Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!news.uoregon.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!news-res.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!portc01.blue.aol.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801)
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories
Subject: Celestial Reviews 97 - July 6 (1/2)
Date: 6 Jul 1996 20:06:12 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Lines: 224
Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com
Message-ID: <4rmv1k$84u@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Reply-To: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801)
NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com
Status: N

Celestial Reviews 97 - July 6, 1996 (1/2)

Note:  Today is the First Anniversary of these Celestial Reviews. That
first issue consisted of 1636 words, and I reviewed these stories:

"Bank" by Deirdre (9)
"Mother and Son" by Ann Douglas (10)
"Art Museum" by Trane and Wildfire Paradise (6.5)
"Amanda" by Grimalkin (2)
"Surprise" by Damya (5)
"AdventureLand" by Sue (8)

The ratings are based on my old system (10 = highest and 1 = lowest).  One
of those stories ("Mother and Son") made my Top 100 List for 1995.  Four
of these authors (Deirdre, Ann Douglas, Damya, and Sue) have continued to
submit stories and have continued to post new stories and have joined my
personal list of favorite erotic writers.

When I started, I didn't know what I was getting into.  In the course of
this first year, I have read and reviewed approximately 900 stories.  I
have enjoyed most of them; and I have found even more enjoyment in writing
my reviews and getting feedback to the reviews from both readers and
authors.

At the present time I post two issues a week, each consisting of about
3000 words; and I currently review about 20 stories a week.  Instead of
getting my stories from a blind draw off a.s.s., I now get most of my
stories through e-mail from the authors or by looking for specific stories
in the postings.  I also post discussions of grammar, monthly Top 15
lists, and occasional lists of authors and web sites; and I have founded a
loose system of proofreading whose services numerous authors request.  I
find it refreshing that so many of the authors who made my Top 100 list
last year seemed to be genuinely honored (as well they should) by this
distinction.

It is my opinion that although there certainly still is lots of garbage in
the postings, the quality of stories on a.s.s. has improved dramatically
since I first started writing these reviews.  I realize my perception is
influenced by the fact that I tend to read stories from better authors and
simply don't have time to read junk anymore; and I also realize that the
high quality of the stories is the result of serious effort by the authors
themselves.  However, I would also like to think that the improvement is
at least partly the result of the higher standards I have helped set.

Although I do a lot of work myself, I also get help from people that don't
get a lot of credit - usually because they don't seem to want any.  To a
large extent what I have been able to do is to coordinate the activity of
a community of readers and writers; and this is a very interesting
community to be a part of.  It's an interesting community.  People come
and go; and nobody really knows the true identity of anyone else.  Yet
there is a caliber of thought here that I have not found in many other
communities of which I have been a part.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors, the
proofreaders, the people who have worked to set up web sites and to
distribute stories, and the many people who have written to me and/or to
one another to keep this community going.  I am looking forward to another
good year.

Second Note:  Good news for Michael K. Smith fans!  We have arranged to
repost seventeen stories by that writer, starting with "Getting It Right"
and "The Dare" today.  I'll post a new review every Saturday, and the
story should appear in a.s.s. at about the same time.  You may want to
keep your eyes open for these stories.

- Celeste

      "Forestalling" by Uther Pendragon (romance) 10, 9.5, 10.
      "Father Knows Best: The Midnight Ride" by Uncle Mike
            (TV sitcom parody) 10, 6, 2
      "Family Affair" by Uncle Mike (TV sitcom parody) 10, 6, 4
      "Get Smart: Fok the Goddess" by Shelby Bush (TV sitcom 
            parody) 10, 10, 10
      "The Adventures of Lori" by RC (hedonistic mind control)
            9, 9, 10
      "Attraction" by Mary Ann Mohanraj (bdsm) 10, 10, 9.5
      "Getting It Right" by Michael K. Smith (young romance)
            10, 10, 10
      "The Minister and the Little Girl" by Daphne (holy sex)
            8, 7, 6
      "Backrub, Assrub, Clitrub, Cockrub" by Backrub & 
            Tammy Ng (romance) 10, 9, 10
     *"Bird Watchers" by Mark Pollini (hot romance) 10, 10, 10

"Forestalling" by Uther Pendragon (an569889@anon.penet.fi).  This story is
written without a frame of reference.  It's as if the reader is listening
to what a couple is saying through a hidden microphone and has to guess at
what they are doing.  It's an interesting approach, and the author carries
it off effectively.

