Message-ID: <5939eli$9711281627@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: LadyCyrrh@aol.com Subject: The Annex Reviews, 11/27/97 Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.d,alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded X-Story-Submission: X-Original-Message-ID: <971127141354_542463143@mrin86.mail.aol.com> X-Is-Review: yes I've heard of a shocking new development concerning archival of web material. The program is called Alexa and, like Deja News, it allows access to material that no longer exists on ISP servers. In this case, however, the material in question is websites. The people behind the development of this program intend it to systematically archive *every website currently in existence* to provide a virtual museum of "our electronic heritage" for future historians. Now, whether this is bad or good depends on your point of view. If you're a historian or have a dumb little homepage somewhere devoted to your unicorn poems and needlepoint, fine. If you run an *adult* website, the implications are enormous, because anyone, future spouses, employers, children, may access long after the site is taken down. Or what of vengeful ex-spouses or lovers? Or vengeful writers, who don't like how their stories have become your money- making machine? Or lawyers? More information about this development can be accessed at The Mining Company (http://personalweb.miningco.com/index.htm) under Personal web pages. Remember, if you ever miss a review of *mine,* you can always access it at http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh. The Stories (A reader suggested I list them first, and I thought why not. If I was a writer, I'd want to go straight to the review of my own story without reading all the other crap first): Cabin Fever, JM McMurray (M/F romance) I am M1ke's Dick, M1ke Hunt (Satire of PBS sex documentary) Website Review: Maryanne Mohanraj Curiosity, David Trell (M/M in antique shop) Raven's Journey (M/F Dungeons&Dragons sex) Cabin Fever [B+] When posted: 11/18/97 Where posted: ASS, ASSM Author: LM 1 Posted by: J M MCMURRAY Poster Address: RNRH85C@prodigy.com The cabin of the title refers to a cabin cruiser, not a log cabin. A young man and his fiancee argue, and he leaves the apartment to go cool down on his parents' boat, which is moored at a nearby marina. After he takes a nap, his girlfriend comes around to make up, and they have hot sex in the boat's tiny cabin. This seems to be one of those BBS stories that have been bopping around for ages, but it was pretty good, giving equal time to the love and respect the young couple have for each other along with the porn. The author has also managed to catch some of the innocence of young love too, as the narrator considers sex on a moored boat the kinkiest thing he's ever done...whereas readers ASS know better! I am M1ke's Dick [A+] When posted: 11/16/97 Where posted: ASS, ASSM Author: M1ke Hunt Address: mrm1ke@aol.com Website: http://members.aol.com/mrm1ke I got very excited when I saw the title of this story because I thought it was going to be a spoof of that old Reader's Digest human anatomy science series which included "I am Joe's Eyes" (also the title of a 10,000 Maniacs song) and "I am Jane's Ovary" which, I'm not kidding here, was the first adult magazine article I ever read as a child. That the story wasn't shows my age perhaps, and M1ke's, but it was something just as good: a send up of the television industry, federally-funded PBS in particular. The story is told through a series of memos, transcripts, emails, and phone conversations, all in present tense. Some producers at PBS are producing a documentary about human sexuality, and they enlist M1ke's help. Office politicking being what it is, he's given a ridiculously small salary and sent off to spin his wheels, but he gets a chance to shine when one of the male porn stars becomes sick and it's his dick that takes a turn before the camera instead. Tongue-in- cheek hilarity ensues. The story was funny not only for its skewering of the industry, but also for the interoffice fighting among the true dickheads who actually produce documentaries like this. The story was also interesting for how the author has woven his online persona into the narrative, complete with mentions of his website address and mailing list. It's every bit as effective a tool (no pun intended) as Maryanne Mohanraj's website, which I review below. Website Review Maryanne Mohanraj: Soft-focus Shrine to Sexuality If Elf Sternberg sets the website standard for male erotica authors, in many ways Maryanne Mohanraj sets the standard for female ones. She already has a degree of celebrityhood because of her recently published book "Torn Shapes of Desire" and also because