Lee usually writes high fantasy with cranky heroines (in my experience so far). This small press offering of short stories finds her channeling two characters who write queer erotica with a touch of magical realism. The stories are emotionally intense. Esther writes a great love story while Judas tends to write memoir-like shorter pieces. They are both a little cranky too.

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Black Eyed Susan
A hotel chambermaid develops an obsession with the possibly-ghostly figure of a lovely woman, seen wandering the halls. In the face of her fascination, her ambiguous and exploitative relationships with her coworkers and employers fade into unimportance.

The Kiss
A brief piece about a woman who tells a sentimental lie to avoid a gay-bashing. Old-fashioned, but unfortunately the issues it brings up poignantly are all-too-current.

Ne Que V'on Desir
A man has a brief affair on a train, but his perceptions of what has happened are abruptly changed by hearsay.

The x's Are Not Kisses
When her girlfriend leaves on a trip to see an old friend, a woman is consumed with a burning jealousy, fanned into suicidal flames by the discovery of some frankly erotic letters found in her private office. Ends on a sweet and love-affirming note - but the protagonist here is simply too weak and annoying for me to have any sympathy.

Alexandrians
A strange, short piece about an unloved young boy, the son of a prostitute, and his first awareness of his own sexuality.

Death and the Maiden
A woman's interest is caught by the elegant Vera Blaze, the society wife of the renowned and scandalous Pre-Raphaelite painter John Blaze. Unfortunately for her, Vera requests that she seduce her daughter, a bizarrely troubled young woman who harbors an unhealthy obsession with her ethically repugnant father. This one reminded me of Elizabeth Hand...

Fleurs en Hiver
Short-short about a brief fascination with a woman glimpsed in a restaurant.

The Crow
Echoes of fairytales resound in this short piece about two men, sharing a troubled relationship, who meet an old man in the woods.

Disturbed by her Song
An actress spends her life in love with a colleague who never notices, let alone reciprocates, her feelings. Like in so many of Lee's pieces, she does an excellent job of elevating sad - even pathetic - human emotions and behaviors to the realm of the mythic.

I suppose I should mention the conceit of this book, which is that the stories are supposedly from the point of view, not of 'Tanith Lee' but of her characters, Esther Garber and Judas Garbah. Personally, I find it wholly unnecessary: these stories are clearly by Lee and no one else, and do not differ from her other work in any notable way.
That's just fine, since I love Lee's writing. ( )