Message-ID: <22217asstr$947394601@assm.asstr-mirror.org> From: LadyCyrrh@aol.com X-Original-Message-ID: <46.4646d36b.25a9604c@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by sara.asstr-mirror.org id WAA11490 Subject: {ASSM} {REVIEW} {REV} The Annex Reviews, 12/23/99, by Lady Cyrrh Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 00:10:01 -0500 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail X-Is-Review: yes Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.stories.d Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: Lambchop, dennyw The Annex Reviews, 12/23/99 by Lady Cyrrh (ladycyrrh@aol.com) Website: http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh OR http://home.aol.com/ladycyrrh These are the last reviews of the old year. In sum, it's been fun, though I apologize that I've only been "here" -- as in immersed in the little subculture of the ASS newsgroups -- for only half of it. Have a happy & safe new year everyone, and may your dreams be realized in the coming Millennium! The stories: Night of the Wolves (Lysander): F/F+, best, fantasy Ten Days (Nessus): M/F, femdom Mind Games (Michael Gouda): M/M, suspense Wanna Fuck? (Taliesin): M/F, F/F Book Review: The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order Night of the Wolves [A+] Where posted: Naked Blades Address: http://nakedblades.over-the-edge.com/index.html Author: Lysander Author address: lysander@bitsmart.com This review SHOULD have been in the last batch, dealing as it does with women in a fantasy universe, but my hectic life being what it is, it appears here. I found it at Naked Blades, a site devoted to erotic stories in fantasy settings. The tale begins with a group of village women performing a ritual around a bonfire, and the author's skill was such it caught my attention immediately without mentioning names, places, or even a definite century. The ritual soon devolves (evolves?) into an orgy: A new dance began, but this one was a dance of hands and fingers, lips and tongues. Mouths moved over bare breasts and heads moved between naked thighs. The leader moved among the small clusters of women, brushing a breast here, caressing a mane of hair nestled between trembling thighs there. The purpose of the orgy is revealed later when a pack of wolves comes to visit. Naturally, they join in. Afterwards, there is a doozy of a twist I won't reveal here, and a very satisfying conclusion for both the women and their furry partners. This worked as both porn AND a viable short story in the O. Henry vein. Although I am not a fan of bestiality stories -- I find the whole concept ridiculous, though I do admit I like the fur genre -- the author's level of detail, wild back-to-nature romanticism, and fine writing made the act almost repeatable. Can a porn story have Rousseauian ideals? I am not sure, but read this to find out. Ten Days, Chapters 1 - 6 [A] Where posted: ASS When posted: 6/23/99 Author: Nessus Address: rgaa2@bigpond.com A good femdom story is hard to find. Oh, there are plenty out there, but most are poorly written snooze-fests centering on pointy-heeled leather boots and male characters forced to inhale crusty silk panties for hours at a stretch. In boring suburban settings of course. This story, however, stood out from the pack. Not because of innovation, but for how well and skillfully it handled the basics of the genre: a cocky young asshole who's mistreated his girlfriend; a false arrest; a prison term; constant teasing/torture by wardens of the opposite sex. Which is what also makes a maledom story great, actually, or any combination of the genders. This story also moved along at a great clip, avoiding the long, dull, deadly descriptions of the various fetishistic humiliations, and upped the angst level by giving dramatic descriptions of the poor stud's ordeal: I hung on the pole, my head low, a helpless feeling sweeping over me. Verity has gone! To the Caribbean and, without me! She must have found out about one of the girls I fucked on the side. How, I don’t know but she must have. If she hadn’t why had she reported my car stolen and left me here with these female barbarians? These monsters! A hopeless feeling swept over me. I was helpless with no choice. A guilty plea or my balls lying bloody on the floor. These bitches were crazy enough to do it! For the first time, I admitted to myself I was scared shitless! Admittedly, this isn't very sophisticated compared to, say, Shakespeare. But it gets the point across, which is what a good porn story should do. As a plus, the female characters were convincingly strong yet feminine, creating a nice sense of terror for the hero as the walls close in. Usually femdom women are teasing wusses who couldn't stand up to a wet maxi-pad wielded by a REAL -- non-porn woman -- who has a bone to pick with the male gender. Though I only got up to Chapter 6 of this, I recommend it enough for you to dig up the remaining five. Mind Games [A+] Where archived: The ASSGM Archive Address: http://www.assgm.com Author: Michael Gouda Author address: MGouda3464@aol.com A man wakes up in a hospital bed with no recollection of how he got there, or even of who he is. Memory comes to him only in spurts: Harsh pounding rhythms with the bass notes on drums and bass guitar, the melody sharper, more intense, weaving in and out of the throbbing pulse. Coloured beams flight which lit up sweat- slicked bodies. Maleness and sex. Contorted limbs sharpened by the rampant rhythms, dancing to the strident disharmonies of the lights. The persistent, insistent thump had given him an erection. That and the whirling, athletic body of the guy with the golden hair. "Who is he?" he asked his friend. "That's Edward Kemble. Eddie." "He's beautiful." The words were out before he could stop them but perhaps lost in the music - or perhaps he didn't even say them for his friend didn't comment. >From this we know that the protagonist is gay, but even worse, he is involved in a love triangle and a crime that only becomes clear at the story's ending. Like all of Gouda's tales, this was a