Message-ID: <27302asstr$973689003@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Posting-Agent: Hamster/1.3.19.0 From: Celeste801@aol.com Reply-To: celeste801@aol.com X-Original-Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cache-Post-Path: news.zipcon.net!unknown@mountain.zipcon.net X-Cache: nntpcache 2.4.0b5 (see http://www.nntpcache.org/) X-Original-Path: news.zipcon.net Subject: {ASSM} {REVIEW} Celestial Reviews 374 -- Nov 4, 2000 Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 08:10:03 -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: assm-admin Subject: Celestial Reviews 374 -- Nov 4, 2000 From: Celeste801@aol.com Celestial Reviews 374 -- Nov 4, 2000 Note: It's been a busy week. I've learned that my best bet is to "bail out" by just posting what I have, rather than waiting till I have a more complete issue. So here it is. THIS WEEK'S JOKE: "Am I a people?" "No. You're a chicken." "Do chickens come from people?" "No. Chickens come from eggs." "Do people come from eggs?" "No. People are born." "Are eggs born?" "No----eggs are laid?" "Are people laid?" "Some are. Others are chicken." ===================== Celestial Reviews Index: ===================== "Lunch Hour" by Backrub (semi-public sex) 10, 10, 10 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26993 "Damned if you do..." by silkinn (drunken wife watching) 9, 7, 5 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26981 "Two Out of Three" by Wiseguy (sexual games) 9.5, 9.5, 9.5 http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Wiseguy/www/2of3.htm "Smooth Talking: Susan At The Restaurant" by The Lycanthrope (mind control) 10, 9, 9 http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/lycanthrope/www/talk_susan.html "Out of This World" by Spiller (Fm fetish) 10, 8.5, 6 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27132 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27206 "Therapy after Surgery" by Red Redman (post-op sex) 8, 8, 6 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27169 "Lightning in the Night" by Ann Douglas (superheroes in love) 9, 8, 8 http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Ann_Douglas/www/light.htm "Labors of Claudia " by Shon Richards (romance) 10, 10, 10 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27088 ==================== HALLOWEEN WRAP-UP ==================== "Photographs and Memories" by Desdmona (unfulfilled love) 10, 10, 10 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27037 "Hell hath no fury..." by Souvie (revenge) 10, 10, 10 http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Souvie/www/fury.html "One Day A Year" by E.Z. Riter (bewitching sex) 10, 10, 10 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27166 "Halloween Mischief" by One Gallus (geriatric sex) 10, 9.5, 8 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27161 "Things That Go Hump in the Night" by Miles Naismith (incubus sex) 10, 9.5, 9 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27150 ==================== REPOSTED REVIEWS: ===================== * "Hell Hath No Fury" by Satan Penguin (Utopian comic book sex) 10, 9, 9 * "Hell Hath No Fury" by Darkside (transgender) 9, 10, 10 ===================== Guest Reviews: ===================== "Captivated Cock and The Asian Tease" by Story Knight 2000 (friendly bondage). Myers {No rating} "Bosom Buddies" by Phil Phantom (incest). Emily: 8, 5, 5 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26922 "Waiting to Receive " by Lane Boyd (holiday sex). Nat: 9, 10, 10 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26566 ===================== Here are the Reviews: ===================== "Lunch Hour" by Backrub (Bckrub@aol.com). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26993 It is good to see this author back in action. Backrub was one of the first authors to attract me to this newsgroup several years ago. It's difficult to describe what this story is about. One theory is that this is a story about a college student masturbating in the back of a book store while she listens to two people fucking on the other side of the door, one or two feet away from where she has been sitting, reading a porn story stashed inside a physics book. Another theory is that this is a story about a man and a woman having a pre- prandial quickie before they go out for lunch together. For reasons that I won't disclose here, the story could also be about "Harry Potter and the Spurting Cock." Imagine that. "There goes a woman with a mission." The story has some irritating typos and grammar errors; but once these are overcome, we have an interesting story of unusual events in a very normal environment, observed from the viewpoint of several different people --including BookGrrl, about whom I have told you nothing. Ratings for "Lunch Hour" Athena (plot & character): 9.5 Venus (technical quality): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Damned if you do..." by silkinn (silkinn@chickmail.com). