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"Travelin' Man" by JennTill (bdsm). Owl: 5, 5, 6 "Travelin' Man" by JennTill (JennTill1@Hotmail.com). Guest review by Watchful Owl. This story, perhaps, has the right idea, but isn't able to pull it off. Neil is a happily married traveling salesman staying in a hotel. When he goes down to the bar, he meets two women, and... well, it's alt.sex.stories. What do you think? Bondage isn't my particular kink anyway, and "Traveling Salesman" does a sub- mediocre job with it. The sleazy atmosphere does nothing for me, and there are numerous spelling and grammar errors strewn all throughout the piece (although I have seen much, much worse). The plot is fairly passe', and the characters have no depth at all (other than Neil, who is as well-developed as can be expected in such a story.) Bottom line: Don't bother reading this. It doesn't achieve spectacular badness, but it's really not worth your time. Note: What do I mean by "spectacular badness?" One story (I wish I had saved it, in retrospect) wins the "Watchful Owl's Spectacular Badness Award". It was a cheerleader lesbian story. What follows is an accurate (NOT exaggerated) outline and example paragraph. One cheerleader goes to another's house. They start arguing with each other, which turns to violence, until they tear each other's clothes off and have sex. Here's a sample (typos are intentional): ... by now i was REALY mad, so I reched over and grabbed her bra. "you bitch!" she yelled, and slapped me, and i tore her bra off! ... It was so bad I winced. Repeatedly. If anyone has a copy of this story, please post it to ASS so that I can see it :) Ratings for "Traveling Salesman" Athena (Technical quality): 5 Venus (Plot and character): 5 Watchful Owl (Appeal to reviewer): 6