As I understand it, the man and woman have been using condoms during
lovemaking, which they have found to be necessary but less than
satisfactory.  Today the woman has seen her gynecologist and is equipped
with a diaphragm and spermicide, and this evening they will make love for
the first time without a latex intermediary.  The banter between the
lovers is excellent; and although the actual sexual activity is not
described in the exhaustive detail that we see in some other stories, we
know that  the experience has been quite satisfying.

Ratings for "Forestalling"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9.5
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Father Knows Best: The Midnight Ride" by Uncle Mike
(fr582@cleveland.Freenet.Edu).  Jim Anderson gets a late-night phone call
from his daughter Betty, asking him to come and pick her up at the
Thompsons' house, where she was supposed to stay over after baby-sitting. 
When he reaches her, Betty explains that Mr. and Mrs. Thompson had tried
to molest her.  Jim drives his Princess to a quiet place, explains that
what had happened was her fault, and proceeds to fuck her himself.  This
doesn't bother her; in fact, she enjoys it, because Father Knows Best! 
Gimme a break!

The first two stories I reviewed by Uncle Mike I liked better than this
one.  This is supposed to be a parody of the old "Father Knows Best"
sitcom; but the characters are so far out of their ordinary TV roles that
it just didn't come off to me as a parody.  If you want a simple incest
story masquerading as a parody with a moral to the story, you may enjoy
this one.  I didn't.

Ratings for "The Midnight Ride"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 6
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 2

"Family Affair" by Uncle Mike (fr582@cleveland.Freenet.Edu).  When
evaluating a parody of "Family Affair," it is important to keep in mind
that that story itself was an unintentional parody of American life. 
Uncle Bill was played by the insipid Brian Keith, a man completely devoid
of enthusiasm and hardly capable of sustaining an erection, much less of
having an orgasm.  Occasionally he would have a date with a woman even
more insipid than himself; but they would inevitably break up because of
Uncle Bill's devotion to the children, whose names were Buffie and Jodie. 
Presented with names like that, I could never remember which was the boy
and which was the girl.  The issue was further confused by the fact that
the girl was a tomboy and the boy a sissy.  Even more confusing was the
fact that the older sister - the very embodiment of the word insipid - was
named Cissy.  The three children were obviously unusual, but it was never
clear to me whether the trauma that caused their peculiarity was the
sudden demise of their parents or the fact that they had to live with
Uncle Bill.

How this show survived without a flying nun or two I'll never understand. 
Each episode would present new problems, which Uncle Bill would solve from
his easy chair without moving his lips; and then the ebullient Mr. French
would correct all the mistakes Uncle Bill made.  Mr. French did not solve
these problems through his own wisdom, but rather by consulting with the
ubiquitous nannies whose influence is so conspicuous among American
children and who sit in their places of honor each day except Sunday on
the benches of Central Park.

So in this story Cissy goes to her first formal dance; her boyfriend gets
drunk and obnoxious; Cissy comes home feeling more insipid than usual; and
Uncle Bill comforts her, dances with her, and then fucks her brains out. 
This story is clearly written, and the author has all the names right, but
a plot like this is hard for me to imagine.  Readers can interpret this as
either (a) an actual romance about a dysfunctional guy who boinks the
teenager entrusted to his care (in which case it's a pretty lame story),
or as (b) a satire that lacks bite.

Ratings for "Family Affair"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 6
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 4

"Get Smart: Fok the Goddess" by Shelby Bush (stbush@iglou.com).  This is a
repost of an episode from the Porno TV series.  The story takes place in
1966, during the early days of the "Get Smart" spy spoof series, when Max
and 99 were not yet married - indeed, when they were copulating only in
the minds of hormonally imbalanced teenagers who watched the show.

In this episode 99 and Max are traveling undercover as a married couple. 
{Note the unusual items in that sentence.  Agent 99 has no name. 
Undercover has no "s."  And they are two unmarried people posing as a
married couple.  Holy cumshot - ooops!  That would be a Batman parody.} 
They are accompanied by their faithful robot Hymie.  

