|
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. |
|
"Donut Shop" by Frank McCoy (pedophile sex) 9, 8, 5
"Donut Shop" by Frank McCoy (mccoyf@millcomm.com). The basic gist of this story is that the narrator gets seduced in a donut shop by two preschool nymphets - with their mother's full approval and cooperation. Most of you won't like this story, because you will find it to be morally repulsive. And silly too. You will probably think that this leading character is weird and should be strung up by his balls. You'd be right, of course. The story is so grotesque that I have to conclude that the author is pulling our leg or yanking our chain or some similar metaphor. The one thing we know about this story is that it can't be true. That's because - I know you're going to think this a stereotype, but I swear upon my mother's bra that I heard it from a reliable source - a policewoman who was giving a speech to our PTA - that's because there are more police per square yard in donut shops than in any place outside the precinct station in the typical American community. The policewoman's advice to us was, "If you're being followed by someone suspicious, go to your nearest donut shop or convenience store that sells donuts and coffee. There's likely to be a police officer there." Therefore, a guy couldn't really feel up a couple of little girls in a donut shop, even with the mother's permission - not with impunity anyway. In no time at all, the donut shop would be full of police officers and police dogs and social workers and prosecutors; and pretty soon the "pervert" - that's what narrow-minded people call child molesters - would wind up in the Big House, where even more narrow-minded criminals would assert their moral superiority by sodomizing him to satisfy their self-righteous indignation. Now this is going to be hard to believe, but we have the benefit in this case of a commentary in a.s.s.d. from the author of this story, in which he explains how he wrote this and some other stories. At first I thought his explanations would ruin my credibility. For example, he confesses to being the author of "Grabbing the Brass Ring," to which I gave low ratings in CR 297. He says that story was "about whether being 'superman' was a handicap." I really missed the point there: I thought it was a really convoluted piece of shit about dysfunctional sex. Sorry about that, Frank. Anyway, it turns out that the author himself says that the present story is a sort of morality tale designed to emphasize the stupidity of dressing cute little girls in "Jon Bonet" outfits and parading them as sex objects at a time of their lives when they should be having fun. See! I told you he was kidding. And he's got a point there - although I think it's distinctly possible that most readers will miss the point and think this is "pedophile garbage" and that the local pedophiles will think this is "really great stuff." I just hope the pedophiles take the story literally and try it down at the donut shop and get their asses busted, as explained in the previous paragraph. Sorry about that slip-up on "Grabbing the Brass Ring." By the way, I might add that I personally think Frank McCoy is a decent, productive member of society, or at least harmless - or at least no more harmful than the typical American politician. Frank is a prolific author, and I haven't reviewed all that many of his stories, mostly because he writes a lot about kiddy sex and incest, topics which become old really fast with me. His two best stories that I know of are "Horny Out of My Mind" and "Guarantee." I think it helps to realize that Frank is almost always writing with his tongue in his cheek, as am I when I mention Frank in the same category with politicians, many of whom are lawyers, albeit bad ones. {Celestial Note: After I wrote the preceding part of this review, Frank posted a message on a.s.s.d., in which he pointed out that I missed the point of "Grabbing the Brass Ring." He also suggested that I don't understand science fiction, and I object that assertion. I sometimes don't understand science fiction that requires the reader to already subscribe to a large number of assumptions that cannot be derived from the story itself. However, Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut are two of my favorite mainstream authors, and much of their writing is certainly science fiction. In addition, I think I give a more favorable reception to well-written TG stories (which are often science fiction) than almost any of my guest reviewers. Furthermore, I think Walter Slaven's "Tie Fighter" is one of the best series of stories ever posted on this newsgroup. PleaseCain's "Consuming Passion," Tom Bombadil's "Camara," and Eli the Bearded's "Metamensity" are not bad either. So please don't say that I don't understand or like good science fiction stories. I would assume that most "superhero stories are also considered science fiction, and I have often given high ratings to those stories; but note that I am often much more impressed by GOOD superhero stories (e.g., Tooshoes' "Supergirl" stories) than by stories in which people just rape Wonder Woman or Xena for no apparent reason. A problem with science fiction is that it sometimes requires the reader to invest too much energy in adapting to a different reality. For example, I think Elf Sternberg is an absolutely outstanding writer, but I myself don't seek out his stories very often because his characters live in a universe that is different than mine and not one that appeals to me as a place where I'd like to have sex. On the other hand, Walter Slaven's "Tie Fighter" people are easy for me to understand and get emotionally attached to - even if they are purple and have extra muscles in their vaginas. If science fiction authors want to write for a broad audience - as Bradbury and Vonnegut have done in mainstream literature - they have to place their science fiction ideas in a context that makes sense to people who are not already part of their cult. The problem with "Grabbing the Brass Ring" was that although I was vaguely aware that something unusual was going on, I was not stimulated to expend the energy to take the narrator's perspective seriously. Faced with the choice of either taking the narrator's perspective more seriously or regarding it as nonsense, I chose the latter. Upon further reflection, I still think I made the right choice. Please keep in mind that I really mean the nice things I have said about this author. I just don't think the present story and "Brass Ring" are among his best. The "failure" of these two stories could have occurred because Frank didn't write them as well as he wanted or because I didn't read as well as I should have or for some other reason. Whatever the case may be, I suggest that Frank put "Horny Out of My Mind" and "Guarantee" ahead of these two stories on his application for the Pulitzer Prize. And on his worst day this author is still miles ahead of Henry James.} Ratings for "Donut Shop" Athena (technical quality): 9 Venus (plot & character): 8 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 5 |