Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!nntp.coast.net!howland.erols.net!portc02.blue.aol.com!portc01.blue.aol.com!audrey01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: celeste801@aol.com Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories Subject: Celestial Reviews 134 - Nov 13 (1/2) Date: 13 Nov 1996 16:45:55 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Lines: 425 Sender: news@aol.com Message-ID: <19961113164800.LAA26250@ladder01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder01.news.aol.com Status: N Celestial Reviews 134 - Nov 13, 1996 (1/2) Note: One of the authors asked me when the deadline is for making my list of Top 100 stories of 1996. The answer is that any story that I review for the first time in 1996 is eligible for that list. The story could have been written in, say, 1994; but if I reviewed it for the first time in a 1996 issue of CR, then it's eligible. Stories that were previously reviewed (in 1995) are NOT eligible, unless they have been revised and this revision is called to my attention. I cannot promise to review everyone's stories; but I do try to review any stories that are e-mailed directly to me or called to my attention. Right now I have a backlog; but if you sent me a story more than a month ago, you might want to assume that something went wrong and send me a reminder. - Celeste "Snarl" by Uther Pendragon (playful sex) 10, 8, 9 "Vacation Doesn't Count" by J. Boswell (wife watching) 9, 9, 8 "Sortileger" by David Cramer (dreamlike sex & mind control) 10, 9, 9 "Hiccups" by Dulcinea (medicinal sex) 9.5, 9, 9 "Cinnamon" by Patrick Donovan (romance & hot sex) 10, 10, 10 "Love You Forever" by Rahul L Iyer (Halloween romance) 7, 6, 6 "Dance of the Lecherous Leprechauns" by R. Stephen Redick (drunken orgy) 9.5, 8, 7 "Boss Lady's New Toy" by Madame Hypnotica (mind control & female dominance) 8, 8, 7 "Lisa's Weekend" by Speed Racer (sex slavery) 9.5, 8, 5 "Caught Between Two Angry Women" by Mary Anne Mohanraj (magic & romance) 10, 9, 9 "Deja Vu" by Ann Douglas (nostalgia & romance) 10, 10, 10 * Games" by Deirdre (whipping & sex slavery) 10, 9, 9 * Gathering" by Deirdre (bondage & sex slavery) 10, 9, 8 * Girlfriend" by Deirdre (voyeurism and bondage) 10, 9, 8 * Glance" by Deirdre (blackmail & sex slavery) 10, 8, 8 * Grad" by Deirdre (bondage & sex slavery) 10, 9, 9 * Groom" by Deirdre (romantic memories) 10, 10, 10 * Habit" by Deirdre (whipping) 10, 10, 9 * Hear" by deirdre (lesbian bondage) 10, 10, 10 * Help" by Deirdre (surprise!) 10, 10, 10 * Hidden" by Deirdre (voyeurism and domination) 10, 9.5, 10 * Home" by Deirdre (oral sex) 10, 7, 7 * Honeymoon" by Deirdre (Honeymoon) 10, 8, 5 * House" by Deirdre (female domination) 10, 10, 10 * Idea" by Deirdre (brokered sex) 10, 9. 9 * Initiation" by Deirdre (dominance) 10, 9, 8 * Interview" by Deirdre (oral sex) 10, 8, 8 * Repost of a previous review (because the story has recently been reposted). "Snarl" by Uther Pendragon (nobody@REPLAY.COM). 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 "Vacation Doesn't Count" by J. Boswell. The title of this story is derived from one of the few American aphorisms that has not been attributed to either Mark Twain, Will Rogers, or Ben Franklin: "What happens on vacation doesn't count when you get back to the `real world.'" I assume it was actually Benjamin Disraeli who first spoke these words. Sondra is a happily married mother of three who goes on vacation with her husband and discovers that she enjoys showing off her body. Her husband eats this action up. She takes part in a wet t-shirt contest with some college kids, and her husband can hardly wait to get his dick into her. For an encore she invites the four college kids staying at the cottage next door in for some sex in the jacuzzi. Same reaction from hubby. And they go further and further - in hotels, with limo drivers, etc. Every time, the sex is hot; and the husband gets his piece right afterwards. I doubt that this sort of thing really works out all this well in real life, but it certainly is an interesting fantasy! Grammar review! What's wrong with this sentence? Always the perfect "lady," bordering on "prim and proper," I was looking forward to seeing my wife in the tiny bikinis and revealing one-piece bathing suits she had purchased for our trip. Answer: It suggests that the narrator is part of a lesbian marriage. The sentence begins with a misplaced modifier that gives this impression. A problem with starting a story with bad grammar is that the policy is likely to beget cynicism in the mind of the English teacher reviewing it. When the narrator sees four college guys ogling his luscious wife who is sun bathing au naturel, he describes it thus: My cock had been rock hard for the hour, and now I started to lightly caress it. I think it was only peer pressure keeping the boys from doing the same. There's nothing really all that bad about this sentence, but the reader who is predisposed to think the author uses bad grammar is likely to say, "So what? A little peer pressure on their cocks might feel pretty good under the circumstances." Having written those past few paragraphs, I can now justify this time as work rather than recreation. I think I'll go get some recreation now. Ratings for "Vacation Doesn't Count" Athena (technical quality): 9 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 "Sortileger" by David Cramer (david@law.uoregon.edu). Actually, I read this story by mistake. I didn't