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26981 While the husband is working, the wife goes off to a bar with her friend. The husband is supposed to pick her up at the end of the evening, but he quits early and spies on her while she gets drunk and flirts outrageously with a stranger, who eventually fucks her under the table. Getting really, really drunk is not something that I enjoy. Nor is it a major fantasy for me to have a stranger manipulate me for his pleasure while my husband looks on. Therefore, it was up to the author to convince me that this would be enjoyable. That didn't really happen. I suppose this story might have more appeal to people who are already sold on the virtues of getting really bombed in a noisy room before having sex or who are already convinced that watching a spouse get humped must certainly be a lot of fun; but a lot of this went right past me. Ratings for "Damned if you do..." Athena (plot & character): 9 Venus (technical quality): 7 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 5 "Two Out of Three" by Wiseguy. http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Wiseguy/www/2of3.htm When our narrator and Audrey argue over something, they solve the problem interactively -- not by discussing the matter and reasoning about it, but rather by a form of wrestling. Essentially, they get down and dirty, and whoever makes the other person have an orgasm gets one point. The first person to acquire two points gets the issue settled in his/her way. It's a very sexy strategy, and it has a tendency to generate good losers. Imagine that. Ratings for "Two Out of Three" Athena (plot & character): 9.5 Venus (technical quality): 9.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9.5 "Smooth Talking: Susan at The Restaurant" by The Lycanthrope (lycanthrope@WriterMail.com). http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/lycanthrope/www/talk_susan.html Our narrator (Jeff) finds an interesting waitress in the restaurant, over-tips her to get her interest, and then seduces her through mind control techniques. Jeff uses the "pleasure touch" technique. Basically, Jeff gets Susan real comfortable and hypnotizes her by talking to her, and then he uses his fingers and other parts of his skin to make her feel really good. I can think of worse ways to be wrongfully manipulated. Jeff's approach to mind control is relatively non-manipulative, and I like that. All he does is make Susan fell really, really good; and that makes her feel really, really appreciative. The rest is up to her. This is really a very nice story. Ratings for "Smooth Talking" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 "Out of This World" by Spiller (xxspillerxx@my-deja.com). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27132 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27206 The husband and wife go to a party. He's the designated driver; and so while she gets horny in the back of the camper, he drives the vehicle. Eventually he joins her, and they exchange fantasies and kinky sex. In the course of these events, she promises to become his sex slave forever, if only he will supply her with an opportunity for sex with a fifteen-year-old boy. My problem with the story was its main fetish. I just can't get high on the thought of being fucked by a 15-year-old kid with a tiny dick, even if he is Danish, and even if I imagine the child to be my own son. I guess maybe I just am the victim of too many Victorian taboos or the beneficiary of a larger cock. However, I found that if I approached the story as humor, then the very silliness of the idea salvaged some value for the story. The story is clearly written, and I suppose if you share this fetish, you might enjoy this story. The author says that it's legal to have sex with 15-year-old boys in Denmark. I'm not sure how I would verify that. My online almanac didn't have an entry on that topic, and writing to the Danish Ministry of Education just didn't seem proper. Ratings "Out of This World" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 8.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6 "Therapy after Surgery" by Red Redman (redman@seductive.com). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27169 The woman has had a hysterectomy, and her husband is gently trying to help her get back in the groove afterwards. They don't have active sex; they just share fantasies. My problem with personal preference for this story was that the fantasies were more of a turn-off than a turn-on to me. In addition, this author has displayed better writing style in other stories. For example, in the present case, the verb tenses are frequently and irritably confusing. Ratings "Therapy after Surgery" Athena (plot & character): 8 Venus (technical quality): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6 "Lightning in the Night" by Ann Douglas (ann_douglas@hotmail.com). http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Ann_Douglas/www/light.htm Mary Bromfield and Linda Danvers meet when they are interviewing for a television journalist job that goes to another applicant. Unbeknownst to Mary, Linda is actually Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl, a woman of great beauty and strength, who loves dolphins. Shortly after our story begins, the Maid of Might first saves San Pablo from destruction and then mentally relives her sexual relationships and seeks counseling from Batgirl before a dinner date with her new friend, whom she discovers to be Mary Marvel, a wench whose power is equal to Supergirl's. They get along just fine. In fact, they even make love. In spite of what I found to be excessive attention to comic-book details, this is a good story. Ratings "Lightning in the Night" Athena (plot & character): 9 Venus (technical quality): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 "Labors of Claudia " by