Message-ID: <2277eli$9707241044@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: Celeste801@aol.com Subject: Celestial Reviews 201 - July 23 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: <970724092144_-822544627@emout01.mail.aol.com> X-Is-Review: yes Celestial Reviews 201 - July 23, 1997 Note: I recently posted my Celestial Summaries. There are four of these - two segments arranged by title and two arranged by author. If you notice any corrections, I would appreciate knowing about them. If there are enough corrections, I'll repost a corrected version. Otherwise, I'll incorporate the corrections into Celestial Summaries 300 next year. Second note: A reader (Mat Twassel) responded to my 200th issue by interviewing me through cyberspace. Here are his questions and my answers. Enjoy! Q1. What story (or kinds of story) have you found most difficult to review? Why? A1. If by the most difficult stories to review you mean which do I dislike reviewing the most, the answer is long ones that don't make sense. A very close second is the story that initially appears to be complete but turns out to be unfinished. If I can realize these problems ahead of time, I simply decline to review the story. If by the most difficult you mean the most challenging, then the answer would be those with complex plots that focus on concepts that I don't fully understand. I thought TG stories would fall into this category, but the TG stories I have reviewed have been surprisingly good - probably because they were written by people like Stephanie and Vickie Tern. Well-written D&s stories are sometimes a real challenge for me, because I have no interest in D&s in my own life. When I review these stories I often have trouble ascertaining how realistic they are. Q2. Do you ever read stories and then decide not to review them? If so, for what reasons? A2. In general, once I read a story all the way through, I go ahead and write a review of it. If I didn't like it, I try to find a polite way to say so. However, I DO stop reading some stories if they appear to be pitifully bad after the first several paragraphs. The reason I give so many high ratings is because (1) I look for stories by good authors and (2) I stop reading stories that are obviously bad, and so they simply do not get rated. Q3. What in sex stories almost inevitably turns you on? What most turns you off? A3. I get turned on by descriptions that are just plain sexy and by situations that are carefully developed to combine sex with something else that interests me. The "something else" can be humor, a historical context, a relationship, or any of the numerous devices that good authors use even in non-sex literature to invent good plots - the chase, crime, exotic places, people learning about themselves, etc. Stories that claim to be "true" are not necessarily good stories; but stories about interesting topics that come across as both sexy and true are often real turn-ons. I get especially turned off by stories that stupidly describe neat ways to torture women and insinuate that the victims like this treatment. I have enjoyed rape and even torture stories, but those written by simple-minded people often evoke pity for the authors rather than sexual excitement. I also get turned off by incest for the sake of incest. Some incest stories can actually be interesting and even sexy {for example, stories about kids exploring one another's bodies), but when moms and dads just think it's swell to have sex with their nine-year-olds, I get turned off. Finally, while I honestly have learned to see the fun in some well-written watersport stories, I still get turned off by stories that wallow in excrement. Q4. What led to your decision to begin reviewing sex stories? What particular goals or objectives did you have? How have your objectives changed over the last two years? A4. I started because it was fun. Another person whose name I forget had written a few reviews, and I decided to give it a try. He stopped, and here I am 200 issues later. Aside from the fun, I think it is a challenge to try to help upgrade the quality of erotic literature. I believe I am a moral and responsible person, but I think that sex is good and that stories about sex can be fun and even beneficial to the people who read and write them. Philosophically, I believe that truth will win out if given a chance; and so I think that by helping people express themselves clearly and effectively, maybe I can do my little bit to help the world become a better place. If not, at least I can help a few thousand people have a better time in the sack. I'm not really a hedonist myself; that is, I not believe that it's correct to evaluate moral behavior by the slogan, "If it feels good, do it." However, I do think integrating sexual pleasure and eroticism into one's lifestyle is adaptive; and I think it's even good to fantasize about things that one will never - and should never - do. If I can help provide a forum in which authors and readers can have good clean fun with sex stories, that's something I'd like to contribute to society. Finally, as time has gone by, I have developed a genuine friendship with many people in this virtual community. I think in the long run that has become my main motivation. We have a group of good people who share a common interest, and I can help these people share their interest more effectively. That gives me a nice feeling. Q5. Does your husband read sex stories? Does he comment on your reviews? Does he ever substantially disagree with your judgments? Does he ever influence your judgments? A5. My husband does not read many sex stories. If he spent as much time reading sex stories as I do, we'd never get anything done around this house! He knows what I am doing and has no problem with it. I'm pretty sure he is proud of me. He reads at least some of my reviews, but I have no idea how many. Since he is a normal human being with active sex drives, I presume that like most people with access to a.s.s., he reads each issue of my reviews and selects stories to read based on my recommendation. He likes it when I act out a part of a story with him; and some of the things he does with me are either deja view experiences or ideas derived from these stories. My husband never disagrees with my judgments. Why would he do that? He certainly does influence my judgments. Sometimes I directly ask him for a man's point of view on a story. Sometimes I say, "How would you feel if I did this...?" More often, I just know him real well and already know what he would tell me. Q6. If your daughter spent as much time reading sex stories as you do, would you be upset? A6. I have both an older and a younger teenage daughter. The older one can read as many sex stories as she wants. The younger one should not be reading some of the stories that appear here. Some of them would give her a distorted perception of human sexuality. I'm sure she'll come across stories like these anyway. Maybe if I do a good job, she'll read my reviews and select good stories. I have no intention of telling my children that I write these reviews. I don't think they could keep the secret. If they ever find out, I'll talk to them about it, and I assume they'll be proud of me. Q7. In a typical week, how many stories do you read, how much time does this take you, and how much time do you spend writing the reviews? A7. I probably spend about two hours a day reading stories and writing reviews. Maybe it's closer to three. I think I usually read about 20 stories a week. It has become my major non-athletic recreation. I simply don't watch television very much or read the comics and the recreational parts of the newspaper. My estimate of time spent on this newsgroup does not include the time it took to respond to this interview. Q8. Have you ever posted a review you've regretted? In your judgment, what (if any) have been your biggest mistakes? A8. Sure, I have regretted reviews. Sometimes I make a smart-ass remark that I think is funny, and it hurts somebody's feelings. I don't want to go into specifics. Q9. Would you give us a quickie definition of pornography? Of erotica? A9. As briefly as possible - erotica includes anything that makes explicit mention of sex. Some pretty boring things can be classified as erotica. Pornography, on the other hand, is designed specifically to arouse the prurient interests of the people reading it. I think both erotica and pornography are morally neutral. That is, it is possible to do either good or bad things with them. {In a similar way, religious writings can be the basis for either morally good or morally bad actions.} The censorship people use a different definition. They say pornography is sexually explicit stuff that demeans women. By that definition a lot of really sexy stories on this newsgroup are certainly not pornography - unless you really stretch the meaning of "demean." Q10. If a sex story is to be successful for you, how important is it that the story arouse you sexually? Have you ever reviewed stories which have been completely successful at arousing you but which did not rate perfect scores? A10. Arousal can be an important part of one good story and a negligible part of another. It depends on the purpose of the story. It just like poetry or movies. I like poems that depict beauty and positive emotions, but poems that make me sad can also be great poems. I like action movies, comedies, and romances; but I also acknowledge that dead serious movies can be excellent movies. It's the same way with sex stories. I enjoy stories that turn me on; but a story that honestly depicts the brutality of sexual behavior (such as Dafney Dewitt's "Spare Change," which almost made me gag). I might add that the naturalistic, brutal stories are much more difficult to write: lots of authors write torture stories that are juvenile rather than