notice that it was Part 1 of who knows how many. Nevertheless, the story is so well written that it forced me to stay with it until it ran out of words - right there in the middle of the forest with Charisse trying to escape from the mysterious force that controlled her. I don't believe in magic or mind control - but on the other hand, how do I explain why I continued reading this story? Charisse is a sortileger - a person who tells the fortunes of others by reading cards. One day a mysterious man comes to her and offers to join forces with her. She becomes the best fortune teller in Hawaii; and as her fame and wealth grow she moves to the mainland with Tomas, her enigmatic colleague. Although he doesn't overtly pursue her, Charisse is attracted to Tomas; and soon they make passionate (but somewhat kinky) love in a remote Rocky Mountain hideaway. The story is surrealistic. It's that dream I have so often had in which I dream about trying to wake up from the dream and I do wake up except that I only dreamed that I woke up and I keep on dreaming. In fact, I'll have to check in the morning to see if I was dreaming when I thought I wrote this review. The story is confusing (but it's supposed to be) and depressing (but it's supposed to be). I chose to read this story because I had found this author's previous story "Inspiration" to be so well written - at least I think that's why I chose it; but now I'm not sure. The author uses vivid descriptions in this story that are similar to those that integrated music with sex so well in his other story. What I dislike about this story is that it's not finished. I really don't know whether or not to recommend it to you. There! I've broken free! I can see the sunlight. and I am no longer naked in the basement! In fact, I don't even have a basement. My advice is to wait until the whole story is posted; then read it. Or maybe not. Ratings for "Sortileger" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 "Hiccups" by Dulcinea (dulcinea97@aol.com). Hiccups can be a real pain in the ass - if that's where the dildo is when you get the hiccups. But hiccups can also be interesting- especially when they make the hiccupist's breasts quiver enticingly in the low cut sweater she is wearing. My own genuine theory is that the way to get rid of the hiccups is to distract the body so thoroughly that the breathing passages or whatever spontaneously restart without the disfluency. Some people do this by drinking water from a spoon or by being frightened by someone else. I won't tell you what I do; but it works. OK. I use deep kissing with a lot of tongue action. These people use a similar method involving a different set of organs. I'm not sure either my method or theirs really works, but it's worth a try. Ratings for "Hiccups" Athena (technical quality): 9.5 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 "Cinnamon" by Patrick Donovan (drwho@world.std.com). This is a vivid description of the narrator making love to Alicia in a beautiful cove by the ocean on a moonlit night. It is an extremely well-written story; and I recommend it strongly. I had never thought of using warm cinnamon oil in the manner described in this story. What I would like to know is whether that liquid when heated and rubbed gently into the appropriate aperture really does serve as an effective lubricant for anal intercourse. Ratings for "Cinnamon" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 "Love You Forever" by Rahul L Iyer (Rahul.L.Iyer@rose-hulman.edu). The guy's fiancee dies in a car crash two days before Halloween, but she returns from the dead on that Great Feast to make love to him. This story needs a lot of development. Ratings for "Love You Forever" Athena (technical quality): 7 Venus (plot & character): 6 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6 "Dance of the Lecherous Leprechauns" by R. Stephen Redick (burrito@mc.net). A lecherous leprechaun is a strong brandy Alexander mixed with green food coloring. Such drinks are considered useful for religious debaucheries on St. Patrick's Day. This story is about two stalwart guys, their bisexual female friend, and two neighbor ladies who celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Chicago by slurping lecherous leprechauns and fucking their brains out. This is not my idea of a really great time. I simply have this urge to want to remember the good times that I have had. But people who like to read about drunken orgies will find this to be a well-written and sexually explicit account of a boisterous bacchanalia. Ratings for "Dance of the Lecherous Leprechauns" Athena (technical quality): 9.5 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7 "Boss Lady's New Toy" by Madame Hypnotica (ms.infinity@tka.com). I think it would be safe to say that a majority of the stories posted to this newsgroup treat women as sex objects. {This is not necessarily true of the stories that I review and certainly not of those that receive high ratings; but it is true of the stories posted here in general.