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"A Slavegirl of Rome" by Bad Badbad (Roman sex). Gandmar :
10, 10, 10
"A Slavegirl of Rome" by Bad Badbad (badbadbad98@hotmail.com). Guest Review by Mary Jorsay Gandmar (maryjg@finebody.com) --- Gore Vidal's "Caligula" aside, the only other genuinely historical erotic fiction (it was too good to be merely pornographic), I know of are "The Loins of Amon" and "Roman Orgy," both by Marcus van Heller. The stories were terrific, with lots of action, sufficient plotting, economical yet graphic characterization and, best of all, lots of extraordinarily imaginative sex. I don't know if van Heller's books are still in print - I hope they are, for they are a far better read than most in the genre. Vidal's "Caligula", of course, is on another plane - relentless depravity from page one, but that was the whole point, I imagine, and, being the writer he is, superbly done. There is a sequence in "Caligula" in which the little emperor, increasingly demented now, commands the patrician nobility to make their ladies available for the delectation of the plebeians. This is exciting enough; but it goes further, and a game is developed. A partition is erected with hole punched through it at an appropriate height. On one side there is the man with his erection; on the other, something that can only be "soft, warm and wet" - a mouth, a cunt, an anus; and on neither side is the identity revealed. "A Slavegirl Of Rome", while not quite in this league (not yet, anyway), holds great promise. It has a scene not unlike the one from Caligula I've described, except that the teenage girl here is in stocks (her hands and neck), while her body is bent over a horizontal bar and her ankles are lashed to pegs knocked into the ground. She is being offered as a spectacle - the game is to see who can devise the most horrific means of taking her virginity. The story ends at this point, just when a male reader might be forgiven for being in a state of painful tumescence, positively salivating. It is horrific, yes, all of it, but sensual and sexy nonetheless if you have the stomach for a degree of violence in sex. One doesn't quite know how bad things are going to get next - I found myself hoping for a knight in shining armor, actually. Up to this point, it's not really a story, more a preface, perhaps the first part of a first chapter. The plot, so far, is just this - a slave girl is being auctioned, she gets picked up by the Emperor, and is put on display... and it ends at this point, awaiting the next installment. What makes the story unusually good is the polished literary quality of the writing. There are a few typos, but these are not obtrusive. The language is smooth, felicitous, and it strives for a somewhat Biblical style. When Celeste sent me the story it was just one long paragraph - and I carved it up as I thought fit. Now each paragraph begins with an And ... This gives the story a rushing, breathless quality, and yet preserves a certain detachment, not unlike a Biblical narrative. There is nothing contrived about it. The writer's "voice" perfectly matches the idiom. There is an impressive vocabulary and grasp of the quotidian aspects of Roman life here, brought out subtly, without excessive emphasis, just enough to lend atmosphere. But it's not only the place and the period and setting and the props. The emotions of the teenage girl are brought forcefully into play - and here lies the true power of the tale. The author makes no attempt to get into the girl's mind and to write "from the inside out". Instead, he seems to be circling around her, rather like a bird of prey, or one of the auctioneers or men in the crowd, observing and telling us what he sees. The descriptions are quickly detailed - indeed, there is no visible emotion, no apparent reaction left untold - but it remains consciously reportage, cold and at a remove. This is what happened, and then this, and then such and such. In the hands of a lesser writer, this technique might have yielded mere aridity. Not so here. There is a truly powerful evocation of an enormous amount of horror and empathy with the wretched creature who is being subjected to such torment - I felt a physical reaction to this writing, a quickening of the pulse, a revulsion I could not resist, mesmerized by the horror. The author's own feelings do not intrude; the reader is allowed to give full reign to his own emotions. The reader is the plaything. This is enormously skillful writing - and it would be a shame were the story to stop at this point. Athena (Technical Quality) : 10 Venus (Plot & Character) : 10 Mary (Appeal to reviewer) : 10 |