intellectually and emotionally honest or creative. And yes, I have reached full orgasm reading stories that have not received straight 10's. You have to realize that sometimes I integrate my reading with other activities and fantasies. Q11. Do you think reading sex stories can be dangerous or damaging to young people? A11. Yes. Reading sex stories can definitely be dangerous and damaging to young people; but reading religious tracts written by misguided idiots can probably be even more destructive. It depends on the contents of the story or tract and the context in which the young people live and read the material. I do not doubt at all that some people live screwed up lives because they imitate what they see on TV soaps, in the movies, or on MTV. I am even more certain that simplistic religious beliefs have screwed up people's lives to an extraordinary extent. On the other hand, I think both religion and sex are good things if approached properly. The best way to deal with the dangers is to approach the topics intelligently and honestly. I think parents have a responsibility to help their children deal with life - including sex, religion, and other elements that I have not mentioned in this interview. Some young children simply are not ready to handle certain religious or sexual concepts, and I don't think parents are engaging in improper censorship when they take steps to keep their children away from these ideas until they are ready. Probably the best way to discuss erotic literature with young people would be to introduce them to the List of Credulous Assumptions that I posted in CR 199. Or maybe not. This has been a simplistic answer to a complex question. I'm sure it would be easy to poke holes in my response. Q12. Have you ever been so engrossed in a sex story that you've declined sex? A12. Yes. But postponed would be a better word. Q13. What one piece of advice would you offer to someone who wants to write a sex story? A13. There is no one piece of advice. There are actually Three Celestial Rules: 1. Have an angle - a focus that will make the story interesting to someone other than yourself. Actually, you can have more than one focus, but resist the temptation to think that a thought will be interesting to others just because it turns you on. 2. When you read somebody else's good story, ask yourself "what if" questions. Then write your own story that answers these questions. Don't just change single ideas: come up with genuine answers and put the story into a completely different context, if necessary. My own "Virtuous Reality" got its start when I asked, "What if the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future had focused on Scrooge's sex life?" and "What if in 'It's a Wonderful Life' bells rang when people had orgasms instead of when angels got their wings?" The eventual result really resembled neither of these stories very closely - largely because I stumbled onto the idea of doing a Madonna sex-parody of Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First?", which eventually became the major focus of the story. By asking and answering enough questions, you can come up with a story that is genuinely your own. 3. Get feedback from intelligent readers BEFORE you post the story. At the very least, finish the story and set it aside for two days. Then reread it and make corrections before you post it. Q14. What advice would you give someone who wants to review sex stories? A14. If you want to review stories, contact me and I'll suggest one for you. I guess that's not what the question meant. When you review a story, first read it and react to it honestly. Then try to write a brief essay that shares your reaction with the people who will read your review. Try to make your comments constructive, so that both the author and readers can use them to write better stories in the future. If you're reviewing for CR, it's OK (but not mandatory) to have fun with your review. Celestial Reviews are not strictly speaking pure reviews. It's OK to make references to your own life and related sexual activities. However, you should resist the urge to have fun at the author's expense - unless, of course, the author is the sort of person who deserves or likes to have fun made at his/her expense. If you write more than a single review, then you'll have more of a chance to develop a relationship with the readers. In this case it's a good idea to focus a little more on your own background and insights. But you should still keep the main focus on the story you are reviewing - unless you are an underpaid sex goddess, in which case you can write whatever you want. Final note: Remember: even though someone else may be posting my reviews for me, my e-mail address is still Celeste801@aol.com. - Celeste "Rape on a Diamond" by Sabrina (rape) 4, 3, 3 "Art Class" by Mike Hunt (small group study session) 10, 10, 10 "Lesbian Pedophile Nuns" by Xan (nun pedophile sex) 4, 