11/6/97 -- Batkini (Unknown); His Favorite Holiday (Adrian Hunter); Wet Dreams (Kev Cross); Off-The-Wall Star Trek Story (Valerie Sande); Tribute (j-tied)
11/16/97 -- Video Knights in Katmandu (Jayant Lund); Master Plaster, Part 1 (HinkaNNJ36); Dream Machine (Unknown); Bikini Brothel (Lord Shon); Doc's Orders, Chapter 3 (The Mighty Quinn); a story...d/s, humiliation (Alaina Taylor); The Pet (Kelli21257)
11/23/97 -- Untitled (Waynet2); Fantasies Revisited (Phoenixfr); Overview of Populated Space, 2023 (P.C. Drake); The Misadventures of Jane Jetson (Thoth); Hoover (Edward Miller); X-Rated Shop (MrED157897); Building Bridges (Nick)
11/27/97 -- Cabin Fever (JM McMurray); I am M1ke's Dick (M1ke Hunt); Website Review: Maryanne Mohanraj; Curiosity (Davis Trell); Raven's Journey (SupMario)
11/30/97 -- Website Reviews: The World According to Julie and Torch's Archives
This n' that:
Mr. Double has given up on the web business; his archive and website are no more. I heard it was a combination of Princess Diana's death and frustrations, the low level of gratitude for his web efforts, and a growing ethical discomfort with the whole business.
Because I haven't reiterated them in a while, these are the newsgroups I
pluck my victims from, and their abbreviations:
alt.sex.stories (ASS)
alt.sex.stories.moderated (ASSM)
alt.sex.stories.gay (ASSG)
alt.sex.stories.gay.moderated (ASSGM)
alt.sex.stories.bondage (ASSB)
soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm (SSBB)
soc.sexuality.spanking (SSS)
Batkini, Part 1 [C]
When posted: 10/30/97
Where posted: ASSM
Author: Unknown
Poster Address: wow@wow.com
Here's another Batman, or rather Batgirl and Robin story, apparently from the United Kingdom. Batgirl has a new look: she now wears a thong "batkini" with a top in the shape of batwings that barely covers each boob. Though stimulating to onlookers, the awesome stupidity of this invention is revealed when Catwoman captures her and she has no utility belt to fall back on...not to mention what would happen if she fell on her butt in a glass-strewn alleyway.
Robin soon comes into the storyline as a fellow captive and various kink occurs, such as bondage with vibrators, mind control through an ecstasy derivative, sex between Catwoman and Batgirl and later Robin, then the capture of all three by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Poison and Harley decide to humiliate Batgirl and Catwoman by forcing them to dance nude on TV while doffing their masks, and the story ends with the two about to be sold into slavery as harem girls, with Robin's fate unknown. More is promised.
Compared to the other Batman/Batgirl stories I've seen, this falls short of the mark, mainly because the characters weren't convincing, which is inexcusable considering all the Batman comics, TV series, and movies out there. Typos abounded ("Catwoman began to lap Batgirl's virgina." "...but her guesses where not as tintalating as reality") and the writing was pretty clumsy as well, the erotic bits not being very erotic. I wanted them to be, as the ideas here had potential, but on the whole the story disappointed, even though I consider myself a Batman story fan.
His Favorite Holiday [A]
When posted: 10/30/97
Where posted: SSBB
Author: Adrian Hunter
Poster Address: adrhunt@aol.com
Adrian Hunter is the Dulcinea of BDSM.
This was a short bondo mood piece just in time for Halloween, concerning a bound woman hanging from a closet doorway, a naughty maid's costume, lashings, lollipops, and candles...quite effective as a sort of prose-poetry, as it was written in one-sentence paragraphs that had a definite rhythm to them. Swish. Smack. Whop whop whop. Jerk. Kind of like that. This author has a definite flair with language and a creative mind, especially the use of that Tootsie Pop. (No, it doesn't go in her in twat.)
Wet Dreams [A-]
When posted: 11/1/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Kev Cross
Poster Address: kev@davross.demon.co.uk
This is the first story I've seen that has a disabled man as the protagonist, and it was an excellent treatment of the subject. Whoever wrote this must have had firsthand experience with therapists, hydropools, and hydraulic slings, or known someone who had.
From the story I gather the narrator has suffered a spinal injury that limits the use of his limbs, and one day he undergoes therapy with a new physio (physical therapist) in the clinic's pool to exercise his muscles. He's attracted to her, and becomes even more attracted when the whirlpool hose goes out of control and pumps gallon after gallon of high-pressure current against their crotches. She's attracted to him as well, and they wind up having very plausible sex in the weightless environment of the pool, where the narrator's lack of mobility isn't a handicap.
