Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!op.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!uunet!in3.uu.net!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801) Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories Subject: Celeste's Top Stories - October (1/2) Date: 2 Nov 1996 17:42:57 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 252 Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com Message-ID: <55giph$fod@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Reply-To: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801) NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com Status: N Celeste's Top 15 Stories -October 1996 (1/2) Note: Since many readers would like to read the top stories for each month, I would appreciate it if authors would repost as many of these stories as possible. If you wish, you can label them as Celeste's #x for October: Name of Story. Second Note: I have had great success finding these stories on the World Wide Web by using the Deja News Server and the service at www.reference.com. You can even find past issues of my reviews through these services. - Celeste Here's this month's list: 1. "First Love" by Unknown Author 2. "For Him" by Uther Pendragon 3. "Darcy and Elizabeth" by Mark Aster 4. "Trances" by Michael K. Smith 5. "Dog Breath" by Dafney Dewitt 6. "Homeward Bound" by Dafney Dewitt 7. "Glissando" by Mark 8. "Girl Meets Girl Meets Boy" by Mary Anne Mohanraj 9. "Bertram I" by {I'm not sure}. 10. "Season of Marriage" by Mary Anne Mohanraj 11. "Close Call" by Unknown Author. 12. "Strip Dice" by MarkJoel 13. "Overheard" by Unknown Author 14. "Temptation" by PleaseCain 15. "Senseless" by RC Here are the original reviews in alphabetical order: "Bertram I" by {I'm not sure}. I tried to write to this author to find out what name he would like to use, but the message bounced. I'd really like to know this author's pen name, since I intend to look for more of his stories. This is a parody of the classic Bertie and Jeeves stories. I hope that tells you more than it told me; I have never heard of Bertie and Jeeves. In this episode Bertram is summoned to his Aunt Agnes's bedside, where she informs him that his uncle Tom has left her. She has no one to share her bed. She asks Bertram to take care of her. He acquiesces; but first he hastens down the hall to consult with his valet, Cheeves, who recommends a sexual technique called the one-man band. This is a delightful story about happily decadent people. It is filled with mildly bizarre but very interesting activities and metaphors that I have never thought of before. The nicest thing about this story is that I have already downloaded "Bertram II" for review in a subsequent issue of Celestial Reviews. When I read parodies, I never know whether an apparent error is deliberate or accidental. {Kind of like my own "finding nun" phrase earlier in this issue of CR.} The author says, "She spread her legs wide and revealed to me the rich plane of her cunt." Did he really mean to say that? "Close Call" by Unknown Author. The tone of this story is just about the opposite of the previous story. The author simply bombards the reader with hot sexual activity. We start with two young college girls spending the night together talking about their boyfriends. Then they start to experiment with each other. They get so wrapped up in each other that they don't notice the older brother when he comes in and catches them together. No problem, they invite him to join in. A good time is had by all. The title refers to the fact that they are almost caught by the one girl's parents - which would have been a problem, because the plot would have become somewhat unwieldy if they had to ask them to join in as well. This is really hot stuff! "Darcy and Elizabeth" by Mark Aster (MyFrThAl@aol.com). I take my Jane Austen seriously. I refuse to assign any Jane Austen works to my students. They may report on her work for extra credit or as an optional assignment; but I don't want to force her on them. I'm afraid that in their adolescent immaturity they'll hate the stories because nothing explodes in them or because some of the words are unfamiliar; and I want them to remain open to the pleasure of reading her work when they are old enough to relax and enjoy it. And so, I told myself, Mark Aster had better be careful how he treats Darcy and Elizabeth in this apocryphal Chapter 60 (Volume III, Chapter XVIII), continued. This chapter can more interestingly replace the chapter of the same number which is so amiably summarized in Cliff's Notes. The story commences shortly after the nuptials. "Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth says, and then laughs at herself, "I find, sir, that I do not know how to address you, in our new state of existence. Shall I call you Fitzwilliam?" Her husband is so pleased by the sound of his name in her mouth that he owns that she can call him by it twelve hours in the day if she wishes." And so it goes, as the erstwhile proud and prejudiced prepare for the deflowering and the concomitant festivities. The thought of Fitzwilliam's forthcoming friendly ferocity flows through the fervid bride in a warm wave of feeling, as she becomes especially sensible of those places that his hands have touched but a minute before. "I see that it is my task here to tease and cajole that ferocity, until it quite overwhelms your propriety, and emerges into the light, that we may both appreciate it." What can I say? Convention, sense, and sensibility