The plot is somewhat confusing and inane - but only because it's a parody
of a show with confusing and inane plots.  Max and 99 engage in some
recreational sex on and off the airplane, but the main thrust <g> is
fokking the goddess.  This ritual entails using the mail sex organ as a
sort of a key to insert into a statue of an Indian goddess.  This
insertion will enable the captive agents to open the cubicle door and
escape - unless, of course, the guillotine inside the goddess's vagina
snaps shut and shortens Ole Nick before it is removed.  The solution might
be for Hymie to fok the goddess, but Hymie is not equipped with a
dipstick.  However, the intrepid agents improvise by attaching 99's hefty
dildo to Hymie's crotch, and the robot foks the goddess, losing a few
easily replaceable inches but also short-circuiting the torture chamber's
electronic defenses just before Sigfried was going to fuck 99 and enabling
them to escape with the vial of aphrodisiac.... Would you believe....?

One point of English usage - The correct spelling is mons veneris, not
mons venerus.  I'm sure the author simply assumed that venerus was an
adjective; but he should have known better, since mons is obviously
feminine and would require venera.  Veneris is actually the genitive case
of Venus, the goddess of love.  I don't know about you, but I just hate to
see this decline in respect for the Latin language.  It's getting to where
a Latin lover is more likely to be slut from Rio than a member of the
Junior Classical League!  My favorite chariot sticker is "Latin Teachers
Are Cunning Linguists."

It is instructive to compare this parody to "Family Affair," which I
reviewed previously in this issue.  The present author shows an acute
awareness of the main features of the "Get Smart" series, and he devotes
time and effort to integrating sex into an extremely probable story line -
assuming, of course, that people could do those X-rated things on family
television.  "Family Affair," on the other hand appeared to be a strained
effort at parody.  It seemed to me that the author had the barest
knowledge of that series and just wrote a sex story that used the same
characters.  This is not to say that all of Uncle Mike's parodies are bad
("The Flying Nun" was great!) or that all of Shelby Bush's are great. 
However, I have been impressed by Shelby's parodies (He also did "Andy
Griffith" and "Dorothy Does Oz.").  I have contacted him, and he has
agreed to repost one of his Porno TV stories each week for the next two
months.  Watch for my reviews and the stories.

Ratings for "Get Smart: Fok the Goddess"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

(Continued in 2/2)
Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!nwgw.infi.net!solaris.cc.vt.edu!homer.alpha.net!news.ultranet.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news-res.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!portc01.blue.aol.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801)
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories
Subject: Celestial Reviews 97 - July 6 (2/2)
Date: 6 Jul 1996 21:07:04 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Lines: 297
Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com
Message-ID: <4rn2jo$9a8@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
Reply-To: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801)
NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com
Status: N

Celestial Reviews 97 - July 6, 1996 (2/2)

(Continued from 1/2)

"Adventures of Lori" by RC (74734.271@CompuServe.COM).  Donna and her
three attractive female friends gather every Friday at a bar. They aren't
interested in getting picked up by the bozos that eye them; and so when
guys hit on them, they cleverly say "No, thank you" and quickly hug and
kiss the woman next to them.  Inaccurately concluding that they are
dealing with a bunch of dykes, the guys usually beat a hasty retreat.  The
flaw in this approach is that one day after they chase away an annoying
guy, they get hit on by an attractive woman.

That woman is Lori, who quickly teaches the women the art of loving other
women.  What will they tell their husbands? Why tell them anything? After
all, Friday is the night the girls go out and have some fun. From now on,
it will just be more fun; that's all.

Lori is an apostle of the gospel of both sisterly and brotherly love - a
veritable missionary of hedonism.  Moral issues aside, hedonism makes
sense.  Any sensible and sensual woman who enjoys getting kissed by a guy
with chapped lips and a five o'clock shadow who rushes through the
procedure would also enjoy a gentle kiss from soft lips connected to
tender skin that belong to someone who will take her time and care about
the partner's feelings.  I've done the long argument before; almost all
woman COULD enjoy sex with another woman.  {The same thing is true about
men, but they get their back up whenever I say so, and therefore we'll
pretend that this sentence does not exist.}  There may be plenty of good
reasons to reject hedonism, but it makes no sense to argue that pleasure
is not pleasant. Likewise, there are plenty of good reasons to decline to
engage in sex with another woman; but the fact that a woman "is" a
heterosexual is not one of them. 