This story gets a high mark not only for its realism but for the matter- of-fact depiction of physical disability. It's neither exploited, sentimentalized, or sanitized into a politically correct warm'n fuzzy feelgood manifesto. I did mark it down a half point for the writing style, which was clumsy and unsure at times, but in all other ways the story succeeded as a realistic sexual fantasy slanted towards a minority group that most people prefer to see as sexless. And it was as hot as a mainstream sex story, too.
Off-The-Wall Star Trek Story [A]
When posted: 10/24/97
Where posted: SSS
Author: Valerie Sande
Address: valeris@earthlink.net
"Slash" fiction, in the special language of the Star Trek universe, means any fan-written stories where Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock share a sexual relationship. There is a lot of it floating around the net in science fiction and media-related sites, but, oddly, not on the ASS and SOC newsgroups, which is strange considering how steamy some of the stories are. This story was the first true slash I've seen, even though, as the author says, "I must also make it clear that I'm not trying to trash anyone's fantasy, nor am I trying to gross anyone out. For those of you who are repulsed by 'slash' (treksmut involving two male characters) don't be fooled by the first part of this story. It's a total satire. On the same token, if you ARE into slash (in particular, K/S) please, Please, PLEASE don't be offended by this. Slash is not my bag, and yes, I AM satirizing it. But, it's all in fun and meant to be taken as a joke."
What the story IS about is spanking. Spock goes into Pon Farr (sort of like heat for male Vulcans) and has to find a sexual partner or he'll be very uncomfortable. Kirk volunteers to be his fuckmate, which is the same plot that has happened in hundreds of slash stories hundreds of times before. However, the story differs in that Kirk and Spock are truly repulsed by homosexual relations with each other, and that Spock gets more turned on by spanking female Vulcans, as he recounts to Kirk in loving detail.
Like most slash fiction, the technical aspects of writing were handled very well, and the story worked as a satire of a specialized genre, a Star Trek adventure, and a spanking story...three pluses in my book. If you don't "get" one aspect, you'll be sure to get another.
Tribute [A-/B+]
When posted: 11/2/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: j-tied
Address: j-tied.not@innocent.com
A struggling peasant family hands over their beautiful daughter to the tax collector as tribute for the king, where she is to serve him in his harem. Such begins "Tribute" an ongoing BDSM series set in a fairy tale Medieval world similar to Anne Rice's "Sleeping Beauty" books.
Like the Beauty books, which they are clearly modeled on, "Tribute" deals with a young's woman's sexual awakening to the delights of erotic submission. The girl is rather bizarrely dressed for her journey to castle, receives strict instructions from the harem-master, then is chained in her room to await the arrival of the king, where she passes the time by reading the list of rules which now governs her life ("As a harem slave, I must keep my knees at least 4 inches apart while sitting, standing, or otherwise motionless and widely open my legs at the first touch upon my inner thigh." "Harem slaves must keep a written journal of her fantasies. Both the King and the Harem-master may demand to read this journal." (!!!) Finally the king comes to her, and they enjoy mild sensorial games together (blindfolds and feathers) before getting down to business.
This story was somewhat gentler than the Beauty books; no one gets whipped until welts the size of Red Vines rise up on their butt, for example. (I mean Red Vine the licorice candy here.) However, the many similarities between the stories make this an unfavorable (and somewhat unfair, I admit) comparison, as Rice did it better, and did it first. The story also suffered in that the king's visit suddenly switched into present tense, and there was too much tell and not enough show (no one even had a real conversation until 6,000 words into the story) which is a common trap new writers fall into. But there are enough good things in this story for me to recommend it, especially if you like the thought of subbing, but not all the angst that goes along with it.
Re the Kim incident:
I don't know really know what to say about this, except it seems a little foolish to go looking for true friendship in a newsgroup devoted to sexual fantasies, as it's certain many writers of those stories are living a certain fantasy themselves. This isn't to say there aren't genuine people here, or concerned souls, or guys and gals who are honestly interested in honest communication with other people. But it has always been my credo, as a writer and reviewer, to accept stories and authors with a grain of salt and not to get too caught up in them.
Real friends in the real world are 100% better than cyberfriends. Real sex in the real world is 200% better than any form of cybersex.
The stories:
Video Knights in Katmandu [A]
When posted: 10/26/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Jayant Lund
Address: jlund@poboxes.com
If you think all people of East Indian extraction do is play the sitar, make curries, and program computers, you're wrong. They also write some very fine porn, of which this is an example.