3, 2 "Walls Have Ears" by Taria (emerging adolescence) 10, 10, 10 "Being Taught a Lesson" by Anonymous (orgy) 10, 10, 10 Guest Reviews: "Campus Tour" by Twelve (ff sex on campus) 10, 8, 5 "As the Paige Turns" by Hawk Richards (humor and sex) 10, 10, 10 Martina" by BillyG (anal sex) 10, 10, 10 "Escape from Mars" by Hawk Richards (sci fi) 5, 4, 4 Reposted Reviews (because the stories have recently been reposted): * "The Black Knight: An Erotic Adventure" by Alan Barclay (chivalry, bdsm & humor) 10, 10, 10 * "Snarl" by Uther Pendragon (playful sex) 10, 8, 9 * "The Addams Family: Eddie Comes to Visit" by Shelby Bush (sitcom parody) 10, 9.5, 9.5 * "Tripping the Lights Fantastic" by NetWanderer (mind control) 9, 8, 9 "Rape on a Diamond" by Sabrina (Kristen's collection). This story was listed as "baseball.txt." Sabrina wrote this story because someone dared her to write a rape story and she's a good ball player. Linda is pitching a ballgame and gets hit - by a line drive, I suppose. Everybody rushes to the mound and proceeds to give her comfort. Actually, the other players gang-rape her right there on the pitcher's mound. This explains where the missing player was in the famous Abbott and Costello dialogue - he was humping the pitcher! This is actually a pretty lame story. As the author points out in an epilogue, when a woman says no, she invariably means it. Well, that may not actually be true, but that theory will hold up in a court of law. The author reminds us that rape, date rape, or forced sex with a non-consenting woman - even with a baseball bat as the phallic instrument - can bring dire consequences. The author says that the average prison term for rape in the U.S. is 25 years. This story "was fantasy and should be considered as unusual entertainment only." The author says we should treat all women with respect; they are the fairer sex! Ratings for "Rape on a Diamond" Athena (technical quality): 4 Venus (plot & character): 3 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 3 "Art Class" by Mike Hunt (MrM1ke@aol.com). Roberta is the lady who is the most fun in the art class. One day she bets Mike Hunt that she can give the male model an erection by standing close to him and letting him look down her cleavage - and she loses. To avoid another loss, she agrees to share a solo nearly-nude modeling session with Mike Hunt, who demonstrates the value of unilateral disarmament. As you may have surmised by now, sometimes it's hard to describe the plots of this author's stories without giving away too many details. Let's just say that some of the things art students have to draw are hard. This story is more cute and seductive than outright sexy. I like that sort of thing once in a while. Incidentally, you'll notice that the author has a new name. It seems that AOL has a person whose job it is to look for obscene names - just as most states have a person who looks for and eliminates obscene license plates. I guess Mike had them fooled for a while with that number 1 in his name, but AOL finally figured out that there was a hidden meaning behind M1keHunt. Ratings for "Art Class" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Lesbian Pedophile Nuns" by Xan (Mr. Double Repost). Have you ever wondered why girls in boarding schools "ran by nuns" bathe only twice a week? It's because when the nuns personally wash them on those two occasions, they have to get them really clean; and the girls' little cunnies tingle while the nuns wear special habits with which they sit on the edge of the tub and masturbate while they rock back and forth on the thingy that's inside the habit. I wouldn't believe some of this, except that the story is labeled True Ff. When the girls tell their sins to the mother superior in the confessional, she asks leading questions and really gets herself off while telling them that God wants them to let women but not men touch their pussies. I dunno. There's something fishy about this story. If you want to read a good story about nun sex, try "Conventional Sex" by GreatxIam, which I reviewed in CR 199. The things that happen in that story are likewise pure fabrications, but at least they seem to be interesting. {Technical note: Mother superiors don't hear confessions. An author writing a "true story" that has mother superiors doing this will probably lie about other things as well.