Last night I was awakened around 4:00 a.m. by the sensuous sensation of a
pair of hands rubbing a warm lotion into my back.  I sighed and lay on my
stomach while those hands caressed my entire body for God only knows how
long.  Eventually the hands were joined by a pair of lips that kissed the
same places the hands had covered.  I was in heaven.  When the lips and
tongue started to rim my asshole, I started to cum; and about five minutes
later my husband turned me over and joined his orgasm to mine in a
wonderful climax.

I have this thing for Tom Cruise.  Would I have ENJOYED last night any
less if that had been Tom instead of my husband doing that virtuoso
performance?  Of course not - except that I have had moral scruples.  For
that matter, it could have been Brian Keith (see previous review of "A
Family Affair"); and in the improbable event that he had done a job like
that, I would have been equally ecstatic.  And as I gaze at Rebecca Romijn
staring down at me from my husband's Sports Illustrated calendar, I want
to assure you that it would be really enjoyable to let her do the
massaging, kissing, and licking and that I would be happy to substitute
fifteen minutes in the 69 position for the cock that brought me to climax.
This is not a hard problem!

I WON'T replace my husband with Tom or Brian or Rebecca, because I have
made other choices in my life that conflict with making love or engaging
in foreplay with them. What I have referred to as "moral scruples" are
actually ethical principles or practical choices, and they are an
important part of my life and personality.  In the unlikely event that Tom
or Rebecca ever proffer the offer, I'll give them a polite "No, thank
you." If they want to leave their business card or e-mail address, that
would be fine, because I might someday discover that I'm wrong about this
monogamy thing after all.  If Mr. Keith offers, I'll tell him to fuck
himself or to fantasize about a nanny.  If Miss August offers, I'll
politely decline, because she looks way too much like me and I need a
little contrast in my sex life.

I think women who normally do it with other women, with men, with neither,
or with both will enjoy this story.  And guys will too, if they have any
imagination and sensitivity.  I don't care what you "are"; just imagine
the sexual titillation that would accompany approaching four hot women who
had never touched another woman sexually before and enticing them into a
mini-orgy.  Don't worry about the real-life probability that they will all
actually agree to go along with the proposal and all like one another;
just buy into the story line and let the juices flow.

At first I thought the author overdid her emphasis on hypnosis; that
technique simply doesn't work quite the way Lori makes it work in this
story.  But if we approach the story as partly science fiction, this
"hypnosis" offers an interesting premise for a story.  Personally, I agree
with whoever it was who said "absolute power corrupts absolutely"; and I
think a person who could control other people's minds as completely and
easily as Lori does would become a bit of an asshole.  I think real life
is much more interesting - where we have to negotiate and seduce and
compromise in order to have a happy sex life.  At least that's what Dr.
Ruth said to either Geraldo Rivera or Larry King or somebody else on late
night television one day last year.  However, Lori is a benign hypnotist;
like Superman before her, she uses her powers only for the good of
everyone she knows and loves.

The story gets more complex - and the complexities make the plot more
interesting.  I enjoyed this story very much, but there's a serious
problem that I would like to mention.  I have not discussed this with RC,
but I'm almost certain that she wrote this story as a series of separate
chapters, which she posted as soon as each was finished.  She probably had
a good idea where the plot was going at the beginning, but then she
improvised as she went along.  RC is not alone in this approach.  A very
large number of authors of the longer stories do this.  It appears that
some of these authors have no idea how the story will end when they start
writing and psoting - indeed, some of them don't even know IF the story
will end.