Shon Richards (lordshon@aol.com). The woman removes -- one by one -- each of her lover's senses from the act of lovemaking. First she blindfolds him, then she cuts off his sense of smell, etc; and he still loves her, because his love for her is not based on any single feature or set of features but rather on her whole personality. The story isn't exactly stroke material, nor does it have an exciting plot; but it drives home a nice point simply and nicely. Ratings "Lightning in the Night" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 ==================== HALLOWEEN WRAP-UP ==================== Here are a final few Halloween stories that I obtained too late for last week's Special Issue: "Photographs and Memories" by Desdmona. http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27037 Here we have a tale of unfulfilled love. The two young people were in love, but they never consummated it. After they drifted apart, he died, with their love still unconsummated. Their love still exists in photographs and in dreams and in memories; and some of those memories are vivid recollections of the fulfillment of that unconsummated love. This is a really beautiful, sentimental, romantic story. I guess someone could argue that there's not much sex in it; but that really depends on what you mean by sex. Ratings for "Photographs and Memories" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Hell hath no fury..." by Souvie. http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Souvie/www/fury.html The full aphorism is, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Cassandra is a paleontologist away at a dig in Greece. Her husband is at home, scorning her by fucking the lewd and lascivious Gina. By incredible coincidence, Cassandra discovers an incantation that enables her to evoke the spirit of Megaera, who is one of the Erinyes, who are known in Roman mythology as the Furies. Hence the title, and hence her husband's ass is grass. This is a sexy story with a coherent plot and accurate allusions to classical mythology. It's the sort of thing that warms my scholarly heart. There are two other stories with this same title, both of them almost as good as this one. I'll repost the reviews and links. Ratings for "Hell hath no fury..." Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "One Day A Year" by E.Z. Riter (ezriter@pdq.net). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27166 I know in a recent review I said that real witches behaved exactly the way the author described them in that story. Well, I lied. Real witches behave exactly the way the author describes them in THIS story. Or maybe they behave exactly the way the authors describe them in BOTH stories. How should I know? The witches whom I actually know don't even claim any powers more magical than those claimed by the nuns who taught me in elementary school. The witches in this story are delightfully depraved. I like that in a witch. Normally, I go to great lengths to avoid giving away the ending, because that would usually ruin the story for my readers. However, in the present case, I think I can simply give you the ending without any of the rest of the story. Basically, the narrator gets to have two eager and loving women all the time throughout his life in exchange for being under witches' spells on Halloween. That's not really a bad deal. After all, Halloween's only one day a year. And the spells are good spells -- if you look at them in the right way. Ratings for "One Day A Year" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Things That Go Hump in the Night" by Miles Naismith (mnaismith@hotmail.com). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27150 In order to accommodate his adolescent rape fantasy, the woman agrees to let her husband ravish her, disguised as an intruding burglar on Halloween night. Unfortunately, he fails to show up, but the show goes on without him. At the end of the story is an interesting note by Lisala, in which she discusses the history of incubi in popular culture. It's a nice combination. Ratings for "Things That Go Hump in the Night" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 9.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 "Halloween Mischief" by One Gallus (onegallus@yahoo.com). http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/27161 It really is difficult to predict what will show up in a Halloween sex story. Were I not already convinced of that fact, this story would have supplied the proof. It's about a "young" man who visits his elderly mother in the nursing home, where her roommate develops a fondness for him and he feels pressured to fulfill her sexual needs. As I read the story, I found myself muttering, "This crap is disgusting." Then there was an interesting twist at the end, and I said to myself, "What the hell! It's a Halloween story." This is not a sexy story. It belongs more in the Odd Sex Story category. Ratings for "Halloween Mischief" Athena (plot & character): 10 Venus (technical quality): 9.