|
Return To the Celestial Review (This does NOT open a new window) Return To the Index (This does NOT open a new window) Note, to make reading multi-part stories easier, story links (links with dejanews.com or www.qz.to, NOT the review or profile links) will open up a new browser window. When you are done reading the story, or section of the story simply CLOSE the story window. |
|
"Man or Beast" By Diana (beauty and beast). Bitbard: 10, 10, 10
"Man or Beast" By Diana (diana_svensson@yahoo.com). Guest review by BitBard (bitbard@newsguy.com) Sci-Fi and Fantasy have a very unique role in literature and erotica. No other format allows for such an exploration of humanity. Spock on Star Trek wasn't a green blooded, pointy-eared alien, he was a contrast that allowed us to see and understand what it was to be human. These forums allow authors to reflect the human condition from the outsider looking in vantage, as well as allowing authors to reflect on what we may become. In erotica this outsider looking in forum usually explores the very boundaries of sexuality itself. Can a human really love a bug-eyed-monster? Is it really bestiality if the bug-eyed-monster has a heart and soul and an IQ of 512? If one falls in love with a shape-shifter such as Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space 9, would that person be gay, bisexual, heterosexual, or a zoo depending on what Odo decided to be that evening? Celeste's VR contest produced many entries that explored exactly what those labels mean when form is malleable. In "Man or Beast", Emily Sanders is a young woman who is vacationing alone in a rustic, remote setting. As a city girl she has enormous fun exploring nifty things like skinny dipping and masturbating in the great out doors. Later she gets lost in the woods, is almost rescued by a would-be rapist but is saved by a noble werewolf who has been keeping an eye on our damsel in distress. The werewolf is actually a really decent guy living as a hermit. He's lonely, she's lonely and so an erotica story is born. In a way this is borderline bestiality, but it also serves as a comparison and contrast. Daniel, the werewolf, is an outcast, alone and reclusive. Emily, though she lives in the heart of a great metropolis and has friends and co- workers is just as alone as Daniel. There's also a great deal of romantic fantasy wrapped up in this story and the werewolf allows for a duality. On the one hand, Daniel in his human form is sensitive, caring, kind, and intelligent. On the other hand, Daniel in his animal form is dangerous, strong, and a pretty damned good lover. This duality of course is present in all men to greater or lesser extents. The use of a werewolf however serves to magnify the differences between man and the beast within. It's usually pretty difficult to write in the fantasy realm and keep the dialog believable. This story did a fairly good job of holding the dialog together, though it was strained in places. The only real problem I had with the story was learning werewolves travel in flocks. Every time I saw this word I kept imagining Emily conversing with Chicken Boo. "Pack" or "Clan" would have, for me, been a much better word selection. But this is a quibble. This may not be the best story published to ASS/M, but it a very strong and solid addition to a genre which few authors exploit to it's fullest potential. This story did exactly what a good Fantasy story should do: allow us to explore our own sexuality by seeing sexuality in a different and unusual light. Furthermore, this exploration of sexuality is done from a *WOMAN'S* perspective in a field dominated almost exclusively by men. That uniqueness, quite apart from this being an interesting story, puts "Man or Beast" on my recommended reading list. Ratings for "Man or Beast" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Bitbard (appeal to reviewer): 10 |