of the hundred-plus stories she's written. She is also very comfortable about channeling a large part of her life to online surfers. Like Elf's, Maryanne's page is well organized and easy to navigate. The layout of the material is pleasing and there are many links relating to erotica and writing in general, as well as an ongoing on- line diary, poetry, and a welcome listing of alternate sexualities in science fiction and fantasy works. There aren't as many stories as there used to be when I first perused the site last April, but then, she is a published author who is protecting her interests. I was sorry to note the disappearance of the Gor-esque slave n' loincloth BDSM novel, though Maryanne has told me it's currently undergoing a revision to a more mainstream fantasy work. I would liked to have seen more graphics, too, but not everyone's a site designer. What this page communicates is different than Elf's. Elf is the keeper of some hard-to-find entertainment resources--the erotic hard SF story--and is attempting to share these resources with as many people as possible. Maryanne, meanwhile, is from a different generation, or perhaps a different social strata. She gives us an online diary to read and her personal thoughts on a variety of subjects...the conceit being that who she *is* is as entertaining as her creative output, and to an extent the site also functions as a public relations tool. It's an interesting contrast. I can't help feeling, though, especially in the wake of Princess Diana's death at the hands of the paparazzi, this attitude is a little dangerous. It's easy to stalk someone through the net, especially when they tell us personal information about themselves. This, in combination with the Alexa software I mentioned above, means who you and what you do will be revealed to a lot more people than you'd originally planned on...and some of them may be dangerous. So authors should take care. But, on to the material here. I found the links very useful, especially the science fiction and fantasy alternate sexualities list. The Clarion West diary was also fun, offering a glimpse into the cooperative nature of workshop writing. (Clarion West is a workshop held every summer in Seattle for SF and fantasy writers, with many distinguished graduates.) Like myself, the author clearly recognizes the strong links between erotica, porn, and literature of the fantastic. Among the other material, the website lessons give helpful advice to net neophytes, and Maryanne's own thoughts in "My Strange Schizophrenia" and "Why I write Porn" give some insight into her creative life. I'm pretty useless critting poetry beyond "I liked it" or "It was strange" so I picked out four stories to read, and Maryanne sent me two others which are among her most popular. "The Shiver of Your Mouth" is prose-poem, a lover's paean to waking up with one's love. "Goddess Blessing" concerns Mina, a middle-aged widow in Sri Lanka, and the woman she once loved...and the intervention of the Indian goddess of fortune, Lakshmi. It makes good use of the sounds and textures of Maryanne's homeland. On the other hand "Mistress Molly" was very Diedre-like (with a touch of mind control) as a young woman falls under the influence of another woman who dominates and controls her completely, written in the you'll-never-believe-this style of sleazy supermarket confessional mags. "American Airlines Cockpit," the writer's first story, concerns two young women who amuse themselves (and take a bit of revenge on the male sex) by performing a striptease for the pilot and copilot of their DC-10, and "Jinsong" tells a story of attraction and rejection through alternating email postings. "Chantel" is about a rape, but with a twist you'll never be able to guess. These stories were not porn. By porn I mean descriptions of specific organs and where they go, accompanied by sights, sounds and odors, often wildly exaggerated. I'd classify them more as literary erotica, and further stamp them as populist literary erotica. All were cogent, lucid, well-written pieces which show the four+ years of creative writing classes and lots of sweat and toil on Maryanne's part; all were as richly polished as the emeralds of her homeland. From what I read Maryanne prefers first person voice, but that voice is broadcast in different ways...from confession to email to poetry. Taken as a whole, they seem to say sensuality and eroticism can be found in the heart of everyday life; it leads us to richness and pleasure rather than shame, guilt, or pain. The craftmanship of the stories further removes them porn, as they also worked well as pieces of writing even if you took out the sex. The classic O. Henry ending to "Chantal" certainly bears me out there, and "Goddess