Kate’s story is a really nice piece of work.

She sets a mood that’s a bit scary and uncomfortable as the female point-of-view character waits, in the dark and cold, for a bus to arrive. Since this is erotica, you’re expecting her to have sex at some point, and she does, but it’s clear the entire time that the sex for this particular couple means many, many different things, most of them emotionally painful. Looming over it all is a third character, whom we never see but who is a vital part of the on-screen interaction; that’s the aspect I liked most.

“9 p.m., Victoria Coach Station” is one of those stories that is a lot more than it appears to be on the page. I was left wondering about these three characters’ relationships and lives, and what would happen to them next, and how their web of tensions might be resolved, or if there would be an explosion. It’s a thought-provoking story, and a great example of how erotica can be used to illuminate characters. Even the characters who aren’t even present.