Isaac Asimov was one of the Founding Fathers of modern Science
Fiction, and one may think that his writings were concerned only
with highly scientifically ponderous topics, like Psychohistory
and the Laws of Robotics, with little concern for more mundane
topics. And yet love and sexuality did interest the Good Doctor,
and often strange sexuality at that.
See, for example, the story "Satisfaction Guaranteed,"
when a woman falls desperately in love with his humanoid service
robot; or the strange relationship between the Detective Eljiah
Baley and the again humanoid Robot Daneel Olivaw. The affection
between the two is so strong as to be called "Love"
by Elijah. In a weird and funny story called "Playboy and
the Slimy God" two asexually reproducing aliens are at odds
in understanding the meaning of human sex.
But the very masterpiece of Isaac Asimov in that aspect is The
Gods Themselves. In the central section of the novel we see
the intimate sex lives of strange energy beings living in a parallel
universe that are trisexual: one sex is called Rational, his scientifically
and philosophically minded, it carries the semen, the second is
the Emotional, as the name says, is rather prone to sentiments
and passions, and it transmits the semen of the Rational to the
Parental, the third sex, that´s especially adept to care
for the young and hosts them before birth. To procreate, the three
must co-penetrate in the ecstasy of love, losing consciousness
for increasing periods of time, until another trio has been brought
to life.
The representation of the eerie sexuality of this parallel world's
threesome is very poignant, especially the character of Dua the
Emotional, who unlike other Emotionals has an inquisitive, peculiarly
rational mind. She shall attempt to solve the problem at hand
with the Other Universe (ours...) and will finally discover the
secret hidden in their way of procreation. This section of The
Gods Themselves predates the novels of Ursula K. Le Guin for
the vividness and the intensity of the depiction of a very alien
race's sexuality