all have their place - but in a different novel, where they may contribute to the placidity and good grace of human relation; but there are times when even the genteel share sausage and eggs between the legs with a fervor that borders on rapture. To find out what wanton events of amorous playfulness transpire amidst the ensuing rain of muslin and calico, you'll have to read the story thyself. "Dog Breath" by Dafney Dewitt. The author prefaces this story with the following disclaimer: "The intent of this story is to elicit disgust and poke fun at stories featuring humiliation and submission by using a soap opera type melodrama to help maintain the suspense. If you finish this story feeling just a little queasy, if you have a sudden desire to brush your teeth, then this story has accomplished its purpose." The author carries off this parody beautifully. The gist of the story is that the heroine of the story hears voices that tell her that in order to obtain sexual fulfillment she must, among other things, jerk the dog off and swallow his cum. A serious cliffhanger moment arises when she has to kiss her husband - the urine on her sleeve is innocuous, but she is afraid that her husband will slip her the tongue and discover that she has dog breath. This may sound goofy; but parodies are SUPPOSED to sound goofy - it's the parallelism between the goofy and more serious events that gives a parody its punch. This is a very good parody. Let me preface these next few paragraphs by saying that I do NOT think that everyone who reads or writes a bdsm story or who practices a variation of bdsm is necessarily a loony or a danger to society. My problem is that I sometimes read stories that appear to me to be just as grotesque as this one; but they are not parodies - I'm supposed to take them seriously. For example, I may read a story in which a man inflicts pain on a woman in such a way that my common sense tells me that she is experiencing degradation very similar to that described in this story. As I read it, I say to myself, "This is weird. The author must be kidding." I look for a disclaimer, and there's no indication that the author is kidding; the writer really seems to believe that people can express love by giving and receiving degradation. My reaction is that such a story is not very realistic. Occasionally one of the authors will write to me after I post a review. The message will essentially tell me that I "have a problem" with bdsm. I have missed the point; the people in the story really love each other. {Or women really enjoy getting raped or being pissed on or whatever it is that I didn't understand.} These people usually assure me that they are sane and productive members of society, and I believe that assertion. My question is why do they assume that I am the one who has a problem? Note that if I knew the lady in this story in real life, I would assume that she was seriously dysfunctional. If she asked my advice, I would suggest she see a counselor. She is not leading a productive alternative lifestyle. She needs to get her act together. My problem is that the characters in some of the stories are just as dysfunctional, but readers are supposed to assume (without any further evidence) that their behavior is a realistic depiction of what normal people do. I may be arrogant, but it is my belief that the AUTHOR has the responsibility to express ideas in such a way as to communicate a story to his/her audience. The stories to which I give relatively low ratings for lack of realism (usually stories that involve bdsm, water sports, rape, or pedophile behavior) are usually written in such a way that INSIDERS will enjoy them. In other words, a person will enjoy the story if he or she already believes that it is productive to express love by torturing a partner or who thinks that kids who are molested by adults normally experience no ill effects. However, I review the stories as what I'll call a "mainstream" reader of erotica. If the authors want to include people like myself (and that's a lot of readers on this newsgroup), then it seems to me that it is THEIR responsibility to help the rest of us understand why the story is realistic rather than silly. In other words, the author of the present story shouldn't have had to tell me that this was satire. As I read the story, I should have been able to say, this is so silly that he must be kidding! Please note that I DO frequently give high ratings to bdsm, water-sports, rape, pedophile, etc. stories. This happens not only when they are parodies (as in this case) but also when the authors present the story in such a way that a non-insider like myself can see the point. I appreciate those stories and I find that I not only enjoy them - I also grow by reading them. My suggestion here is that authors whose stories are based on counterintuitive premises should assume the burden of communicating their stories realistically to the rest of us. That's part of being a good author. "First Love" by Unknown Author. This story presents an interesting paradox. I don't know who wrote it or how it got posted. I want to review it and give it some publicity, because it is good. On the other hand, I don't want to violate the author's copyright privileges. I don't mind associating with and befriending people who write about topics that are taboo to "decent society"; in fact I find most of the people who write for and lurk on this newsgroup to be interesting, intelligent people with whom I share common interests. But I draw the line