} This one reverses that pattern and treats men as sex objects whose purpose is to serve and amuse women. The story is set in the context of a vaguely defined business run by Ms. Sinclair. A specialist named Celeste works for her and trains her male employees to become her sex slaves. The story supplies the details. There is probably about as much demand for stories like this from females as there is among men for stories that treat women as mere sexual playthings. People that are enthusiasts for this sort of story may enjoy this one more than I did. I found it to be a mildly interesting but highly improbable scenario. One of the problems with this story is that the author changes frame of reference frequently (which is fine) and it is often needlessly difficult for the reader to determine whose thoughts are being examined at a given time (which is not fine). It's OK to withhold information and to disclose it only gradually; but I often found myself with no clue to determine whether the man with his nose against the wall is the same as the man chained to the computer or the man being sent to the business meeting. There should be clues that would enable me to say - at least retrospectively - "Oh yeah! That makes sense." Ratings for "Boss Lady's New Toy" Athena (technical quality): 8 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7 "Caught Between Two Angry Women" by Mary Anne Mohanraj (moh2@midway.uchicago.edu). I was "cleaning up" my database when - to my great pleasure - I discovered that I had missed a few of this author's stories. That means I get to read them now! Mary Anne is just now going to print with her book, "Torn Shapes of Desire: Internet Erotica" by Mary Anne Mohanraj with photographs by Tracy Lee (c) 1996. ISBN 1-885876-03-3. The publisher tells me that the public can already order a copy to be shipped as soon as it's back from the printer. As a bonus, pre-publication orders will be filled with autographed copies at no extra charge. Checks won't be cashed and credit cards won't be charged until the books are about to ship. More information is available at http://www.iam.com/tsd.html (preferred) or via e-mail to info@iam.com. Mary Anne has a web site at http://www.iam.com/maryanne/ (the trailing slash is important!). You can get the same stories there that are in the book; but I like the idea of having a hard copy or being able to give a copy to someone for Christmas. The prologue begins with Tom McLeod running for his life across the darkened moors of Scotland. The chase seems to have something to do with the fact that he has managed to get Janet Duncan pregnant while he is engaged to marry her cousin Katherine in two months time. Then we return to the main story. And, ya see, Tommy's pouring out his story to his friend Mike in a pub, and the friend happens to be a lad who had loved Janet as a youth and has finally come from Ireland to Edinburgh again to see if perhaps she holds a soft spot in her heart for her old playmate. 'Tis the devil's own foolishness to find that she is pregnant with their mutual friend Tom's babe; and Tom is engaged to another, and not caring for either at all. 'Tis the stuff of an American soap opera. When they leave the pub and go to the mountain of their childhood, they meet the Queen of Faerie, who strikes quite an appearance with her cold smile in the moonlight on her white horse. Tom flirts with her, kisses her, gets naked with her, and vanishes into thin air before Michael's very eyes. 'Tis the stuff of a Gaelic legend. And then the story gets really complicated. Right up to the end it is an interesting blend of human romance and Gaelic legend. Ratings for "Caught Between Two Angry Women" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 "Lisa's Weekend" by Speed Racer (speed.racer@mrwonderful.org). Lisa is a beautiful young woman who is into submission. She serves her Master, the very rich Jeremy. The story is very clearly written, and I suppose numerous readers will consider this to be a good D&s story. However, as I read the story, I couldn't help saying to myself, "This is one sick chick." But people get mad at me when I say things like that. Somehow it's supposed to be really cool for a girl to have a guy who demands that she be exactly on time and do exactly what he tells her to do and who inflicts pain on her for every little transgression. Having read lots of these stories in the past year and a half, I can certainly see why a guy would like to have a woman for a slave. I can also see why people would like to own chattel slaves to do their work for them; but my assumption is that society has advanced by moving away from chattel slavery. From Lisa's perspective, I can even understand why she would like to have this asshole dominate her. Excuse me - what I meant to say was I can understand why Lisa would like to have this kind and generous man benevolently devote a portion of his life to making her grovel in his presence. As I understand it, she probably has an insecure personality and is associating these activities with sexual pleasure, and so she derives genuine pleasure from activities that others would regard as unpleasant. It's called classical conditioning. Through classical conditioning experimental psychologists are able to get dogs and other animals to engage in behaviors that they previously avoided. It's no big thing. It's almost like a person who previously hated garlic developing a taste for that food product - or people committing mass suicide because Jim Jones says they should do so. Is Jeremy "good" for Lisa in this story? Well, when I was young my parents taught me that a good way to express love and kindness was to do nice things for people. And so, if Lisa wants to be treated like dirt, I suppose it's really nice of Jeremy to do this for her. Just like it was really nice for Jim Jones to let all those people in Guyana become devoted to him. I guess the alternative would