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 "The Trick and the Treat" by T.S. Fesseln (fesseln1@aol.com). This story has numerous grammatical gaffes that should have been corrected, and there are gaps in the plot that keep it from making perfect sense. Combine that with the fact that I usually don't enjoy bondage stories, and the Celestial rating of "7" for this story should tell you that it has considerable potential. The basic plot is that the husband surprises the wife at the Halloween party by adding handcuffs and turning the evening into a bondage game. The bondage is playful and sexy, and with a little work this could turn into a really good story. Ratings for "The Trick and the Treat" Athena (plot & character): 7 Venus (technical quality): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7 ==================== GUEST REVIEWS: ===================== "Captivated Cock and The Asian Tease" by Story Knight 2000 ( Story_Knight@hotmail.com). Guest review by Dave Myers. This vignette is well told, but marred by a few grammatical/spelling errors and overuse of some cliches. This is a scene that should appeal even to those without an interest in bondage, I would think, because there is no torture, and the emphasis is on Tease and not Captive/Captivated. A man who meets a tease in a club gets her alone only to be tied up himself, and pleasured in a very calculated way. It's all pretty simple, and that's what's good about it- there's not much wasted space in the story. I like that the dialogue is kept minimal, and we're not forced to worry about exactly what transitional events took place between the point of pick-up line and the gag winding up in his mouth. In a story like this, I'm glad for the leap of faith, because it'd spoil some of the mystery otherwise. If it could be improved, I'd suggest (after cleaning up the errors) removing some of the cliche material, especially near the beginning, in the club. The image the author has of this nymph is caught in his mind as an all-too-standard pin-up poster picture of an Asian club- tease. She's a little too cardboard-cutout because of it. {No rating -- Because the reviewer prefers not to give numerical ratings.} "Bosom Buddies" by: Phil Phantom. http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26922 Take (a) one 15-year-old son who's an erection on legs. Take (b) one mum who's also a hot babe despite (gasp) being middle-aged. Find a plot device that inserts (a) into (b), repeatedly. Then declare that everyone lived happily ever after. Well, it's a pretty simple recipe, but a never-endingly popular one. Obviously the brew that mixes up motherly familial love with sexual love, so you get a bargain two loves for the price of one, is irresistible. So the main trick to bring life to this micro-genre is the plot device where boy gets to mount mum. Will it be the bedroom door left open? Will it be getting drunk and leaving yourself partially disrobed and available for tampering? Well, refreshingly, this story passing up on the trite domestic opportunities for illicit intimacy, and drives itself into a nastier neighbourhood of gang rape and mum-son humiliation. Which is good. But the chance to go at break-neck speed through the twisting bends of sexual cruelty is sadly passed up. You never have any sense of danger, or humiliation, or pain or indeed any major emotion. Of course, this is because the characters are merely vehicles for carrying genitals around: mum is 36DD, son is 7", the three rapists are black men with, rather unusually, huge cocks. No one has a name, except for the son. (When will writers realise that no major erotic character can ever be called Greg.) Which is all a great pity, because the set-up was there to take you on an extreme sexual adventure. But in the end, the "nasty" wasn't evil enough, and the "nice" wasn't tender enough. And the opportunities for humiliation and depravity, such as a son urinating in his mother's mouth, are pissed away in a throwaway line with no attempt to linger on the loving details and the interior thoughts that could have brought the whole thing to life. Athena (technical quality): 8 Venus (plot & character): 5 Emily (appeal to reviewer): 5 "Waiting to Receive" by Lane Boyd (laneboyd@newsguy.com) (http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Collections/Alt.Sex.Stories.Moderated/Year2000/26566) http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2000/26566 I wonder what it is about Queensland that it produces all these talented writers. Maybe it's something in the water. If "Waiting to Receive" had come my way without author attribution I would have said that it was a DrSpin story. In case you're wondering, that means it's good. Jonathon and Marjory MacArthur are holidaying away from Sleet City in Northern Queensland. Jonathon strongly fancies Anna Kournikova and thinks that getting back in touch with each other means having a lot more sex than usual, preferably outdoors. Marjory thinks that a holiday is for relaxing by the pool and doing crosswords. That is to say, he's a man and she's a woman, and they've been married for twenty years. Luckily for both of them, the acne-ridden girl with braces who is running the resort newsagent stall during her bad hair year shows signs of wanting a knock-up. Take it from there. When reading "Waiting to Receive" I felt impelled to say, "I want to draw your attention to the emergence of a new writer at the upper end of the spectrum". Afraid that saying so might insult a well- established writer whom I ought to know already, I did some homework at ASSTR to see what else Lane Boyd has offered. I found no web-site or ftp site and only one earlier story that appeared on ASSM on 15th September 2000. This is "The Anti-Climax -- a first story by Lane