In the two earlier collections of stories that Karen X. Tulchinsky edited with James Johnstone, she exploited the short-short genre to great affect, offering quick snippets of gay and lesbian life.

However, this new anthology works less well. (Maybe dykes just aren’t satisfied with quickies.) The sheer quantity of material – there’s work here by 69 writers – has compromised the quality of many of the stories. Read alone, they seem a little skimpy; read together, the breathless sexual description becomes dizzying.

And irritatingly, the hailed contributions of such luminaries as Dorothy Allison, Joan Nestle, and Sarah Schulman prove to be a disappointment. All are reprints from well-known and well-read books.

However, to Tulchinsky’s credit, the collection goes beyond the lesbian sexual standards of seashell and flower metaphors. All kinds of sex is offered up – from S/M to butch-femme couplings to old-fashioned, monogamous, feminist cuddling.

Occasionally the search for new sexual language falters, but there is plenty in this collection to like. In her smart and funny story. “The Agent,” Jess Wells describes a desperate house hunter who sleeps with her real estate agent (“…I have actually fucked for real estate”). “Your Alley,” by Spike Harris, tells a moving story about a woman coping with the death of a co-worker, with whom she was having a clandestine affair.

And Shani Mootoo’s “Lemon Scent” provides lush descriptions of aching sexual tension between a married woman and her best friend: “I am careful not to imagine the warm smell of her skin, behind her ears, on the back of her neck.”

Hot & Bothered offers enough diversity – racial, sexual, generational, economic, historical and esthetic – to please most tastes. And flaws aside, the collection delivers enough good, sexy writing to get many readers more hot than bothered.