Blessing" reads almost like a translated work by a fine Indian writer. Though I enjoyed these stories a lot and rate them A+ for the writing, I missed the full-throttle intensity of porn. (Any one of these would be interesting comparison with "Video Knights in Katmandu" which I reviewed earlier this month, though Maryanne's work has more literary merit.) Porn is the loud-mouthed guest at party who dances on the table and does a striptease; erotica is the sophisticate who stands on the sideline and drinks martinis. Both have possibilities, but of different sorts. Another thing I noticed was that though erotic attraction and love are portrayed as being necessary ingredients to a happy relationship, they aren't really delved into. The flat givens about love relationships gave some of the stories--"Jinsong" in particular--a 20something Hollywood feel, like one of those romantic comedies where we're supposed to believe a beautiful woman like Julia Roberts would kill herself on her 28th birthday because she isn't married and popping out the rugrats. But it's a small complaint, really, and probably one more indicative of the author's age, as she is a 20something herself. Altogether, the stories are interesting, the links are fun, and it's a large site, so there's plenty of territory to explore. I will definitely be going back to Maryanne-land. Interface: A Content: A+ Will I visit again: Yes. Curiosity, Parts 1, 2 3 [A] When posted: 11/16/97 Where posted: ASSG Author: Davis Trell Address: DavisTrell@aol.com The author says of this: "Its plotless and been hanging round too long, so its not great, but I like bits of it. Story sort of peters out. I could have 'forced' a stronger ending, but I let to like the stories dictate their own rhythms. Nifty Archivist, found it 'obtuse'. Maybe he's being constructive, as the stories do get a little florid." Well, okay; but it was also a very arch, in-crowd paeen to homosexual attraction. A man goes into a California antique store to look at the porcelain figurines, Greek urns, and French provincial divans, and is attracted to the young man who is the store's clerk. As in his other stories, the writer's chaotic yet masterful command of description made things very interesting, particularly in how he relates the chatchkes to his potential lover: >>I held it in my hand, this proud fine-veined flute-columned candelabrum, ornamented below with two gilded orbs, crowned with a gentle brunelleschi-type dome that sparkled as it shone. << They do have hot sex amidst all the art metaphors, or perhaps in spite in spite of them, and the story ends as the clerk departs to score a sale from a new customer, leaving the narrator stuck in a sort of existential anomie. Well, the ending could have been better, perhaps with the clerk then trying to sell the narrator a piece of bric-a-brac he really isn't interested in (the sex being what he usually does to clinch a sale) but all in all this was an enjoyable read that other writers should read, too, to see what can be done with the English language. Raven's Journey, Parts 1, 2, 3 [B] When posted: 11/26/97 Where posted: ASS, ASSM Author: SupMario Address: demon@ih2000 Raven, a female assassin in a Dungeons&Dragons-inspired fantasy world, takes on jobs, botches them, falls in love, and gets turned into a were-tiger. This is a continuing series. This story didn't work for me either as a fantasy adventure or as porn; though the words came fast and furious, the descriptions and situations were cliched and perfunctory...like a fan's first-person gaming adventures with sex tacked on. Though there were no glaring technical errors in the writing, it just wasn't very interesting or involving. I never felt Raven was actually in danger or falling in love, and her ideal form of sex is to immediately impale herself on a man's cock. To be fair, she was a spirited female anti- hero in a genre that has traditionally confined women to roles as booty or loyal fuckmates, but on the other hand, reversing stereotypes carries no interest at all unless you do it well. Other writers such as Tom Bombadil ("Camara, Lady of the Sword"), Caintigern O'Nial ("Knight Errant"), Elf Sternberg ("Aimee") and Cobalt Jade ("The Black Pearl") have handled the mixture of sex and fantasy a lot better. I suggest this writer read some of their work. Comments to: ladycyrrh@aol.com Website: http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh -- +--------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `------------+ | story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us | story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us | | Archive site +--------------------+------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | \ .../assm/faq.html> /