Boyd" (http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Collections/Alt.Sex.Stories.Moderated/Year2000/26347). It's an off-the-wall prostitute humour story that got 9, 9, 9 from Celeste Herself in Celestial Reviews 368 of 23rd September 2000 (http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Collections/Alt.Sex.Stories.Moderated/Year2000/26495). Reassured, I now say, "I want to draw your attention to the emergence of a new writer at the upper end of the spectrum." Lane Boyd is a mature writer who knows more than a thing or two about men and women, and how they think and feel and act, and deploys this knowledge in a gently sardonic fashion that is right up my alley, even unto obeying the "leave 'em wanting more" rule. There is plot, there are fully-developed, well-written three-dimensional, real characters. Oh, yes. And sex. If I had edited this piece I would have said that it went through one cycle too few in the proofing and editing. That is to say, the technical quality is pretty good but could be better. Not-quite- good-enough is not good enough for writers of this calibre. There are a few capitalisation and punctuation quibbles that might have been easily sorted out, there is a cliched climb up the corporate ladder and there were a few infelicities such as Marjory's muscular breasts and Anna's beautifully neat vagina. I had to think harder than I wanted in the category of Australian tennis stars of yesteryear. Homework suggests that Bewdy Newk is now running a tennis ranch cum conference centre cum Waltzing Matilda Dining Room in--would you believe?--Texas. I bet you didn't know that either. The juxtaposition of Venus Williams and the goddess Venus didn't quite come off. And regular readers of ASSM are inevitably distracted by wondering what a Rebound Ace surface might be. Sorry, Lane: just one of those things. Liked the story, though. Recommended. Ratings for "Waiting to Receive" Athena (technical quality): 9 Venus (plot & character): 10 Nat (appeal to reviewer): 10 ==================== REPOSTED REVIEWS: ===================== * "Hell Hath No Fury" by Satan Penguin (spenguin@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca). Shakespeare based most of his plays on the tales and legends with which his audiences were already familiar. To accomplish this, he must have had a prodigious knowledge of the classics and of folk legends. The present author likewise bases this story on information with which he expects his audience to be familiar. In other words, he displays a prodigious knowledge of the Archie series of comic books and newspaper cartoons. Stan, the protagonist of this story, comes from a planet called Elad-Revir, H'trae. This planet is a close parallel to earth, and the city is closely parallel to Riverdale, the home of Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead, and their comic book friends. If you haven't made the association yet, you may want to read Elad-Revir, H'trae backwards and see if you can notice its relationship to Riverdale, Earth. If you can see no connection, you are not smart enough to read this story. This could be described as a Utopian -- or anti-Utopian -- story. It combines comic book characters with a focus on adolescent sex to deal with concepts that Orwell dealt with in "1984 "and Skinner dealt with in "Walden II": what is the best way to run a perfect society -- to get individuals to contribute willingly to the good of the greater society? Stan is the quintessential Renaissance man, modern scientist and engineer, and sexual aficionado all rolled up into one. He's almost too good to be true- which is OK, because, after all, this is a comic book episode. As I neared the completion of Chapter IV (which is all there is right now), I paused and pondered the title. I had assumed it was excerpted from the expression "Health hath no fury like a woman scorned." But no woman had been scorned, and the prospects for scorning were low. Maybe the title was a simple description of the lack of overt hostility in hell. The Church Lady would certainly notice that Stan himself was one vowel short of Satan; could that be relevant? I really don't know where the story is going. There are numerous unresolved subplots -- none of which have any apparent relation to hell or its fury. Reggie has been plotting to seize a share of Stan's wealth. One of the sex slaves is developing a genuine (non- slavelike) attraction for Stan. Sabrina is trying to integrate her witch essence with her human existence. Veronica and Betty have discovered the joys of hedonistic sex with each other and with other lovely ladies. All the members of the gang (especially the genius Dilbert) have started getting in a little over their heads with sex with sex; and who knows what to make of the lovely ladies whom Stan has so adeptly trained to service himself and his friends? And there's much more. I am impressed with the overall quality of the writing and with the attempt to merge the consistent Archie story line with more complex sexual idea, but I am also a bit disappointed that I have read this far and don't yet know where the story is going. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens next. Its sort of like reading the funny pages! Ratings for "Hell Hath No Fury" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 "Hell Hath No Fury" (a complete, three part novel, long), by Darkside. (Darkside@nym.alias.net). http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Darkside/furybook1.txt http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Darkside/furybook2.txt http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Darkside/furybook3.txt {The following guest review of Part One was written by Green Onions, who has posted several stories on this newsgroup. (This review was posted in Celestial Reviews 196, July 5 1997) See Vickie Tern below for how Part One relates to the whole novel as finally completed.} * "Hell Hath No Fury" [novella] by Darkside. A driver has a flat tire on a lonely road. Spare to change? Sorry, none in the trunk. Night falls on the man without a plan. The stars blink brightly in the clear black sky as his chances of surviving begin to flicker out. Snow appears. Lost and alone, he waits for the end of his life in the white darkness. And yet when all optimism seems to have faded into the freezing wilderness there emerges (from behind a hidden chorus of weeping violins) a vision of hope that flies gracefully across the horizon of his dimming consciousness, singing its mystical song, ready to deftly snatch the hapless wayfarer from the drooling unflossed Jaws of Death. Is it a bird? A plane? An optical illusion? No--it's Florence Nightingale: _after_ she graduated from medical school. And so not a moment too soon is the Grim Reaper's task interrupted by the talents of a skilled, sensitive, tall, brilliant, blue-eyed, lithe busty rich young female physician with near-perfect abs. She first asks the nurse to check his insurance. Then she saves his life. And so the dream continues. They fall for each other; he proposes to her. Their engagement progresses like clockwork to the final misty moment as family, friends, and myriad onlookers gather to witness the anticipated instant when he will place the golden ring of their sacred unity upon her willing finger. It seems that all is right with the world. Surely they will love out their lives in an era of peace, happiness, hot sex, low taxes, and white picket fences. Well, as one of Douglas Adam's characters once said in _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_: "Sorry, wrong universe!" As the sun beats down on the expectant crowd he explains that he does not love her and cannot marry her. Her parents are glaring hatefully, she is sobbing pitifully and he is shrugging philosophically. Better luck next time. Or better sense, perhaps. Because the Doctor was a dream and he needs someone real. Not a vision but a spouse. Not a fantasy, but flesh and soul. And after two long years he finds and marries her with little hesitation. The second time is indeed the charm--even if her stomach isn't quite as flat, she is still young and attractive, affectionate, smart, tall and slim. But what of his first love, of the brilliant blue-eyed shapely svelte angel of the steel table who had saved his life, savored his love, and was jilted--indeed brutally humiliated--in front of her friends and family? Hell, if you thought biblical characters tend to suffer more than others for spurning the affections of the smooth-faced gender, read this story and think again! And what could be a more fitting punishment for an ungrateful insensitive, thoughtless and callously cruel male jerk than to be forced to suffer the indignities of _becoming_ a woman? His fate will not be limited to the experience of being in a female body, but will also include the transformation of his mind. Yes, She will have her way with him. She will make his dream into her nightmare. And in more than one respect. This is not an ordinary TG (trans-gender) piece, nor is it a classic sex story or a typical tale of revenge, mystery--yes there is a murder--cumuppance (gee, did I misspell that?), or even an ironic, slightly humorous psychological sci-fi erotic thriller. It's all of those bound together with a tight plot and topped off with a tempting smorgasbord of diverse sexual blandishments. In case you thought I might be blowing my load prematurely, I should also point out that this piece could be even better if the author diverged from some typical tendencies of erotica and romance writers (including most a.s.s. contributors). For starters I might occasionally prefer to see characters in longer stories developed with a third dimension--the sorts of accents, nuances, habits, hobbies, mannerisms, peculiarities and idiosyncrasies that we typically observe in real people. Such details can often be worked into plots with little effort. While Darkside's prose is better than most, I also sometimes wish a.s.s. writers would pause more often to allow their readers to "smell the roses" (or hear the cadences) of their phrases and the rhythm of their sentences. Words can do more than convey information. And although I am often at odds with the well-worshipped deity who is hosting this review, she and I agree on one thing: maybe there is room for protagonists whose bodies are not quite so heavenly. If one goal of erotica is to help us appreciate love and sexuality, then perhaps a.s.s. authors could provide us with a few (especially female) characters now and then who just happen to fall short of certain popular physical ideals. Yet I quibble . . . this is an _excellent_ novella. Read it. Venus (plot & character): 10 Athena (technical quality): 10 Green Onions (appeal to reviewer): 10 -- 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. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+