very satisfying read and a satisfying mystery. I was a little disappointed in the ending (I won't spoil it for you); the conclusion seemed a letdown to the fine buildup it got. But for a mixture of sex and suspense, you won't find anyone better...on either side of the Atlantic. Wanna Fuck? [A] Where posted: Pagan Pleasures Address: www.paganpleasures.com Author: Taliesin the Bard Author address: taliesin@paganpleasures.com I've read that Swinger's clubs are experiencing a resurgence these days, as aging boomers and early X-ers who've found their success in the high-tech fields turn to them for sexual excitement and experimentation, all within broadly drawn lines of personal safety. Taliesin a "popular porn performer, pagan pundit, and prominent prosex partisan" would take this in stride. His stories center on a group of sexual adventurers called the S.L.U.T.s, and they have adventures that are typical but hot. There is no guilt here, no fetish or kink, just pure Saturnalia: All around them an orgy of lust and desire was underway, and they had become part of it. A cacophony of moans and mewls, gasps and grunts came from the bodies around them as the orgiasts pursued their pleasures. The sound was music to Bea's ears. She loved the sounds of sex. They were shouts of life, of the defiance of death. She did not think those thoughts at that moment; they were thoughts for her journal, for later, when she would write about her experiences of this night. For now, fucking was her sole focus. It all boils down to the eternal tagline: Wanna fuck? For a quick read with quick action, this story has it down pat. More are available at the author's site, which also lists information about the soCal swingers' scene and sex in general. Book Review: The BUST Guide to the New Girl Order Edited by Marcelle Karp and Debbie Stoller Penguin Books, 1999 $15.95 The Riot Grrl movement was a phenomena of the 1990s with equal roots in feminism and grunge. Basically, the attitude is this: I'm proud to be a girl, but I'm also a tough, shit-kicking girl who likes sex, can mosh and snowboard as well as a boy, has unlimited life prospects and career choices, and takes no guff from the male gender. A Riot Grrl's fashion sense is subverted femininity: clingy slip dresses with combat boots, and it's no surprise pre- Hollywood Courtney Love is one of their patron saints. BUST (www.bust.com) is the most influential of the Riot Grrl 'zines. Its creators have compiled this book of interesting articles and essays from the site, which are divided into eight sections such as Sex and the Thinking Girl, Men are from Uranus, and Growing up Girl. In sum, what you'd find in a typical ish of Cosmopolitan (which Riot Grrls like to make fun of.) The book isn't exactly porn, but I am reviewing it because a) I think it will be of interest to a lot of female readers; b) it's very funny and on-the-spot in parts; and c) it does contain some amusingly prurient articles. I recommend Nancy E. Young's interview with Harry Finley, founder of the Museum of Menstruation, and Celina Hex's and Betty Boob's three-part personal account of vibrator use, which can serve as a funny, non-threatening primer on the gizmo. Other articles and stories, while intending to show how wild and wacky these Riot Grrls are, can also be taken as the very kinds of porn they are trying to subvert: dog-tongue abuse in "One Sick Puppy"; water sports in "Waste"; the immutability of gender roles in "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl; and female rivalry in "Watching Him Fuck Her." There are also interviews with 1960s Roger Corman star Tura Satana and teen author Judy Bloom, and other disparate essays on 60s and 70s girly junk-food culture like Tiger Beat magazine and Farrah Fawcett Majors. The idea behind all of this is, I think, that girls should be proud to be girls and not shy away from saying things that girls have traditionally kept quiet about. Boys have always had their masturbation jokes and locker-room talk; now girls can share their dirty secrets about menstrual blood and getting wet between the legs with the same freedom, style, and low-down dirty humor. Lady Cyrrh approves of this. However, I do have some criticisms of the book, or rather the book's attitude. Two recurrent themes are Sex Is Good and Men Can Be Real Assholes; what female alive for the past thirty years hasn't realized this? It's hardly a new idea. Also, for a book that supposedly empowers young woman, it dwells an awful lot on Woman-as-Victim, with the conceit the Big Bad Fashion/Media/Movie industry promotes anorexia, skin- cutting, and hellishly bad self-esteem by promoting exalted images of female beauty that are impossible for normal women to achieve. This bias isn't surprising, as many of the anthology's writers also write for other publications (Spin, Salon, Details, etc.) and are part of that big New York/LA media axis; there's a persistent ugly belief among them that they have to look like a skinny supermodel to attract a man and eternal happiness, even as they acknowledge the belief's vapidity and destructiveness. Writing about media topics, I suppose it's hard not to get sucked into this. But this belief bothered me after a while -- common sense saying, "Well, if skinny supermodels bother you that much, turn off the TV, damn it" -- so therefore the most refreshing articles for me were the ones that explored more universal female territory. In sum, a good read and a good book to pass around to one's friends and discuss. The staff at my local gay/lesbian bookstore gave it a "staff pick" sticker. But be careful about giving it as a present, 'cos it may too raunchy for some folks. ___________________________________________________ Comments to: ladycyrrh@aol.com Website---> http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: | | FAQ: Moderator: | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Archive: Hosted by Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository | |, an entity supported entirely by donations. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+