Message-ID: <35839asstr$1016838604@assm.asstr-mirror.org> Return-Path: From: Taintedlime@aol.com X-Original-Message-ID: <192.427bdb6.29ccdce7@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 14:15:51 EST Subject: {ASSM} {REVIEW} Tainted Lime Reviews #32 Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 18:10:04 -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: dennyw, gill-bates Tainted Lime Reviews Issue #32 I feel a little uneasy about the Virago Blue Challenge reviews, and while I believe the reviews serve a purpose and I'm not sorry I posted them, I feel that a little further explanation is in order. I was eagerly looking forward to the results of the challenge. I had heard rumors of which authors were pariticipating, and my expectations were very high. I thought I would enjoy many of the stories, and I began reviewing them thinking I would find lots to rave about. About five stories into the VBC, I realized I was getting myself in trouble. I'd read a lot of stories that I wouldn't ordinarily read, and I had not liked them. I had a dry, intellectual admiration for several of the stories, but I can't give a rave recommendation to a story that I enjoyed as much as a chemistry textbook. So the challenge resulted in a lot of three-star ratings. While part of me wishes I hadn't reviewed *any* of the VBC stories, I'm still glad I didn't quietly ignore the whole thing. At the very least, readers understand my biases better, and that's a very good thing. On a related note, I believe ASSM would be well-served by additional voices contributing to the discussion of stories. I would especially like to encourage dissenting opinions. If you think one of my reviews is stupid and unfair, please say so in alt.sex.stories.d (the 'd' is for 'discussion'). And one final note: I will be spending next week someplace spring-breaky; if all goes well, the sun will leave me just a little bit riper than before. The Tainted Lime Reviews will return in April. --- Stories reviewed in this issue: giggling, by Nicholas Urfe (* * * * *) Best in Show, by Knickers (* * *) Sally's First Time, by JAZZ (* * *) 3 Short Stories, by Sean Ng (* *) Student of Love, by Amorous Two (* * *) --- {ASSM} giggling 1:3 [urfe] [new] By Nicholas Urfe http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35766 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35767 http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35768 This story is one heck of a ride. It's all about porn stars shooting a porn movie. Honey Rider, a veteran of the porn wars, is starring with an assortment of other augmented body parts while Keystone Cops try to run the camera. Hanging around inside is Barbie, a young girl whose job is giving blowjobs to a washed up male porn star. Barbie and Honey get to know one another between takes, if you know what I mean. Like many Nicholas Urfe stories, Giggling is written with a distinctive style. Many stories with distinctive styles quickly get old. But this story benefits from a lot of powerful distractions: the absurdity of the porn people, the attitudes of the women, and, ultimately, the fatigue of those who are taking part of this ridiculous business. This story is on the outer size limits of what I normally read, but I'm very glad I read it. If you read it, you'll be glad too. Rating: * * * * * --- {ASSM} Best in Show (A Nicola Adventure) {Knickers} (MF FF exhib) By Knickers http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35769 The Nicola series continues with Nicola going away to the Great Northwest to participate in a beauty contest. When she arrives, she is surprised to find a convention of wrinkled Republicans is also occupying the hotel. Do to space constraints, Nicola must share a room with Angela, her long-time nemesis. Despite plenty of clues, naive Nicola hasn't figured out that the beauty contest is a scam. All the women flown in from West Hollywood are here to provide a service to the horny old Republicans. There is a costume party where Nicola gets dressed as a Playboy bunny, while her roommate, Angela, is a dominatrix. There is also a talent contest. And the ending is straight out of one of those cheesy competition movies Hollywood is so fond of making. If you think this all sounds utterly ridiculous, you're right. But the story doesn't take itself seriously, so it reads as a light-hearted romp. The grammar and spelling gets pretty bad in places, but most of it is pretty good. But mostly this story is what it is supposed to be: a lot of stupid, sexy fun. Rating: * * * --- {ASSM} Sally's First Time (FF, 1st, Teen) By JAZZ http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35770 This story chronicles the early sexual history of a twenty-two year-old lesbian. The story bounces from early teenage yearnings to heterosexual disasters to a final relationship with the most beautiful girl in school. While the story is well-written, it is not convincing. Several scenes are skimmed over so lightly that I couldn't visualize what was going on. The lesbian sex scene is presented as a very pleasant experience, but in a story told with a lot of seriousness, the lack of much emotional response is a glaring deficiency. The author has story-telling talent, though, and if you care only about the sex, this has a good lesbian sex scene. With a bit more depth, it could easily be more. Rating: * * * --- {ASSM} 3 Short Stories By Sean Ng http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35773 Here are three very short stories. The first is about a woman who binds herself to a bed so her lover will find her there. The second is about a couple of girls who are caught shoplifting and are forced to model lingerie for the store as punishment. And the third is about a woman who is an excellent chess player, but the man figures out a crack in her play that lets him beat her; they play chess for money and sex. The grammar is very poor, and some of the mistakes are not typical of problems I ordinarily see in these stories. I would guess English is not the author's first language. And while the plots are compelling and the author shows a good sense of pace, the English is sometimes so bad that it's hard to read. It would take a lot of proofreading, but it would be worth it to clean these babies up. Rating: * * --- {ASSM} Student of Love By Amorous Two http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/35776 The man in this story has gone through a difficult divorce. After a year of feeling inadequate in the sack, he decides to become a student of love. He reads books and watches videos until he knows everything there is to know about female sexual response. He then begins a friendship with a waitress who lives in a city he visits frequently on business. Eventually, they meet for coffee. Sparks fly. They end up back in his hotel room, in the bathtub, naked. Without a doubt, the purpose of this story is the sex scene, and the introduction is aimed at getting the participants soaking together in the hotel tub. The story is well-written. The student of love thing is a clever idea, but it is one that could have been used better. Once the narrator is introduced, we lose the whole thing about studying books and watching videos. It is never mentioned again, except in passing at the end of the story. I would have liked to see it made more integral to the plot and sex scene. But then the author claims this is a true story, and reality does not always provide the most intriguing plot lines. Perhaps a little augmentation of the truth would have helped the plot a little. But for a true story in ASSM, this one is top of the heap. Rating: * * * -- 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. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+