at copyright infringement. The authors work hard on these stories, and they deserve to receive credit for their own work. Using simple logic, since I know two people who say they got this story through this newsgroup, I think I can assume that it was posted here at least once. In general people who post are willing to have their work reposted in the same forum; or even better, they'll repost it themselves if they become aware of the request to do so. Therefore, what I am going to do is post this REVIEW and let someone else (either a reposter like Red Dragon, who seems to have an extensive collection, or the author him/herself) repost the actual story. After I read the first few lines of this story, I simply could not put it down. This story is long - real long - nearly 95,000 words long. I knew I should have been correcting my students' papers and going over the next day's lesson; but I rationalized by telling myself that this story was about kids like those I teach, and this story would help me understand those kids better. Right! That's the ticket! Read this story for its pedagogical value. The story focuses primarily on a young girl going through her high school years and her first sexual experiences. Aside from its interesting plot, what I liked most about this story was its realistic use of interesting details and events. For example, without realizing that the answering machine is recording his entire conversation, Matt brags to his friend on the telephone about his conquest of Jen. His parents listen to the recording and have to confront him. Later, Matt gets beat up by Jen's former boyfriend. When he gets home afterwards, his mother hastily assumes that Jen had something to do with the beating and angrily drags Matt off to Jen's house to confront her. It is difficult to predict the reaction of the protagonists to these subtle but interesting events; and they greatly enrich the plot as it unfolds. Jen and the others in the story experience occasional communication problems - usually arising from moods and an inability to express emotions correctly. These problems are common among young people going through adolescence. The author understands these problems thoroughly and does a good job of setting them up and bringing them to resolution. What this story actually reads like is a juiced-up Judy Blume novel. I'm certain it's not, since I have read all of that author's acknowledged work. Wouldn't it be nice if kids could read and discuss a book like this in their English classes? They can't, of course, because it talks about kids having sex and uses words like clit, cum, and cunt. The characters also engage in ecstatic sex that is a lot of fun and in irresponsible activities that cause them really serious problems. Of course, since high school kids don't have sex and don't know the meaning of clit, cum, and cunt, they shouldn't read a story like this - even if the vicarious experience might help them deal with some of those problems in their own lives. They should read "The Scarlet Letter" and "Moby Dick" instead. The good news is that in schools all over the country we are forcing kids to read Hawthorne and Melville, and their predominant reaction is to think those authors really suck. Kids mean nothing personal against those authors when they say things like that - they have no idea what those stories are about anyway, unless they read Cliff's Notes. Since the present story is banned for them, they'll almost certainly read it, enjoy it, and learn from it. I certainly hope somebody reposts this story soon, so that the young people who don't lurk on this newsgroup can not read it. (Continued in 2/2) Path: newsfeed.direct.ca!news1.io.org!winternet.com!news3.mr.net!mr.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!news.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801) Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories Subject: Celeste's Top Stories - October (2/2) Date: 2 Nov 1996 17:45:40 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 219 Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com Message-ID: <55giuk$frv@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Reply-To: celeste801@aol.com (Celeste801) NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com Status: N Celeste's Top 15 Stories -October 1996 (2/2) (Continued from 1/2) "For Him" by Uther Pendragon (nobody@flame.alias.net). The man and woman don't have a lot of money, since he is a college student and she is holding down a job to help keep him that way. So they usually make each other presents. This year she asks what he would like for his birthday, and he suggests that she be his sex slave for a day. She agrees; and she enjoys the experience even more than he does. Some bdsm enthusiasts may find this story objectionable. That's because the participants say they are practicing sex slavery, but they don't do the things that bdsm lovers usually do. On the other hand, maybe some bdsm enthusiasts will like this story. I assume they can be broadminded enough to accept the notion that people can be dominant and submissive in completely "unorthodox" ways that border on really friendly sexual activity. As an incurable romantic with an insatiable sex drive, I loved this story. I like it when a sexy story makes me laugh, and this one accomplished that with lines like this, from the master to the slave: "Jeanette, if you were to escape into another state, is that state required to return you to me?" "Mr. Calhoun says 'yes.' Mr. Lincoln says 'no.'" That's