be to be kind to her or something; and if he did that, she would probably just go off and find somebody else who would treat her like dirt. This all sounds kind of perverse, but it's not unique to sexual behavior. Back when I was in Catholic high school, we used to have retreats. We were a conservative school. When we went on retreat, we didn't get naked or have orgies or anything; we just listened to holy people come and tell us how to achieve sanctity. They used to preach to us about Thomas a Kempis and St. Francis de Sales and other saints who said God wanted us to be exactly like Lisa was for Jeremy - only with God as or focus instead of a sinful man. Saints used to wear hair shirts so that they could please God by suffering. There used to be orders called flagellants (to be carefully distinguished from flatulants, although I suppose flatulation could serve a similar purpose), who used to roam the countryside beating people with whips for a small fee. People liked to get whipped really hard, because that showed their love for God. I think it was St. Theresa who was famous for thanking God for showing his love for her by making her suffer so much. When the holy man at the retreat told us about St. Theresa, I told my mother about it; and she told me that St. Theresa was probably confused because she had such a rough life and was trying to make sense out of things that didn't really make sense. I didn't know it then, but my mother was a Christian existentialist. What I am saying is that I think Jeremy and Lisa are bizarre. I think Lisa should look around and find out what unselfish love is really about. But somebody will tell me that if Jeremy and Lisa are bizarre, then I would have to admit that Thomas a Kempis and Saint Theresa and Jim Jones and their followers are also bizarre. I would say, "You might have a point there!" Back when I was in college, I once worked at a summer camp. We counselors initiated the campers by scaring the hell out of them. I remember once I was drilling a little kid by candlelight in a scary room. He got so scared he started to cry and peed in his pants. Everybody laughed at him. I felt terrible. The scary session was supposed to be fun, but there really wasn't anything all that funny about traumatizing this little kid. I think something similar can happen when people act like Jeremy and Lisa in real life. I CAN see how it would be really great to have a sex slave doing my every wish. I think it's a selfish and perverse fantasy; but it makes sense. I do NOT understand why a normal person would want to take part as a slave in such an activity - UNLESS IT IS A CLEARLY DEFINED FANTASY THAT BOTH PEOPLE ENJOY. The capitalized words are important. This story doesn't take that perspective. Rather, it suggests that it is "normal" for a woman to get sexual pleasure from being mistreated. I guess my problem may be that I have known perhaps a hundred women who have been treated like this, and ALL of them - I repeat ALL of them - would be legitimately described as abused sexual partners. The fantasy that lots of women really enjoy this kind of treatment is a figment of the imagination of their oppressors. The reality that a few women DO enjoy it is a sad commentary on the classical conditioning to which they have been subjected. I'm probably missing something here. I feel like a person who watches a football game and can't figure out why all those people are fighting over that little ball when there are several extras on the sideline that they could share. I just read this story and it looked like Lisa was getting a really raw deal, but she really liked it. Imagine that! Wow! Would I ever be shocked if my mother were the real author of this story! Ratings for "Lisa's Weekend" Athena (technical quality): 9.5 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 5 "Deja Vu" by Ann Douglas (annd55@nyc.pipeline.com). Ann Douglas placed four stories among my Top 100 of 1995. I have been keeping a running list for 1996; and if I had to post that list right now, she'd make it four more times. She'd make it even more often, except that irritating proofreading errors get in the way. In short, she writes very good stories. Let me tell you her secrets to success. First, she writes stories that contain vivid, realistic portrayals of hot sex. Nearly all the stories on this newsgroup contain sex, and a lot of them contain hot sex. What Ann Douglas does is to write vivid, realistic portrayals of hot sex. Second, her characters are normal people. Some of them are also typical; but all of them are normal. Although some bible thumpers would disagree, most of the protagonists are basically moral people. Nearly everything that happens in her stories (except maybe in the sci fi and comic book stories) is something that my husband or I have done or could do or at least know somebody else who has done it. These people are not depraved predators, sex-starved sluts, contortionists with 12-inch penises, or generally dysfunctional sex maniacs. I have a soft spot in my heart (as well as somewhere else) for all the people covered in the previous sentence; but readers like myself do like to read about normal people. I get the impression that some people would disagree with me on this point; Ann's characters - they would say - are not normal, because they are lesbians or at least bisexual. I am not a lesbian. I think I could enjoy lesbian or bisexual activity; but I won't, because I have made a life-choice not to. In