} Ratings for "Lesbian Pedophile Nuns" Athena (technical quality): 4 Venus (plot & character): 3 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 2 "Walls Have Ears" by Taria (Taria29c@aol.com). The teenage boy is spending an evening alone with his hormones. After an hour or so of no hard luck, so to speak, he accidentally hears the young couple next door making love. He carefully eavesdrops, and in no time at all his little feller is raging and shooting cum. Then his mother tells him to bring that couple some mail that was accidentally delivered to his apartment by mistake.... What's a short refractory period? The story was very well written. I enjoyed it and recommend it to those of you interested in understanding or reviewing the workings of the male adolescent mind under hormonal stress. Ratings for "Walls Have Ears" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Being Taught a Lesson" by Anonymous. Julie is an 18-year-old who gets caught by her mother having sex with her boyfriend while her cousin Ann is slurping up her clitoris. The boyfriend gets sent home, and the girls go to their rooms. Then Mom surprises them by first giving them a sex questionnaire downloaded from alt.sex.something and then taking them to an orgy house where the two girls learn to have sex the right way. There's not much to say about this story: it's a well-written, hot story about two girls having a wild coming-out party. Ratings for "Being Taught a Lesson" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Campus Tour" by Twelve (twelfth@psynet.net). Guest review by Bookman. A young woman from a lower-middle-class family has a work-study job as a guide for new freshmen at an exclusive East Coast college. She is assigned to a daunting, imposing woman and her daughter. During the tour our heroine discovers that attributes she once considered problematical come to her aid when she most needs them, leveling out the power-play field at least a little. The story is technically perfect; you'll find no misplaced commas or homonym confusion to throw you off. The situation is believable (considering we're dealing in what is basically a fantasy medium), and the style is a nice tight Modern Laconic. I found the characters, unfortunately, a bit cardboard, and would have like to have seen them more fully fleshed out (you find that contradictory? It's not.). The daughter, whose imminent campus career is the impetus for the story, is little more than a walk-on, and the mother, who provides most of the tension in this pas-de-deux, changes gears a little too fast. But it is the protagonist-narrator who needs it most. We see this story through her eyes, and I would have liked it if she had allowed us to know her better and share her experience more fully. The sex, once we get to it, is quick, almost perfunctory. Much more time could have been taken, savoring the event. As it was, we're barely into it, and it's over. I did like the final paragraph, the closer. Here the author's laconic style pays off, and what the paragraph doesn't say, says a lot. Ratings for "Campus Tour" Technical: 10 Appeal (personal): 8 Appeal (Eros): 5 "As the Paige Turns" by Hawk Richards (heminway@epix.net) Guest review by Mike Hunt. A week ago I wrote a review of Hawk Richards' "As the Paige Turns." And I slammed it pretty good. I even noted that Celeste had given him low marks on an earlier story and he had revised it and gotten all 10's on the revision. That showed me that he cares about his work, and I urged him to revise "Paige." The sonofabitch went and did it. And he did it again. It's a great story now, certainly worth 10's, and I highly recommend it. The story still revolves around a lady psychiatrist who helps a client through his modem fetish and along the line discloses her own fascination with the stories in the newsgroups. And while there's no graphic on-screen copulating or masturbating or blowulating, it's still sexy; it's still a quick read, and it's now quite worth your while. The typos are gone, the logic is logical, the story is fun! One reviewer's disclosure: he mentions me in the story. That's a nice stroke, but I wouldn't change my opinion just for that. Another disclosure: he's stealing my fucking format, and has added closing remarks that dropped me to the floor with laughter. Any author who can write a sexy story AND make you laugh at the same time is, uh, probably a mope. Take it from me. But a funny mope, and maybe one who shows a helluva lot of promise. Read "As the Paige Turns (Revised)". It's a goodie. Ratings for "As the Paige Turns" (Added by Celeste) Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 Martina" by BillyG (Hayden@mindless.com). Guest review by Fiddler. The story opens in medias res. Billy is tickling Martina's breasts with a feather. He goes on to tickle her fancy with a story, or rather his description of a situation, which he attributes to Nancy Friday. When he has her mind and body sufficiently hot, he seduces her into their first anal experience. The process is gentle, well described, and the effect is quite hot. BillyG, from a quick search of Dejanews, has a great interest in the parts of a woman a few centimeters from the part that interests me most. I don't particularly share that interest, but this story overcame that barrier. It got me hot, and would probably be even more effective for those who share his interests in anal sex and urination. This version had a few uneven lines and one typo ("by" for "be"); BillyG thinks that erect is an intransitive verb. That still leaves this story in the 98th percentile of Usenet posts in readability. Ratings for "Martina" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Fiddler (appeal to this reviewer): 10 "Escape from Mars" by Hawk Richards (Heminway@epix.net ) Guest Review by Sven the Elder. Celeste asked very nicely - so I said 'yes' - to becoming a reviewer, one of the panel, as it were. Now the difficult bit, a sensible, useful critique that fills in the reader with information. Well Celeste, you make it look easy..... 