Review: 'Bodies in Motion', by Robert Baird

This review is part of my commitment to reviewing anthropomorphic literature during Furry Book Month.

Romance and sex have always surrounded travel, and the vehicles we use for it. Even in the age of mass transit, there's still a thrill in leaving the known behind and moving as a stranger among strangers.

A sense of movement, freedom and adventure pervades these seven tales of M/F erotica, each set in, or set in motion by, a different form of transport.

Self-published ebook, 2016, pay what you want.

A word, first, about the price of the book. To purchase Bodies in Motion, you PayPal the author whatever you think >80,000 words of erotica is worth, and receive your ebook the next time the author is awake and at a computer.

It's a business model that either places a high level of trust in readers, or says "Hey, I had fun writing this. You have fun too!" Or maybe both.

There is plenty of fun to be had. Baird takes us to a bustling spaceport, a pirate airship somewhere over Africa, a flying-boat in an alternate 1930s, a railroad carriage in Colorado, and more. (If you're already a fan, you will recognise some settings from his various series on SoFurry.) My personal favourite is probably 'Next Exit: Camelot', a 1970s road trip steeped in the ethos, and the music, of the decade. (There's also a husky in it, which helps.)

The stories may be light on plot, but there's always the sense of a rich world beyond the boundaries of the tale at hand. The settings, whether fantasy, historical, alt-historical or sci-fi, are atmospheric and evocative, and the characters obviously have lives to live and stuff to do when the story is over. These people have not been called into existence to bonk in a vacuum.

Baird's universe is sex-positive and female-positive; the women generally call the shots, and the sex is fun, without baggage.

The self-published ebook has been produced to a high standard, with no typographic nasties. Fitting the transport theme, the cover takes the form of a passport. It's respectable enough to display on your Kindle in public, and contains some neat little jokes. Each story also has its own adorable piece of pixel art, created by Italian fur MrMandolino, as a header.

It's hard to ask whether a book is worth your money when you choose how much to spend on it. I can tell you, however, that this one is worth your time.

Cheerful, funny, well-written and sexy, Bodies in Motion comprises seven little escape capsules to other worlds and times. All aboard!