spite of this, however, Ann's characters make perfect sense to me. A very large number of readers feel this way. We enjoy Ann's stories because her characters act the way we think we would act (or would like to act) in similar situations. (Continued in 2/2) Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!nntp.coast.net!howland.erols.net!portc02.blue.aol.com!portc01.blue.aol.com!audrey01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: celeste801@aol.com Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories Subject: Celestial Reviews 134 - Nov 13 (2/2) Date: 13 Nov 1996 16:49:51 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Lines: 423 Sender: news@aol.com Message-ID: <19961113165200.LAA26315@ladder01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder01.news.aol.com Status: N Celestial Reviews 134 - Nov 13, 1996 (2/2) (Continued from 1/2) Third, Ann embeds her hot, realistic sex and normal characters in plots that are intelligent and well developed. A lot of authors try to do this, and several succeed. What Ann and many of the other successful authors do is integrate the sex with the plot in an effective manner. Some authors who try to develop a plot fail because they spend too much time on details that have no connection with the sex. One of Ann's greatest strengths is that while she is developing details, she is also developing sexual anticipation by describing events and information that give us the feeling that something exciting is going to happen and then later make the sexual activities more interesting when they finally occur. Ann also uses other techniques effectively. For example, she's a pro at the story-within-a-story technique; and her plots are often set in exotic places or focus on important social issues. But I'm convinced that the three techniques described in the preceding paragraphs are what make this author's stories so consistently good. There! Now that you know all this, you yourself can compose stories that are every bit as good as those written by this author. The present story is about Connie D'Angelo and her relationship with her granddaughter and her memories of her own sexual awakening during adolescence in the 1950's. Just read the story! It does an excellent job of implementing the techniques I described earlier in this review. Ratings for "Deja Vu" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "When Morning Comes" by Joe Parsons (jmp@cyber-mall.com). Ellen has a kind and gentle lover who does everything he can to meet her needs; but she longs for someone who will dominate her. She wakens from a dream and finds a stranger in her bedroom, who does to her all that she had dreamed of and more. Was it a dream or reality? You read it and decide for yourself. A little while ago this author was the object of some severe criticism for using his stories to advertise his phone-sex service. I almost jumped into the fray at that time, but I decided to wait until Joe reposted one of his stories. I personally see no harm in his ads. What he does is this: he gives us a good story and then at the very end in a clearly delineated area he tells us about his service. I really don't see the problem. If the concern is that kids may see the ad, the criticism is unjustified: kids can find those phone numbers a lot more easily than by reading a good story in order to get them. If the objection is to advertising in general, my response is that if he's not breaking a law and not annoying me, then why should I care? If the concern is with the service itself or with the unsavory nature of people who supply that kind of service, my reply is "Give me a break!" I personally have no interest in using Joe's service; but other people inclined to disagree with me. Who am I to protest? If each of the people who send me unsolicited spam would be kind enough to encase their propaganda in stories as good as most of those by this author, I would possibly read part of their messages before trashing them. Ratings for "When Morning Comes" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9.5 * "Games" by Deirdre. Cindy and Debbie work together, and Cindy admits to her friend that she functions as a sex slave to her boyfriend. Then one day the boyfriend lends Cindy to Debbie to be her slave. Debbie is at first repulsed by the idea and then interested. In recent reviews of Deirdre's stories I have boasted about predicting the endings. I wasn't even close on this one, nor do I intend to tell you more about it. Let me make a technical criticism. Deirdre begins this story in the present tense: "Cindy and I are teachers at the same school. We car-pool because we live only a couple of miles from each other and the school where we teach is a 40 minute drive away. We have been good friends for years and often shop together as well as go to a movie or have a drink together after work. Cindy had been going with a new guy for just a couple of weeks...." From here on she continues in the past tense, until the very end of the story, when she reverts to the present tense. At that point the facts stated in the sentences that I cited previously are no longer true. It is my opinion that the introductory sentences should have gone in the past tense. "Cindy and I _were_ teachers at the same school.... (etc)." If the author is telling the story in the present tense, that which is stated as true at the beginning of the story should also be true at the end - unless, of course, the author relates a continuous