'Escape from Mars' is a difficult title for this piece; there is, you see, no escape at this juncture. The author admitted in his tailpiece that this is a 'first attempt at writing SF'. It is good as far as it goes, but I have to prefer stories that have a beginning, a middle eight, and a conclusion. This makes my task a little difficult as this piece, as reviewed, consists of a just a prologue. The story is promising, but all we have is perhaps 2 pages of a 75 page novella. Technically the start is a little disjointed between the first and second paragraphs, and the reader is left hanging at the end as the story simply stops in mid stride. I desperately wanted to be enthusiastic and encouraging, but in the end I have to ask Hawk to take this back to the drawing board. Look at the construction, the scene setting, and try and write it within the context of the complete story that you intend this to be the prologue of. (Damn a split infinitive - I think?). {No. Just a dangling preposition. Sven probably should have said "... the complete story of which you intend this to be the prologue." - Celeste} I am a fine one to talk, as I prefer the 'short story' as a genre. I have yet to find the time to map out a larger, longer, more rounded item. Unless you have a mind that can encompass a complete entity and can be disciplined to write to that end, then homework or preparation is needed to form the skeleton that you wish to flesh out. Especially on a longer work. Sorry Hawk - I wanted to be generous on this first review for CR but I can't manage to be so. On my ratings a B- . {Note from Celeste: I hesitated to ask Sven to review this one. The problem he saw was the same one I saw: the author does not have a complete story. Too many authors start out like Hawk does here and then eventually get into a bind and then simply stop their story - leaving their readers (if they have any) hanging. Sven and I both want to be constructive here. Authors should avoid "rushing to press" with just the first 2 pages of a possible 75-page novella. Other authors who write long stories - Ann Douglas, Jim Fix, Vickie Tern, and Tooshoes, to name just a few - wait till they're finished with the whole thing before posting their stories, and readers really appreciate the notion that there is actually an entire, carefully composed story for them to read. A few authors - Mark Aster and Uther Pendragon are good examples - publish longer works in fragments, but they do this in such a way that each segment is actually a complete story in itself. My constructive criticism to Hawk is to return to the drawing board and write the good story that it right now only vaguely formed in his mind. As a final note, I might add that Sven himself - the person who wrote this review - offers a good example of positive reaction to criticism. His writing has improved significantly in his more recent stories.} Ratings for " Escape from Mars " (Added by Celeste) Athena (technical quality): 5 Venus (plot & character): 4 Sven (appeal to reviewer): 4 * "The Black Knight: An Erotic Adventure" by Alan Barclay (editor@spellbinder.bc.ca). Sir Englebert the Ungainly is in the midst of a rather hectic adventure when he comes upon a naked woman - I mean fair maiden - tied to a stake. The young lady is the nearby village's offering to one of the great beasts of the forest to persuade that monster to spare their homes from destruction. If the dragon devours her, he cannot then in good conscience attack the village. It was a sensible thing for the villagers to do, and the good knight very nearly rides on by. But there's something about the fragile beauty of a damsel in distress with her naked body dangling like a misplaced modifier from a stake so that her breasts.... This is the sort of story that really upsets me! It includes a focus on sex slavery and a large amount of spanking - but that's not what upsets me. After all, this is a story about chivalry, and chivalry has specific Rules. For example, a chivalrous person must always open doors for lady of rank equal to or higher than his own, allow an opponent to be armed before he lops off his head or blows his brains out, and accept sex slaves when they are assigned to him and treat them as their status deserves. No, that's not what bothers me. What upsets me is that at the time I am reading this story, I already have TWENTY-ONE stories on my