The story was about as porny as you get: it read like a blow-by-blow, plunge-by-plunge description of a porno film. An Indian porno film. (The Indian film industry is the second largest in the world, after Hollywood, so it makes sense they would have a very large porno film industry as well.) As such, it worked very well; it was a perfectly acceptable substitute for an adult video, particularly the opening description of the man's anus winking open and shut as he slaps his meat into a lovely Bengali sex queen. As a story with characters and a plot in the Western sense, it worked somewhat less well.
There have been more than one Indian story posted recently, with more than one author, but going by the writing styles and subject matter, I'd venture they were all written by the same person, or perhaps translated by the same person. The sex acts tended to be interchangeable and there wasn't a lot of atmosphere, strange for a story in an exotic locale. But this makes sense considering they were probably written by Indians for Indians: why would they need detailed tourist descriptions of their own country? The writing was also very good, if a little short on insight.
All in all, an interesting cross-cultural experience.
Master Plaster, Part 1 [C]
When posted: 10/31/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: HinkaNNJ36
Address: hinkannj36@aol.com
This story is an attempt to cross genres: rape, anal, watersports, and bondage, specifically plaster-wrapped bondage. As such it was very confused.
The piece begins in typical chirpy ASS style: "Hi! Linda here. I'm just your typical average, bright, attractive, 22 year old college student." Plucky Linda goes with her college roommate to the estate of a rich dude where they plan on getting laid. While touring the grounds they see a garden of realistic plaster statues that are controlled by a remote to pee and ejaculate on cue. This inspires the two girls and their dates to have an orgy where the heroine has a needle injected into her nipple while a statue pees copiously on the other couple, who are fisting each other. I predict the statues are really people, and the narrator eventually winds up as one of them, to spare you the chore of reading parts 2 and 3.
This author really needs to think about what kind of story they want to tell--bondage, rape, typical BBS "swinger" fare, or what. It was also annoying to deal with really long paragraphs and lines of dialogue that are all lumped together. Lastly, the story wasn't one bit believable, particularly the part about plaster statues being left outside in the rain. They'd dissolve. I also couldn't picture any characters who would act the way these characters would, either.
Dream Machine [B+]
When posted: 11/10/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Unknown
This story was also confused in a way, a dreamlike depiction of rape, snuff and bondage through an imaginary kingdom, much like Mr. Spraycan's Nottamun Town which I reviewed back in August. In this story, the narrator is connected to a machine that amplifies his dreams, and while asleep he comes upon scenario after scenario of beautiful women being whipped, milked like cows, tied on top of razors, and shish- kebabed to be roasted over hot coals, all of which he observes in a detached way. The episodic journey ends when he wakes, where he finds his dreams had been mixed up with someone else's--a psychopath's--and forms an immediate attraction to the project's coordinator, a beautiful woman who resembles the last victim in his dream. So a romance begins.
Many people find rape, snuff and torture stories very disturbing; however, many people like to read and write them, for their visceral thrills if nothing else. I think this story was written in response to those thrills, but the author was a little embarrassed about the whole thing, or perhaps guilt stricken, which is why he couched it in the form of a dream detached from real life. The "happy" ending also seemed tacked on and out of place, making the story feel schizophrenic, but hey, for a torture story, this was comparatively good.
Bikini Brothel [A-/B+]
When posted: 11/9/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Lord Shon
Address: lordshon@aol.com
Lord Shon states in the preface to this story: "This story is inspired by how a late-night T & A movie can be more erotic than your normal porn movie. In this story I try to merge the playfull stupidity of Late night with the explicit sex of porn. And most of all I tried to make my friends smile." Well, I smiled all right.
Michelle and Heather, two typical blonde bimbos with IQs smaller than their nipple diameters, spend a day at the pool. Unable to access cock for the time being, they start to 69 each other. In the midst of all this a lawyer walks in to announce Michelle has inherited a brothel, and in between his pronouncements, he fucks her ass: "He guided his hard ten inches of into her dripping bald love box with legal ease. Heather screamed into Michelle's pussy as he pounded her from behind. Heather's high heels came up and stabbed Alex's ass when her legs embraced his buttocks." Amen to that.
I enjoyed the story a lot, but the writing here could use more refinement. This is more important for humor pieces than it is for serious ones, as they depend so much on rhythm and delivery--like the patter of a stand-up comedian--to amuse and entertain us. However, the roughness of style also made the story work well as a parody of a poorly written sex story...not that the story itself was poor, only that it mocked poorness--and the silliness of it did make me laugh out loud. There's a Part 2, too.