series of events that generate change as the story progresses. Let me put it another way. The author is talking (as Debbie) in the present tense at the beginning of the story, and she says that Cindy and she are friends. If you look at the logic of the story, which becomes apparent only at the end, this degree of friendship and car-pooling did not exist at the time that the initial statement was made. The events of the story transpired before the story was written, and therefore most of the information that I cited from the introductory sentences was untrue. Am I making sense? A large number of authors make this same mistake. I guess it's no big thing, and most readers probably don't even notice the inconsistency. However, Deirdre truly does write nearly perfect stories; and since she doesn't accept e-mail, I have no other way to communicate with her in order to stimulate her further toward perfection. Sorry about that. This was a good story! Ratings for "Games" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 * "Gathering" by Deirdre. As I recall, the Waltons have a Christmas or Thanksgiving special called the Gathering. I can just imagine Deirdre curled up by the fire with her family watching this wholesome show, and somebody saying, "Deirdre, why don't you write a story like that?" Actually, as you might expect, this story diverges somewhat from what happened on Walton Mountain. Peg is the quiet, friendly sister who is returning from out of town. Sandra is the bitchy grouch of a sister who lives in town and visits more regularly. As soon as I had learned this much, my guess was that Peg would turn Sandra into a sex slave by the end of the story - thus rendering her quiet and useful at the same time. Well, let me just say that I was close - but no cigar. Read it and enjoy it! Ratings for "Gathering" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 * "Girlfriend" by Deirdre. The young girl (I'm guessing age 12 or 13) and her mother come home and hear the unmistakable sounds of sex emanating from the older brother's bedroom. The mother shoos the girl off to her room, so that she won't be scandalized. Now, knowing that this is a Deirdre story, what do you suppose happened next? You're probably close. It's another strange but interesting story. Ratings for "Girlfriend" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 * "Glance" by Deirdre. As you have probably noticed, Deirdre writes excellent stories from either a male or female perspective. This story comes to us from the perspective of a man who makes the mistake of casting an interested glance at a sexy neighbor while his wife's sister is watching. Soon the evil sister-in-law is blackmailing him, and his sins and the level of blackmail escalate, until he becomes a full-fledge, card-carrying sex slave. Let this be a lesson to all you guys out there! If you commit even a minor indiscretion, the correct protocol is to apologize humbly to your wife or girlfriend, beg for forgiveness, and accept your punishment like a man. Either that or use an axe or arsenic on the stupid bitch who is blackmailing you. Ratings for "Glance" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 * "Grad" by Deirdre. I'll write this review after reading only the first two paragraphs. A woman who is in law school goes to spend the weekend with her friend, Gail, who is surrounded by sexy women who serve as her sex slaves. Gail seduces her friend, who is thus spared the ignominy of becoming a lawyer and is forced to spend the rest of his life catering to the sexual whims of a rich old lady. Well, I was pretty close. What really transpired can perhaps best be described as something between what I predicted and a nice double date that ended with romantic sex around the fireplace. However, it was still interesting to see how they got there, and I'm not really sure that becoming a sex pervert saved the narrator from becoming a lawyer after all. Deirdre is arousing my interest in this whole concept of sex slavery. I may go out and get myself a sex slave or two someday when I retire from teaching and when my husband is too old and feeble to satisfy my needs anymore. Ratings for "Grad" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 * "Groom" by Deirdre. Would it be possible for a college girl who was already involved in a serious relationship to work with a guy for a whole summer and develop a close but non-sexual relationship with him? Sounds plausible. And if the relationship with the former boyfriend broke up, would it be possible that the girl might long for and fantasize about that close friend, even though she has lost touch with him? Sounds reasonable to me. And then would it be possible that a high school classmate might invite the girl to her wedding, and when the girl shows up she might discover that the groom is the very person with whom she had formed the close friendship and about whom she had fantasized? A little less likely - but certainly a good premise for a story. What will Deirdre do with this plot? Let me simply tell you that I did not guess the ending. That piece of information should not ruin the story for you. All it means is that the ending does not involve mind control or three-way anal sex. Ratings for "Groom" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "Habit" by Deirdre. As any regular reader knows, all of Deirdre's stories have one-word, enigmatic titles. One thing that I enjoy is trying to predict before I read the story what it will be