not true, of course. Lincoln never attacked the fugitive slave laws. He specifically endorsed them in Congress and after being elected President. Well, anyway - it was funny in the context. The story displays a large amount of inside humor, when the lovers talk about their past experiences and about what they have been reading. For example, not all readers will catch the connection between Juneteenth and the plot of this story, and I'm certainly not going to tell you. But even if I didn't fully understand all the allusions, I thoroughly enjoyed the fondness and bantering between two people who were obviously in love. "Girl Meets Girl Meets Boy" by Mary Anne Mohanraj (moh2@midway.uchicago.edu). This is the same old story. You've heard it a thousand times. They meet. They fall in love. They fall apart. They come together. They live happily ever after. The end. Only with a twist this time. The two girls meet first and have a happy life together. Then they take in the boy. It's non-sexual at first; but then one of the girls falls in love with him, and on the very night that he falls in love with the other girl, the first girl gets raped and nearly dies. How can anyone make sense out of this arrangement? They meet. They fall in love. They fall apart. They come together. They live happily ever after. The end. As so often happens with this author, the sex lies far away in the background, but at the same time it is the most important part of the story. "Glissando" by Mark (MarkB@aboy.demon.co.uk). The guy has failed in his attempts to get lucky in the Netherlands the night before; but now that he has sobered up, it looks like things might take a definite shift toward the better. At first I thought I was going to read my first story of Strip Yahtzee - a game to which the Dutch are apparently addicted, at least in its non-striptease format; but that lead didn't pan out. Then the guy does get lucky. Real Lucky. The target of his emotions can barely keep her hands off him while they go up the steep stairs to his apartment and he bites her on the ass. When they enter the room and the clothes stop flying, there she is: her feet a good meter apart, braced against the onslaught she momentarily expects; her legs, slim and white, straight and locked, angled towards each other so that the eye is led up along the smooth curving thighs to their apex; and there is her cunt, spread and opened, pink and gleaming, moistening the trim crinkles of its surrounding light brown hair; above that, the asshole, nestled between the impossibly perfect geometries of her buttocks, which are thrust out by the arch of her spine. Her hands are resting on the back of the sofa, and she is looking over her shoulder in the direction of his throbbing erection. Then things get really interesting; but you had better check this one out for yourself. "Homeward Bound" by Dafney Dewitt (ii361@cleveland.Freenet.Edu). The story begins in the middle of the action with the woman raping the guy. It seems he had been in prison for five years; and the first thing he did when he got out was get drunk and rape the old lady. He fell asleep before he actually stuck it in; but dominating her was 90% of the fun anyway. Except that when he wakes up he finds himself securely bound to a chair by a woman who is going to have her way with him and who has a pretty good plan for keeping him in line in the future. This is a very vivid story. That's why this author is listed in my FAQ as one whose stories I try not to miss. I am going to try to review some more of this author's stories in subsequent weeks. "Overheard" by Unknown Author (mcg-mcg@bartra.demon.co.uk). The man comes home early for work, and so his wife doesn't know that he is able to overhear her while she talks sex with here neighbor on the telephone. The two ladies talk about various sexual exploits, including how the man's wife will agree to come to the next orgy if the neighbor can manage to seduce the husband before that time. This is a very interesting approach to voyeurism and spouse watching. The story is posted by Merrill, Castle and Gray (UK). These people claim to have a list of 7000 stories, and it appears that they are willing to send them to people for free. I have not received stories directly from them; but I did recognize several good stories on their list. I plan to review a few more of their stories in the next few issues of Celestial Reviews. You can e-mail 'list-mcg@bartra.demon.co.uk' for an up-to-date list of their publications "Season of Marriage" by Mary Anne Mohanraj (moh2@midway.uchicago.edu). I thoroughly enjoyed this story; but when I was finished, I couldn't decide whether I liked it because I was getting some sex with a good story or because I was getting a good story with my sex. Maybe you won't understand. It's an ancient Hindi proverb or something. Raji is an American girl of Hindi Indian descent who had grown up in New England, got pissed at her boyfriend for screwing another woman, dumped him, and on the rebound immediately became betrothed in an arranged marriage to a rich, real Indian guy who lived in New Delhi on a continent called Asia. On her wedding day Raji is suddenly hit by the realization that this is real: she's stuck with stifling heat instead of fresh sunshine bouncing off hills, with customs she doesn't even remotely understand, with a three-hour wedding ceremony, and with a naive virgin named Vivek for a husband. Cheer up, Raji! Things could get worse! And so Raji cheers up; and sure enough, the monsoons