The problem is that good ideas that occur later in the story necessarily
influence earlier chapters - which have already been published.  Since
these earlier chapters have already been "finished" and posted, there is
no need (or perceived possibility) to edit or revise them.  So what
happens is that when the author gets a good idea later in the chapter and
this idea requires a logical set-up earlier in the story, the author
cannot make the change (which might be extremely important) and must
instead simply use patch-up techniques.  The result is that we have a
lengthy series of pretty good story parts that are tied together but will
never become as good as they could have become if the author would have
had the opportunity to do it right.

The alternative is to sit down and finish the whole story before
publishing it.  I have friends who have written successful novels, and in
some cases I have given them suggestions.  All of these people have gone
back to revise earlier chapters in response to criticisms and suggestions
that could not possibly have occurred until the critic saw the later
chapters.  I am certain that most good authors follow a similar pattern of
writing and revision.  The main problem with this method is that the
author often wants to rush the story into print - if she's excited about
it and the readers want to see it, why not post it right away?

Logically, alt.sex.stories should enable authors like RC to get the best
of both worlds.  Authors can rush their chapters into print and
immediately share their stories with their readers.  But then when they
are finished, they should have the leisure (and in some cases, the
self-respect) to revise the story before reposting it.

I don't mean to pick on RC.  Hers is as good as most and better than many
serial stories.  But these stories are like a soap opera rather than a
good movie.  Soaps are fine - I watch DOOL and am impatient with people
who look down on soap operas; but a good movie can be even better.  If RC
follows the pattern of most a.s.s serial authors, now that she's finished
the whole series of 20 episodes, she's going to simply repost them from
time to time.  I don't begrudge her the opportunity to drop this project,
to rejoice in its success, and to go on to something else.  But it would
be nice if sometime within the next two years she would come back to the
story and revise it and make it into a really good, coherent story.  A
large number of writers who post serial stories could benefit from this
same advice.

I might add that there are a few authors on alt.sex.stories who do just
what I am suggesting.  The Observer has made major revisions in some of
his stories, and I suspect that he will continue to do so.  Backrub and
Deidre Ng have also revised stories after posting them; and the result has
been even better versions of initially good stories.

Ratings for "Adventures of Lori"
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Attraction" by Mary Ann Mohanraj (moh2@midway.uchicago.edu). Attraction
is composed of desire and danger.  This theory is not unique to sexual
behavior.  In my education classes at the University I learned that people
are motivated to work hardest when they are uncertain that they will
achieve their goal.  In other words, my students won't work hard if they
think what I'm teaching is absurdly easy or absurdly difficult.  Virtus
stat in medio. Attraction is composed of desire and danger.  That's why
one of the ladies in this story is willing to surrender herself completely
to a guy with a whip.  It's also why the other lady feels really
ambivalent about her friend's relationship.

I don't have any friends that I know of who wear a collar around their
neck to symbolize that they are somebody's sex slave.  Tattoos, yes; but
collars, no.  Not even among the students in my classes do I see this
symbol of sexual subservience; but that's probably because the assistant
principal in charge of discipline has banned them along with various NBA
jackets and wearing baseball hats backwards as gang signs.  Some poor girl
is probably getting a double beating from her Master because this
misguided bastard won't let her wear her collar because he thinks it's a
gang symbol!

My closest friend with anything like a slave collar was a nun I knew
fifteen years ago.  She wore a medieval costume to show that she loved
God.  She even talked about being a slave of the Virgin Mary; but now she
says it was that kind of crap that drove her out of the convent.  She
stopped wearing the costume, and now she shows that she loves God by
having a great sex life with the ex-priest she's married to (actually, HE
did wear a symbolic collar - and for a reason strangely parallel to the
sex slave) and by raising three kids that they have adopted besides the
two of their own. Attraction is composed of desire and danger.  I
apologize if this paragraph offended any of the many nuns or Amish people
who follow this newsgroup.

This well-written story does an excellent job of describing feelings
similar to my own ambivalence about bdsm relationships.

Ratings for "Attraction"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9.5

"The Minister and the Little Girl" by Daphne (nobody@REPLAY.COM).  The
Minister is giving the 12-year-old girl private instructions in religious
devotion.  Over a period of several weeks he gets her into a trance and
waves his Scepter over her, gradually searching for the place where The
Lord Jesus can enter her body.  Surprise!  Jesus is going to enter through
her Forbidden Place!  I wonder how he'll get there.  Who will serve as His
Vessel to transmit Jesus into the Entrance to her Soul?  Probably the guy
who is attached to that Scepter.  Pretty soon she grows to love religion,
and Jesus is able to enter her Sacred Place almost at will.  But after a
few months she discovers that she has a Curse in her Sacred Forbidden
Place.