Doc's Orders, Chapter 3 [A]
When posted: 11/9/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSB
Author: The Mighty Quinn
Address: tmquin@ibm.net
The Mighty Quinn is back with this new series about female abduction and slavehood, which has the rip roaring pace of a contemporary thriller. Except, instead of being about hotshot lawyers or angst-ridden cops, it's about a guy who runs a business kidnapping young girls, holding them prisoner in an underground bunker complex, and training them as sex slaves which he sells at a high profit. In this chapter, the narrator and his companion Kitten -- who he has trained as his sex slave/companion from the time she was 13 -- participate in a plot to break one such slave. The teenage girl turns out to be the daughter of a woman who dumped the narrator long ago, so now he delights in turning the tables as he discusses her fate: "Silver rings in both nipples, navel, clit hood......Nothing comes close to describing the look on Beth's face. That expression of horrified shock made me feel so damned good. To be talked of in the same way that someone might discuss the options on a new car, to have other people decide how your body will look for the rest of your life -- it must have been a first for her." This paragraph pretty much sums the chapter up.
Although I can't tell more about the main plot of the series because I'm not reading it in order, it looks pretty good, and is perhaps a bit more livelier and intelligent than "Captured Caroline." I'd like to think the author doesn't take it too seriously. I hope he doesn't take it too seriously.
a story...d/s, humiliation [B/B-]
When posted: 11/8/97
Where posted: ASSD (alt.sex.stories.discussion)
Author: Alaina Taylor
Address: alaina5@hotmail.com
Here's another flake of kink, a short piece about the pleasures a confidant, masculine dom brings to a submissive woman. This supremely confidant guy lovetalks his sub into peeing on the floor in front of him through her panties, an act which causes her to inexplicably begin to weep. So he whips her ass until she stops, for which she is grateful.
I'm pretty neutral about piss games. They don't disgust me, and they can be pretty arousing, particularly when the pissee is being ritually humiliated. But I honestly can't see deliberately wetting your pants in front of someone as being erotic. The nature of pissing is active, like ejaculation, and requires a something or someone to be pissed on. Just pissing for the sake of display seems pretty stupid, especially in that it doesn't arouse the dom. If he whupped her for pissing accidently, then we'd have a story. But this act makes no sense at all.
Otherwise, the writing was OK, so I wanted to give it a B; but I dropped a quarter point because the author forgot to give it a title.
The Pet [B+]
When posted: 11/8/97
Where posted: SSBB (soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm)
Author: KELLI21257
Address: kelli21257@aol.com
A beautiful, bitchy blonde ("two immaculate, tanned, fit, gorgeous legs; a pink and black spandex body stocking tightly hugging a firm, yet voluptuous form; slim but muscular arms reaching for the sky as she stretched out; a beautiful, sun-bronzed face with clear blue eyes and dazzling white teeth; and long, magnificent, shimmering strawberry- blonde hair pulled back into a thick pony-tail") jogging in the park meets a decrepit old man and jeers at him, saying he's way too old to get it up. They make a bet. If he can't, she gets his house. If he can, she has to be his pet for a year. Much to the blonde's amazement, he whips out his dick and produces a King Kong erection, and as the loser she is placed in a pet crate in the back of his station wagon and driven off for a veterinary examination, which is the main part of the story.
This part had similarities to Dr. Phil's work ("The Boss" "Mr. Hyde") and although I can't say it was professional writing, or even writing by someone who's trying to be a professional writer, as amateur porn it had a slutty, over-the-top feel I really liked. Poor Kelli is placed on a metal examination table, vaccinated, probed rectally, then has her pubes and head shaved, then denuded by a chemical to destroy the hair forever. The vet eagerly abets all this, as she's been a rival of Kelli's from their college days. In the end Kelli is given a pink collar with rhinestones, a leash, and led out the door naked with "her naked pate shining in the glaring lights" for more humiliation.
This story was totally unrealistic (Why does Kelli not welch on such an extreme bet? Why is there a fireplace in a vet's examination room? How can a 75-year-old man restrain an athletic young female?) but the cartoonish pleasures it gives just wouldn't have worked with more realism. However, I really can't rate it higher than B+ because of these problems. There were also other writing problems with overdescription and constant switching of point of view. My feeling is that the story can probably be reworked into something more literary and satisfying; but for what it is right now, I liked it, because it's always satisfying to see a bitchy blonde bimbo undergo sexual humiliation, no matter what gender you are.
This story also brings up an interesting point in contrast with "Doc's Orders." Namely, what is so humiliating about losing one's pubic hair? In both these stories, the heroines are shocked, horrified, and turn into globs of weeping goo when their pussies are depilitated. If anyone can be give me analysis, I'd like to know.