start. Talk about cabin fever! But then life is full of surprises - which you'll have to read the story to discover. "Senseless" by RC (74734.271@CompuServe.COM). It's not exactly clear what is happening in this very short story. But that's the way it's supposed to be. It's not clear whether Mary is dreaming or awake; but that's the way it's supposed to be. The story begins with a vivid portrayal of Mary awakening on an 8 by 8 foot table in a pitch-dark room. She doesn't know where she is or how she got there. It's scary. Her fear evokes sexual feelings, and she masturbates to an exciting climax and falls asleep. When she next becomes conscious, she finds herself staring into the eyes of her friend Rachel. They kiss and make love. This is a strange but strangely sexy story. "Strip Dice" by MarkJoel (markjoel@ix.netcom.com). The woman meets a stranger and takes him back to her apartment to play strip dice - low roller removes an article of clothing. After he wins all her clothing, he rolls one more time and wins her body for the evening. He agrees to let her out of the bet. He'll put his finger to the outside of her pussy. If it's dry, then she's free to do whatever she want to do. If she's wet, though, he's going to make her his obedient little submissive all night...and she will love every minute of it. He does; she isn't, but she is; and she does. But problems ensue. She has a roommate who needs a ride home. The hotel is booked completely and it is necessary to negotiate a special deal to get a place to frolic for the evening. And she has to follow all his instructions while she goes through this process; and his instructions are a little more complicated than simply, "roll over and spread your legs so that I can stick this thing into you.". It's very titillating stuff! This is one of those stories that puts bdsm into a context that even a non-aficionado like myself can enjoy. The story includes an interesting vocabulary mistake: "She removed her other sock...her feet now bare. Well, he'd better be a pedophile, because her feet was all she planned on showing him!" A pedophile is a person who feels a strong sexual attraction to children - not an attraction to feet. The author has tried to mix the Latin root ped- (foot) with the Greek ending -phile (love of) to get a word meaning "love of feet." The problem is that a word already exists that combines the Greek root pedo- (child) with -phile to get "love of children." The Greek root for foot is pod- (as in podiatry). Logically, I would expect the Greek word for a person with a foot fetish to be podophile, but none of my dictionaries lists such a word. Somebody out there must know the technical term for a foot fetish. I would appreciate it if you would tell me. "Temptation" by PleaseCain (pleasecain@aol.com). Hmmm... What kind of story is this? A lovely woman is sleeping beneath a tree. She is a part of the beauty of nature, and a disembodied voice caresses her and meditates on her loveliness. Nothing really happens. It's all anticipation. This is a completely different kind of story - perhaps more a poem than a story; but it's very nice. "Trances" by Michael K. Smith (mksmith@metronet.com). When he was a freshman in college, the narrator learned from his friend Edward how to hypnotize people. As his first conquest, he hypnotized Edward's kid sister Sharon - making her believe that the licorice her gave her was chocolate candy. When he eventually turned to more prurient possibilities, he hypnotized a schoolmate named Kathy not to give him a blowjob, but rather to fall in love with him and to do everything possible to make him reciprocate. After many good times together, he realized he had laid the foundation poorly and he released Kathy to have a happy life of her own. And so it goes with other "experiments." The narrator is a sort of benign dictator with Power to control other people, but he generally uses this in only the most constructive ways. With girls and women this usually means freeing them from their inhibitions and enabling them to do (with him) those things that they would secretly like to do anyway. The story has two major components: (1) the flashbacks induced by hypnosis, during which his clients describe in very sexy terms their own previous sexual experiences, and (2) the narrator's current sexual activities with these partners. The author skillfully joins these complementary components into an interesting plot. I found this story to be an excellent blend of mind control and romance. Mind control stories in which the main characters simply make other people do dirty things for them have always seemed a bit uncreative to me. In this story, however, the mind control, though still an essential part of the story, is more subtle. The narrator's sexual partners act freely, even though they are under his control. Of course, as I have said before, I personally consider mind control stories to be essentially balderdash. {That's strange; I've never used that word before.} The notion that people can go into a college library and learn how to control the minds of other people is bunk. If mind control really worked, surely someone would figure out a way to do it through cyberspace. If this were possible, then an incredibly sexy man could have his way with, say, an equally sexy English teacher and then top it off by having her spend a major part of her life writing extensive reviews of stories for a Usenet newsgroup and get consistently high reviews for his own stories. Such an idea is clearly impossible.