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"Glenda" by The Bear (shifting values) 9, 8, 7
"Glenda" by The Bear (al-bear@ix.netcom.com). Guest review by BillyG (hayden@mindless.com) The re-poster of this story attributes it to The Bear. I understand there are two authors with that name. This Bear characterizes "Glenda" as follows: "This one is unusual for the BEAR in that both participants are adults, so there is not any youthful sex in this one." "Glenda" is a 1995 story that is studded with reality, or perhaps more correctly, the quandaries of real life. In a fantasy world of absolutes, there might be a "right way" to live life, a set of rules that, if followed, would assure one of being proper. But that's not how life works. "Glenda" underscores the fact that we live in a grey world of shifting values. What are some of these standards? How about the age differential between men and women? Or more specifically, between an older man and a younger woman? Picture this: The protagonist, John, a caring and decent guy, once dated Glenda's mom. For the sake of discussion, let's assume Glenda's mom gave birth to her when she was twenty. If, as he recalls, she was a "pretty little girl" before she became an even more attractive teenager, we estimate his and her mom's age at about 30 when Glenda was say ten. Twenty years difference on that end is huge. But John meets Glenda again when she's in her "late twenties' - let's put it at 30 for purposes of round numbers. So, John's now about twenty years older, or about fifty. How's that feel? A lot less inappropriate certainly than when she was a lot younger, huh? Perhaps. Depends on your views, I guess. The story alludes to another mismatch - size. Glenda's 4' 9" while John is considerably larger. We're not sure about the magnitude of the physical discrepancy, but he's able to hold her on his lap with ease. To be truthful, neither of these issues loom as substantive in this romance, especially the size differential. In fact it would appear to work for their benefit for, "She isn't quite sure why, but she has found that she prefers men who are both quite a bit older than she is, and that are very large and strong, although the body-builder types don't tickle her fancy at all." I suppose it's not for nothing that the author calls himself The Bear. So, this story unfolds as a very sweet tale of a younger woman and an older man who have secretly been attracted to each other for years and now, by serendipity, have the opportunity to explore the heretofore off- limits areas. Glenda becomes John's houseguest and through necessity, they must sleep in separate beds in the same room. Given this background, the remainder of the story evolves as you would predict. It's a tension-free story of early unrequited love that enjoys a sweet redemption when they re-discover each other as adults. There's no high drama or convoluted seduction in this story. It's a straight ahead, simple love story. Very sweet but not too high on the peter meter. Ratings for "Glenda" Athena (technical quality): 9 Venus (plot & character): 8 BillyG (appeal to reviewer): 7 (Sweet, but not hot) Review of "The Fish" by S. B. Douglass (). Guest review by Dave Myers. For regular readers of erotica who don't usually find sci-fi stories appealing, this is a very good starting point for sampling the genre. I won't spoil the twist of the story (for those who haven't guessed it from the title), but it's quite creative. Typical of sci-fi stories, the sex is downplayed by the wild idea spun out in the text. A few spelling errors blemish an otherwise very nicely written piece. The scientific terms seem to have given the most trouble: "simbiotic" for "symbiotic", sometimes "urchin" and sometimes "urchen". I could also quibble over whether or not there are any true atolls in the Florida Keys, but these mistakes don't degrade the overall story. Try it, you'll like it. Rating: 8.5 |