Top 15 List for this month; and here I am reading number TWENTY-TWO! In today's mail I received the "J" story from Mark who does the Alphabet series. I'm going to wait until December 4 to review it. I can't stand any more really excellent stories this month! The only significant problem with the story was this sentence: "I told her that I labored under a curse; that I could not enjoy a woman who was well and recently spanked." Actually, the opposite was true: he could not enjoy a woman UNLESS she was well and recently spanked. It's a big difference, but I figured the curse correctly from the context. Since the story was otherwise so good, I decided to forgive this one sin. Anyway, this is a really excellent story. I don't want to ruin it for you, but I'll advise you that it's meant to be funny. Thomas Mallory and Alfred Tennyson may have taken knighthood seriously, but more recent authors have discovered that knights were really funny people. This story was presented by Lust So Stories. Since it was a good one, I might was well cite their web page: http://spellbinder.bc.ca/lss/ Ratings for "The Black Knight" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "Snarl" by Uther Pendragon (anon584c@nyx10.nyx.net). This is an interesting snippet that describes the playful sexual exchanges between a husband and wife while he helps her get the snarls out of her beautiful, long hair. I have given this author so many perfect ratings recently that I feel compelled to find excuses for giving ratings of less than 10. There's nothing wrong with this story; it's just short a short chunk of the life of two people in love rather than a complete story. But it's still very good. Ratings for "Snarl" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 * "The Addams Family: Eddie Comes to Visit" by Shelby Bush (stbush@iglou.com). This story is actually a combination of "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family." Eddie Munster comes to visit the Addams children. After some enjoyable torture, Wednesday Addams gives head to her brother Pugsley. Just as Eddie is about to get the thrill of his life from Wednesday, the full moon takes effect; and Eddie runs off to the bathroom, where he turns into a werewolf - actually, a werewolf cub. Although she's a bit distressed at Eddie's disappearance, Wednesday takes the cub to her room. Since this is a sitcom episode, Morticia and Gomez are engaging in raucous sex in the background; and Uncle Fester is jerking off somewhere in the shadows. Gomez has a French fetish. Morticia speaks imperfect French. "Manger moi. Respondez s'il vous plait" is close enough for Gomez; after all, this is a sex fetish, not a French language lesson. Meanwhile, Wednesday has taken Eddie the Werewolf to bed, thinking he's a stray puppy. When she starts to masturbate, Eddie behaves in a beastly manner. Meanwhile, Cousin Itt joins Morticia and Gomez for a "menage e'tois." I don't know if incest is a meaningful concept in a family like this. What could be the logic behind an incest taboo in a family that could only be improved by genetic mutations? Kay Sarah Sarah, as the French say! If you know absolutely nothing about the monster shows of the 1960's, you might get lost in this story. But I enjoyed it immensely. And there's more to come! Ratings for " Addams Family" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9.5 * "Tripping the Lights Fantastic" by NetWanderer (Mr. Double Repost). The narrator is a 26-year-old male who states at the beginning of the story that he is a pedophile. He works part-time at some sort of psychology lab and part-time with a gymnastics class for young girls. While working in the psychology lab, he accidentally discovers a way to use lights to hypnotize people. He installs the light system at his gym, and soon he has the two 17-year-old assistants happily serving as his sex partners. The story offers an interesting blend of mind control and voluntary sexual behavior, of ethical and unethical behavior. He uses hypnosis to make the girls predisposed to want to have sex with him; but after that initial push, their sexual behavior is voluntary. He is making the girls his sex toys, but he uses condoms when he has sex with them. The behavior of the girls is controlled, but a lot of what they do sexually is at their own initiative. I normally do not like pedophile stories; but I enjoyed this one - except that I vaguely knew that it wasn't finished and that the author would eventually try to rationalize some kind of sick behavior with 10-year-olds as "normal." The author has a pretty good story within the existing framework; I don't see why the eventual pedophile behavior with younger children will be necessary to the plot at all. Ratings for "Tripping the Lights Fantastic" Athena (technical quality): 9 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 -- +--------------' 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> /