivaled since Betty Blue. In the second sequence master femme Shar Rednour teaches us the finer points of strapping it on in stilettos, shoe worship, dirty talk that’s off the scale and passionate butch bottoming. There are even bonus scenes to boot.
3. Being With Juli Ashton, Veronica Hart and Wit Maverick, VCA Pictures
   What purports itself as a hilarious spoof on Being John Malkovich actually is a smart vehicle for actors to have amazing sex under the guise of being in each other’s bodies. An incredibly intelligent, fiendishly funny script makes the actors’ acting talents shine, and the actors surprise us with truly excellent sex. The lines are awesome, as is the pretext that Juli Ashton is a bigger star than any Hollywood star for her porn performances. The gender-bending is great — it’s priceless to hear Chloe acting out “Oh my god, I have a dick!” This film is great for couples to watch together, and has a romantic ending. Warning: contains a scene with Ron Jeremy.
4. Thighs Wide Open, Fred Lincoln, VCA Pictures
   Another take-off of a popular film instead tells the story from the perspective of one woman’s descent into the erotic underworld at the hands of her own desires. Chloe is a prudish housewife married to a hot shot lawyer who, after a series of humbling events at the boss’ party, consents to attend a sex party hosted by the boss himself (Randy Spears). When she arrives, she puts on a bold front, only to be exquisitely, quietly dominated by the handsome Spears — who gives her outrageously hot hand service, then brings her to orgasm after shuddering orgasm in a scene which left our reviewers panting. The later sex scenes are no disappointment, either, and include a glorious three-gal, eight-finger penetration scene.
5. Jekyll and Hyde, Paul Thomas, Vivid Video
   Paul Thomas is a customer favorite, known for his remarkable storylines and great sex. He outdoes himself with this high-budget continuation of the famous story, filmed on location in Budapest with a luscious European cast. Stunning costumes and sets, gorgeous men and women, and a bordello filled with exquisite lust and excess make this film an erotic spectacle.
6. Ladies of the Night, Maria Beatty, Bleu Productions
   Lush, gothic and sensual are perfect words to describe this short black-and-white tribute to film’s silent era in the form of “schoolgirl” Maria Beatty being abducted, toyed with, and erotically tortured by two beautiful female vampires. Corseted raven-haired goddesses of the night initiate pageboy-blond Beatty into their world of astoundingly beautiful S/M scenarios, whipping, spanking, caning and penetrating her until she yearns to become one of them. Simply beautiful.
7. True Blue, Paul Thomas (as Ralph Parfait), Vivid Video
   A screenwriter with the blues winds up in LA to see his visions become celluloid — although porn isn’t exactly what he had in mind. Resigned to his lot, he continues working until an actress enters his life resembling a lost love, awakening feelings he’s not sure he wants to have. Provocative, thoughtful and smart, this crossover film combines top-notch acting, story, passionate and delicious sex with some truly deep character explorations to create a film that defies its genre.
8. Ageless Desire, Juliet “Aunt Peg” Anderson
   Couples over 50 have hot sex right before our very eyes in romantic, tender and playful vignettes starring real-life couples. Under the expert direction of Anderson, the couples enact scenarios that demonstrate each couple’s favorite recipes for sexual pleasure, complete with suggestions, information and explicit imagery. First, a pair of busy executives start with firelit romance and finish with orgasm; then a morning ritual between lovers turns into multiple male orgasms; and a third couple turn an ordinary situation into delicious lovemaking in a groundbreaking film whose time has truly come.
9. The Pain Game, Cleo Dubois, Cleo Dubois Academy
   Renowned dominant Cleo Dubois has created a brilliant intermediate instructional tape for S/M folks, complete with real scenes and players, giving us inspiration with the education. She first negotiates scenes and discusses pushing boundaries, then tenderly administers punishments. It’s refreshing to see genuine players do everything they can to please their mistress, such as when a handsome older gentleman’s devotion becomes tangible as whips fly and his genitals are clamped; and a luscious female submissive is adorned with piercing needles in a beautiful, exquisitely painful set of “wings.”
10. Raw, Antonio Passolini, VCA Pictures
    In a scathing parody of Boogie Nights, watch dim-witted aspiring actor Jerry make one misguided decision after another to become a porn star. Then see what happens when learns the hard way not to take himself, or the business, too seriously. A dark, well-filmed dry comedy that only disappoints by relying on formulaic sex scenes, yet features plenty of group encounters and anal sex. Passolini always makes a good film.