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"Bend Over" by Mitchell (romantic quickie) 8, 10, 10
"Bend Over" by Mitchell (apstarre@pipeline.com). Reviewed by A.M. McStuff, who may be reached at assmastermcstuff@hotmail.com. In subscribing to ASSM one exposes oneself to the broadest imaginable array of printed sexuality -- everything from the quicky squicky to well-developed and tasteful erotica. With "Bend Over" Mitchell has produced an example of my favorite genre, what I like to call the credible stroke. The plot is admirably straightforward: the narrator is enchanted by the sight of his callipygian wife bent over an oven. They boff and are thus late for a party. End of story. But Mitchell packs an admirable amount of character development into a brief space. The narrator fumbles with "the tie around [his] neck that refused to knot itself properly." His wife hums "a song under her breath" as she works in the kitchen, unaware of his attention. The characters obviously have affection for each other, and Mitchell allows us to relate to them in the brief time they interact before getting it on. And they do get it on -- a good in-the- kitchen, pre-party "make it quick" screw. Any adult can relate to this. A nice touch: Mitchell cleverly uses the language of stroke to describe other actions. As the woman cooks she pours "the sauce over the meat sizzling inside." The deft application of typically porny language to non-sexual activity brought a smile to my face. The story is not without its flaws, any of which might have been cured by an editor. The protagonist's wife is a "heavenly angel" (is there any other type?). Likewise, he fills her with his "hot seed." Just once I would like to read a story in which the narrator spurts lukewarm -- even tepid -- seed, to the dismay of the spurtee. And his wife's hair is "mangled" after their nuzzling. Since when does nuzzling anything mangle it? But these are quibbles; it is almost impossible to write short stroke without leaning on the crutch of cliché from time to time, and Mitchell is much more literate than most of the writers posting to ASSM. I enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more by the author. Ratings for "Bend Over" Technical Quality: 8 Character Development: 10 Appeal to Reviewer: 10 |