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"The Needle and the Dungeon" by MichaelD (virtual sex). Jaybird: 10, 9, 7
"The Needle and the Dungeon" by MicjaelD (MichaelD38@aol.com). Guest review by Jaybird. I'm struggling a little to figure out what I want to say about the latest effort from MichaelD - "The Needle and the Dungeon," so forgive me if I ramble for a minute here. In the last few months, this author has posted some of the best stories I've ever read on Usenet: "Sunset on Roses", "Swimming Upstream", "Summer Camp", "Orange County: Babylon", and "Playing with Fire". (I may have missed one here or there.) I've read them all, and they are all excellent stories, with "Sunset" and "Swimming" on my personal list of all-time favorites. MichaelD has an exquisite gift for detail that is rare among ASS's authors. The settings and environments he creates are often intricate, and never fail to capture my interest. If I have a criticism, and it's only a nit, it is that sometimes his characters lack depth. There's plenty of wonderful, descriptive detail about them and about what happens to them, but, in some of his work, I think they suffer in comparison to his masterful work with settings. However, I'm really having to split hairs here in my search to find some element of his work that isn't truly excellent. And in "Sunset" and "Swimming", I'd be hard pressed to criticize his characters at all. Anyway, back to "Needle." As he notes in his introductory text, this story is a significant departure from his other works, in that it delves into Bondage/S&M/Torture themes that he has essentially avoided until now. Despite the departure in the theme, I'm happy to report that, in general, this is a typical MichaelD story: the attention to detail is amazing. The story is set in the not-too-distant future, and involves virtual reality themes inspired by Celeste's recent contest. As low-key science fiction, MichaelD has done a superb job with this story - every aspect of technology used therein has been updated in a very realistic fashion - from advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to neurology to fire-fighting to telecommunications to transportation to architecture and more. I'm a science fiction fan, and the level of technical realism in this story approaches what I'd expect from sci-fi authors such as Niven, Asimov, or Kim Stanley Robinson. (High praise from me!) Yet, except for the virtual reality and AI technology, which play central roles in the story, all the technology is used matter-of-factly (as it should be, IMO). The story revolves around three principle characters: Dr. David Nelson, Ashley MacMillan, and Jasmine. Dr. Nelson is a brilliant and arrogant neurologist/bioelectrical engineer/computer scientist, whose bioelectrical technology, called NEEDLe, can be used to augment or replace the human nervous system. His invention has made him the richest man in the world, which has allowed him to indulge his sexual fantasies regarding S&M/Torture themes by giving him the resources to create a beyond-state-of-the-art virtual reality lab. In his lab, using a combination of his own technology and the most advanced computer systems, he creates fantastically real sexual fantasy environments, including a "dungeon" of fifteen exponentially increasing pain/pleasure scenarios. He has a small circle of teenage "street" girls that use the lab's facilities and with whom he occasionally participates in the sexual fantasies. Ashley is an eighteen-year old daughter of two very wealthy, but essentially uncaring parents. Her father is never around, and her mother doesn't really care what her daughter is up to. Ashley, while still a virgin, has some powerful, burgeoning masochistic fantasies of her own. While poking around on a bondage-themed internet chat room, she meets "Nastygirl", one of Dr. Nelson's "girls", who proceeds to tell Ashley about the lab. Ashley's curiosity is provoked, and she is drawn into the good doctor's world. Jasmine is an artificial intelligence that Dr. Nelson purchased to help him create and run the lab. She exists only in her electronic or VR environments, but she is a fully realized character with her own personality. She and the doctor appear to be in love as much as an electronic and physical pair can be. Jasmine is the one that controls the events in the virtual environment, based on the scenarios the doctor has created. She also interacts with the characters outside of the virtual environment through conversation and video screens. As Ashley becomes more and more interested in Dr. Nelson's world, both real and virtual, she withdraws from her home and school life. The story of her transition and the complications of the triangle of David, Jasmine, and herself form the basis for the story's plot. Okay - that's more than enough summary. How do I feel about this story - that is the question. Well, as erotica, it's a departure for me. I've never been interested in this genre of stories, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, and I can't say that the S&M stuff in "Needle" had very much appeal for me. In fact, if this story had been written by almost any other author, I probably would have passed on it. Some of the tamer, more "vanilla" sexual fantasies - and some of the actual, real-life sex - was pretty good, but that's not the core of this work, and I wouldn't recommend this story to folks looking primarily for that type of activity. You kind of need a strong stomach for some of the stuff here. If BDSM stuff is up your alley, I'd recommend checking this story out, but I can't comment on how it will compare to other pieces due to my lack of experience here. As a story, it has its strengths and weaknesses. The majority of the action takes place in the virtual environment - at least, that's my impression. Take that away, and the actual events left are fairly routine stuff - and not up to this author's standards. I never felt like I got a good understanding for why and how David and Ashley's relationship developed. She falls in love, but why with him? Because he was there, apparently. Or maybe because he provided these amazing experiences for her. Whatever the reason, I didn't feel it was adequately developed. And I understand David's admiration for Ashley's internal strength and resolve, and his attraction to her, but what is the origin of his love? Interestingly, the most well thought-out character is probably the non-corporeal Jasmine. I felt like I understood her and her motivations and actions much more clearly than the other two principals. So, what do we have in total? Clean, precise grammar and spelling, as always for this author. Fantastically detailed environments, both real and virtual, created with a keen eye for near-term sci-fi - absolutely superb. Reasonably hot sex - and lots of bondage/torture/pain etc. (Although, please note that all the rough stuff does happen in the virtual environments, which definitely eased my squick factor.) A fairly routine plot and only average character development - certainly below average for this author. I'm being a little harsh here, because I'm holding MichaelD up to the standards he's set in his earlier works. Certainly, the plot and character work in "Needle" is way above the average for an ASS story, but I sure wish he'd given us characters as interesting as the world he created about them. I eagerly await MichaelD's next effort - "Virgin Mary." And, if you want a good read in a more routine and romantic vein, he's recently reposted "Sunset on Roses" and "Summer Camp" to ASSM. "Summer Camp" is excellent. "Sunset on Roses" is a classic. In Celestial style, my ratings for "The Needle and the Dungeon" would be: Athena (technical quality): 10 (barely a flaw in a 50,000+ word story) Venus (plot & character): 9 (I'm biasing this up for the amazingly detailed world presented here. If I was strictly staying to plot and character, I'd probably drop down to a 7 or so. Low for this author.) Jaybird (appeal to reviewer): 7 (Really high from me for a bondage/ torture story.) |