The confused little girl wanders visits a Library, where she learns that
what she has been doing with the Minister is technically called, "Child
Sexual Abuse," and is considered a no-no. Whatever.  She doesn't feel
abused, but she realizes that her instincts have been correct all along
and that people wouldn't like it if they were caught.  Anyway, to make a
long story short, the little girl catches on to what the Minister is doing
and puts an end to his Manipulations.  She tells him no more of this
religion shit and that he has to use condoms when they fuck.  He meekly
agrees; and they live happily ever after.

I get really pissed at "religious" people who use religion to exploit
others sexually, and so I looked forward to this as an interesting satire.
 However, I missed the exact point of the author's irony.  It might be my
own personal background leaves me unfamiliar with the events being
satirized.  Two similar attempts that I enjoyed more thoroughly were "The
Flying Nun" by Uncle Mike (reviewed in CR 96) and "The Novice" by
Wollstonecraft.

Ratings for "The Minister and the Little Girl"
Athena (technical quality): 8
Venus (plot & character): 7
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

"Getting It Right (A Beginning)" by Michael K. Smith
(mksmith@taproot.win.net). Without ruining the plot for you, I can't
really tell you much about this story, except that it's a well-written,
realistic portrayal of adolescent romance.  If you're looking for
something to turn you on real fast, this would be a bad choice; but if you
want a story that's likely to remind you of something from your own
adolescence, this may be a good one.

Ratings for "Getting It Right"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Backrub, Assrub, Clitrub, Cockrub" by Backrub & Tammy Ng
(BCKRUB@aol.com).  This is a story of quiet passion between a man and a
woman after they return from a long motorcycle ride. As they shower
together and then wake up the next morning in each other's arms, they
engage in the activities stated in the title.  This is a story of ordinary
lovemaking described in extraordinary detail.  Don't let the brevity of
this review undersell this story.  Although this is not a fully developed
plot, it's very erotic material.

Ratings for "Backrub, Assrub, Clitrub, Cockrub"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

*"Bird Watchers" by Mark Pollini.  This story was reposted as part of the
THC archive.  I have seen it posted by other people at other times; but
this is the first time I have seen the author's name correctly cited.  If
anyone knows of anything else by this author, I'd like to know about it. 
This is an exceptionally good story - my number 2 story for January; and I
urge you to look for it.  It's awkwardly labeled; so be careful to get it
all.  My advice is to download everything from THC that has "Bird
Watching" or "Bird Watcher" anywhere in the title.  I do not have time to
reread the story and write a new review; and so I am reposting the old
review here.

This story is about a man and a woman who accidentally view each other in
moments of private sexual arousal (i.e., masturbation).  Even though the
man uses his binoculars to zoom in for detail, he doesn't consider this to
be an invasion of her privacy.  {He differentiates between being a Peeping
Tom and voyeurism of opportunity.}  In fact, as a friendly gesture he
sends her a gift: a pair of binoculars with a note reading "from one bird
lover to another."  The voyeurism is itself very sexy, and the direct
sexual contact is even hotter.  I strongly recommend this story.

A problem with this posting is that I have no idea who the author is.  I
would very much like to read more stories by this writer, but I have no
way to accomplish this.  I find that a lot of people who repost stories
from their archives remove the names of the authors; and it's hard to tell
who really wrote them.  This one bears a closer resemblance to the
Sue-Backrub-Ng school of authors than to the Deirdre-Anderson or Victorian
schools.  I'm pretty sure it was not written by either the Dirty Dawg,
Shakespeare, or Francis Bacon.  It's really hot sex with good character
development and twists of plot.  The author is especially adept at viewing
the action from the perspectives of different characters and using
flashbacks to add excitement to current situations.  I know the year is
just beginning, but this is a good candidate for story of the year.  So if
someone knows who the real author is, please let me know.

Ratings for "Bird Watchers"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10