about. Habit. I'll give myself three guesses: (1) Somebody is going to screw a nun, who would be wearing a habit. (2) Somebody will kick THE habit by using mind control to switch from smoking to either oral or anal sex. (3) Two college women will ritualistically prepare for their exams by engaging in some sort of bdsm. I've finished the story, and I wasn't even close. However, I should add that the title is about as accurate as one can get with just a single word. The moral of this story is if a woman plans to bend over with her bare ass sticking up next to the front door with a belt on the floor next to her so that her husband can give her five quick swats as soon as he gets home, she should first check to make sure that the husband is alone. Ratings for "Habit" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9.9 * "Hear" by deirdre. Deirdre is the Sherwood Anderson of a.s.s. She must have about a thousand {actually, 160 right now} of these simple but unusual stories with one-word titles, and someone has started reposting them again. Her stories are a wonderful combination of the normal and the weird. In this one, she relates the story of a young college woman who "thinks she might like to try a lesbian relationship." Weird. Nice. Ratings for "Hear" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "Help" by Deirdre. Let's take another shot at predicting a Deirdre plot from the title. Help. It could be about THE help, as in the people we hire to work for us. Or it could mean Help! - as in "I'm in deep shit up to my chin; somebody get me out of this mess!" More likely, however, it's about somebody helping somebody else over come initial resistance and get turned on to some sort of sexual practice. I'll bet on this third possibility. OK. At the very beginning of the story I found out that a person (presumably a guy) is standing in line at a checkout counter and starts eying a girl in the next line. The woman behind him offers to help him get a date and have sex with that girl, but only on the condition that afterwards the guy will help the woman have sex with the girl. At least now I know I'm not going to be dealing with perversion of some kind! Let me conclude by saying that the title was appropriate and this was a most creative story. Ratings for "Help" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "Hidden" by Deirdre. This story is about a young boy who hides in the closet in his parents' room to find out what kind of weird things they do when they have sex. It turns out that Mom has assumed a dominant role over Dad as a punishment for his ogling the fair Ellen at the party which they just attended. Mom catches the child, punishes him creatively, and eventually turns him over to the neighbor lady, who makes him into a sex slave for her daughter, whom he will eventually marry. Let me say that I found this story to be grotesque - in the best sense of the word. The difference between this one and "Julie Bound," which is reviewed later in this issue is that this story was grotesque but fascinating. I have long enjoyed Deirdre's stories, even those about people engaging in activities in which I myself would never partake. After all, the stories were only fiction; the people in them were generally consenting adults; and the activities were strangely fascinating. However, every once in a while I have wondered, "Don't these people ever have children?" In this story, the answer is yes, and we get to see how a sexually bizarre person handles the sex education of her adolescent son. I don't recommend this strategy, but it did seem realistic - given the constraints of the story. Ratings for "Hidden" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9.5 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "Home" by Deirdre. The neighbor's wife goes away for a week, and he comes over to spend time with the narrator and his girlfriend. He's obviously in heat, and he's a great flirt; so the narrator is afraid that he will seduce his girlfriend. Therefore, when the neighbor suggests that the guy give him a blow job to reduce his sexual tension, he complies; and then events compound until you can well imagine what happens. I once said that one of Deirdre's stories seemed unrealistic, and a reader criticized me by saying, "It's fantasy, not reality. It's not supposed to be realistic." Still, this story seemed less "plausible" than most of the other Deirdre stories I have reviewed. It just really didn't seem logical that the guy would do what he did. But it's still not a bad story. Ratings for "Home" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 7 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7 * "Honeymoon" by Deirdre. When she posted this story, Deirdre included an introduction that mentioned her extreme concern for her privacy. She is so obsessed with privacy that any e-mail directed to her is destroyed before it reaches her, and she doesn't send e-mail to individual correspondents. I can live with that; and as long as she remains my personal sex slave, I won't reveal any of the information that I have acquired that suggests her actual place of residence is Sulphur Springs Texas rather than Clyde Ohio. On a more practical level, I think I'll stop posting her address along with these stories. In the same introductory message, Deirdre stated that she enjoyed my reviews but that she was somewhat perplexed by my ratings. It seems that her favorites sometimes receive lower ratings from me. (Now, you