Message-ID: <7232eli$9801120013@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: Lady Cyrrh Subject: The Annex Reviews 1/11/98 Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.d,alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII 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: <15e1654d.34b9a332@aol.com> I'm back from vacation, after a relaxing journey through the southern half of the country overflowing with many strange sights and scenes...among them the Frederick's of Hollywood Bra Museum, sneak previews of the animator's sketches for the "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" cartoon show, $500 folk art sculptures that look like they were constructed by autistic children, a waving mechanical Santa that contained an embalmed corpse, and Amtrak officials trying to bust a poor Latina Jehovah's Witness woman because they thought she was an illegal alien. Aren't vacations fun! Beginning this year, I will be posting these reviews the newsgroups alt.sex.stories, alt.sex.stories.moderated, alt.sex.stories.gay, and alt.sex.stories.gay.moderated. I have dropped posting to alt.sex.stories.bondage because it was so overrun with spam I couldn't see anyone wading through all the dross just to read a cute review or two. Remember that these reviews can always be found at my website (http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh) as well, along with book reviews, website reviews, and other assorted fluff. If you missed the 1997 Cyrrheal Awards for Newsgroup Fiction, they can be found there as well. Anyway, here's my offerings for the week. Note that I am slowing down this season, as I have some other things in my life I have to give attention to. Doubts and Uncertainties, Ghost Ex Machina (M/F, femdom, nc/con) Jemilsil, Parts 1, 2 3, Ruthless (Teen, trans, fantasy) Two on One, Mark Aster (M/F/M group) Dueling Clits, Parts 1-3b, Jackie (F/F, lingerie) Doubts and Uncertainties [A+] When posted: 1/1/97 Where posted: ASS, ASSM Author: Ghost Ex Machina Poster Address: Ghost@nym.alias.net Apparently there's been a lot of talk about consensual/nonconsensual stories on ASSD lately. Exactly how much I don't know, as I haven't been online for the holiday season, but what is clear is that it is a subject that polarizes both writers and readers alike. In this story by Ghost, the pros and cons of literary sadism receive a workout. The story begins on a classic femdom note: in a remote country woodshed, a man is chained to a workbench by his cock and balls while a woman gleefully sprinkles gasoline over the walls and threatens to immolate him with a match. Then the story picks up with the writer of the said story sitting at her computer pondering the consequences of what she's written and discussing them with her boyfriend, in a series of fantasies, some sadistic, that segue into each other like fever dreams. No conclusion is given; but when the original tale is picked up, it's revealed the inflammable substance was really water, not gasoline. This story was an interesting commentary on the current debate, but an even more interesting one on the forum of that debate, which takes in an adult newsgroup dedicated to writing and discussing pornography. A story like this could never stand alone in a published anthology or magazine because readers not having current familiarity with ASSD or the ins and outs of alt.sex newsgroup culture wouldn't know what you were talking about. As such, this story could be considered a type of fanfic based around a venue rather than a TV show or movie, and to its intended audience--readers of the alt.sex.hierarchy--it speaks quite clearly as a personal editorial couched in fictional form. But! The drama of real life intrudes, as the writer has based certain characters and events on her own life, and the story becomes a multilayered journey through fact, fiction, opinion and public face; it reveals all, and reveals nothing. Stuff like this is why I read porn on the web--for what it says about human nature, what it reveals about the writer, and what the writer *thinks* it reveals about themselves. However, it's hard to say exactly where Ghost stands on the consensual/nonconsensual issue, except that the whole thing can be mined to provide food for thought. My own opinion is that newsgroup writers have total freedom to write or say anything they want on alt.sex, and I am behind this right 100%, even if I ignore such spoutings or mock them. I will say though, taking this story as a story (that is, for its entertainment value) a CBT'd man about to be cremated alive packs a helluva lot more dramatic punch that a conversation between a healthily communicating couple. My conclusion? Ghost is more than a little ambivalent about the subject, too. Jemilsil, Parts 1, 2, 3 [A+] When posted: 12/17/97 Where posted: ASGM Author: Ruthless Poster Address: ruthless@nbnet.nb.ca In this story, which is more fantasy than erotica, a young man, the son of a warlord, deals with some peculiar customs on his wedding night and eventually finds out that his new bride is not who she seems to be, despite his own naivete about female genitals look like. You'll probably guess what gender the bride really is long before the young man does, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of the story, which was rich, atmospheric, and plausible, with the matter-of-fact, nonjudgemental tone of Tigger's work. It also displayed a fine feel for history and anthropology in its examination of an imaginary culture. My only quibble is that the bride was still referred to as a "she" even when "her" sex became obvious, which deflated the idea of the same-sex couple somewhat; but overall this is an excellent piece that I was happy to start out the new year with. Two on One [A] When posted: 12/27/97 Where posted: ASS, ASSM Author: Mark Aster Poster Address: MyFrThAl The Allens are back, or at least one of them is, or maybe they've just made some new friends. In this three-way scenario, the narrator goes to visit his friend Tanya and finds her in post- coital wantoness with her good-naturedly dopey boyfriend Jake. The three have sex, the mens' limited to a hand job, with the emphasis, I think, on the turn-on of seeing/imagining a woman being fucked quite heartily by another guy. I haven't seen too many three-ways between two guys and a girl in the past few months, and this one was a nice addition to the genre. Dueling Clits, Parts 1 -3b [A-] When posted: 12/20/97 Where posted: ASGM Author: Jackie Poster Address: an338903@cris.com >From the title (which mimics a popular line of porno spam) I imagined this story must be a sort of Twilight-Zone sports fantasy about two women who use that particular portion of their anatomy to grapple each other in the manner of sumo wrestlers. But the story turned out to be a personal fantasy about steamy shower room voyeurism and nubile coeds: the narrator is attracted to a female member on her swim team, and after months of fantasizing finally befriends her love interest. She invites her to her room one night and the light-hearted "duel" ensures with the two dressed in opposing sets of undies: Frederick's of Hollywood red lace nothings on the narrator, and a schoolgirl cotton (printed with tiny red hearts) bra and panty set on her lover. Dyke love then gets the full treatment: nips and clits that plump when you cook'em, oozing gallons of creamy glistening girl-cum. This is the second story by Jacki I've seen, and it's much better and more literate than the first ("Amusement Park Breast Growth" or something like that) and more interesting than the Candy Kane stories that are posted every once in a while. If this is your bag, then go to it. I know I was happy to see clits and clit measurements get the loving attention they deserve. 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 |