have to remember that the "low" rating she cited was a 7 for "Key.") She also wondered what my favorite was among her stories. Off the top of my head, I would say the answer is "Freebie." I like its combination of romance (which is like me) plus extreme danger (which is not like me) and twists in the plot. The present story is about a man and woman who are on their honeymoon. The man waits for his wife in the bar of the hotel to which he and his wife have gone, and he is accosted by another woman who comes on to him. It's a truly excellent setup, but then we are left wondering what's going to happen. We have no clue. The other woman could be anything from an innocent Avon lady who is selling dildos on the side to a vampire who has gained control of the wife's mind and is making preparations to turn the couple into sex slaves. Open-ended endings are sometimes good; but this one goes too far. Perhaps Deirdre was perturbed that I had been guessing her endings too easily and decided to fix my wagon by omitting the ending from this one completely. It is interesting to note that Deirdre wrote this story over a year ago, when she still lived in Clyde, Ohio, and was more directly under the influence of Sherwood Anderson. Ratings for "Honeymoon" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 5 * "House" by Deirdre . OK. I'm going to try again. I'll write the review _while_ I review a Deirdre story and try to guess what's going to happen. At the very beginning we find out that Gwen lives alone in an extremely large house and has invited Ms. Billings inside to show it to her. I'll bet she has a sexual torture chamber in the basement! OK, I've read further, and I have found out Gwen takes in college kids as boarders. That means that I may have been right about the machines in the basement, but the main plot will be that Gwen has a bunch of sex slaves that serve and pamper her. The surprise ending will be that Ms. Billings will move in with Gwen as a sex slave. Ooops! The nine borders are all boys and are reputed to have girl friends. Maybe we have a simple bordello here. OK. Now one of the boys is undressing and letting Gwen and Ms. Billings fondle his genitals. My main theory is holding up all right. Ooops! One of the boys is showing off for Gwen and Jenny by sticking his cock into another boy's ass. I wasn't expecting this, but my overall theory still sounds good: sex slaves and Ms. Billings will move in. I'll skip a few details that simply confirm my hypothesis. Two girls have arrived. I think the one named Jenny is probably a recruiter and assistant mistress. The other girl, Carla, seems to be an outsider. Ms. Billing and Carla have secretly plotted to get away after dinner. But now dinner is finsihed and Carla has been missing for a long time. I think she's being recruited and will decide to stay. OK. I've read further. Still no sign of Carla, but Jenny and Randy have fucked Ms. Billings and have hidden her clothes; but she has found a key to get out of the room and is dressed in a bath robe, intending to escape. The action is getting hot and heavy. Aha! While looking for an escape route, Ms. Billings has wandered into the basement; and people are chained to the walls, and one of the girls is holding a whip! There are a few final details; but I did pretty well this time. Ratings for "House" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 * "Idea" by Deirdre. Eventually Deirdre will have to run out of weird ideas for stories. In this one, a female friend asks a man if he'd like to do it with Nancy Jenson. He replies that it's a moot question, because he's a married man. The friend replies that that's the same thing his wife said - that _she_ wouldn't do it with Nancy because of her prior commitment to her husband. The implication is that they both would like to do it with Nancy Jenson, and so the friend offers to broker the arrangement. So far everything was as I had expected; but then came a sudden and interesting twist in the plot. Ratings for "Idea" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9 * "Initiation" by Deirdre. "It was my senior year and I was called upon to play a leadership role in my sorority. Specifically, I was asked to plan an initiation activity that would give the new members pause. Something other than the formal initiation that would catch them off guard." Holy cumshot! What kind of sorority is this? Do these kids have any idea whom they are dealing with? It's scary to think that there may actually be sororities out there with people like Deirdre in them. Maybe she'll suggest a scavenger hunt. I'm not going to tell you what she did suggest, but let me assure you that whatever Deidre suggested was well within the guidelines of the school with which the sorority was affiliated. Ratings for "Initiation" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 9 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8 * "Interview" by Deirdre. Predicting this story's plot, I told myself, is going to be a piece of cake. The woman is going to interview for a job, which she badly needs; and she'll have to become a sex slave to get the job. I was close, but the story was still quite interesting. Ooops! I just noticed that Deirdre's next story is entitled "Interview2." I'll bet that one's about a woman who is going to interview for a job, which she badly needs, and she'll have to become a sex slave to get the job. Ratings for "Interview" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8