Not much to say this week, except, for those of you who run BDSM- oriented websites, I have a new "Kink-Friendly" plaque available on my website to display to everyone your taste, and perhaps draw them in, or warn them off. Instructions for use and copying are available at http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh
The stories:
[story] [no subject provided] [A+]
When posted: 10/10/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: waynet2
Address: waynet2@earthlink.net
A middle aged couple who've been having cybersex for a while sneak away from their spouses for a day and meet in a Holiday Inn, where they have physical sex...tender, sublime, and slutty.
This description doesn't do justice to this story, which was very good, and very hot, and dealt realistically with the angst engendered by infidelity, first dates, and midlife anomie. In fact, it's almost too good for ASS. Dig it up and read it; trust me. Sometimes good stuff comes in unpromising packages. This author should post more.
Fantasies Revisited [B+]
When posted: 10/16/97
Where posted: ASSG
Author: Phoenixfr
Address: phoenixfr@aol.com
In this gay romantic science fiction story (which has similarities to Woody Allen's "Sleeper" and the John Malkovich movie "Making Mr. Right") a scientist wakes up after 99 years in suspended animation. In this brave new world, all those old, guilt-producing family ties like parents and teachers have been tossed out in favor of android companions who anticipate their "master's" every need, even changing form for them, and offer unconditional love and affection as well. That's just what the scientist gets, along with sex up the wazoo.
The writing here suffered from poor proofreading ("exstasy" "he put his arms around his waste") and could have used more polish, but otherwise it was a very nice fantasy.
Overview of Populated Space, 2023 [A-]
When posted: 10/31/97
Where posted: ASS
Author: P.C. Drake
Posted by: Albrecht
Archived at: http://www.alfaskop.net/~albrecht (Furry Pleasures)
Though listed as fur, this story was more *scale.*
Like many of its genre, the story was science fiction as well. A young man applies for a job on a starship crewed by "Dragons"-- a reptilian humanoid race who spend most of their time in deep space scouting habitable planets. He is interviewed by an attractive female Dragon with blue scales, who asks him revealing questions about his sexual preferences and experience...routine for long space missions, she explains, as all members of the crew have to get along. Hearing that the young man is a virgin, she initiates him into sex, making the discovery that human men are better endowed than Dragon men.
The story was well written and entertaining, especially for science fiction fans. The style was a little derivative of Elf Sternberg's, or perhaps of the authors who influenced Elf Sternberg. Things got a little silly toward the end, with "candy flavored cum" and lots of hissing and moaning, but overall, I liked it. How often do you have a man making love to a dragon?
The Misadventures of Jane Jetson [C]
When posted: 11/20/97
Where posted: ASSM, AST (alt.sex.toons)
Author: Thoth
Posted by: Cernovog
Address: cernovog@servtech.com
Like the above, this story also had a science fiction theme...the sexual lives of the familiar Hanna-Barbera space-age family. I don't know about you, but I find the idea of having sex with a cartoon character way, way more bizarre and offputting than any number of sentient Dragons, androids, Vulcans in pon farr, tentacled beasties, or amorphous gobs of protoplasm. I mean, picture George and Jane Jetson in your mind. Then pictured them unclothed with their genitalia exposed. See what I mean?
That said, there was no way this story worked for me, and in fact it made me nauseated. Jane dresses herself in a "Venusian's Secret" teddy to await the return of George, but he falls asleep on her, so she turns first to the Vibratron 3000, an advanced masturbatory servo-droid which has special micropodia attachments for her nipples and a sonic vibrator for her cunt. Then she fucks "her boy, Elroy." My, don't kids grow up fast in this future age! After the naughty incestuous thrills of that escapade, she fucks Astro the family dog, who has a monster penis that finally satisfies her.
Though the writing technique here wasn't bad, I found the story insulting for assuming any woman, cartoon or not, would get turned on by fantasizing her face fucked, then screwing her 9-year-old child and getting humped by a dog. Yeah, I know it's porn, but if it was intended to be amusing, the writer could have used a lighter, more humorous touch. I wouldn't have minded reading about just Jane and the servo-droid dildo. The many stupid cliches the story contained also irritated, from Jane's lapping up jism like Big Boy milkshakes to a child ejaculating to a dog having a large penis. This is against scientific fact...even a small man has, by weight and volume, a larger penis than the largest dog.
Hoover [C]
When posted: 11/20/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Edward Miller
Address: zxcvbnm21@hotmail.com
This one was just as silly as Jane Jetson, but in a different way.
A guy meets a girl at the store. They go home and fuck. After 4 or 5 orgasms, he wakes up in a hospital bed, where it's revealed these orgasms have so depleted him of fluid he had to be carted away in an ambulance.
Though the writing was technically OK, the plot, characters, and storyline weren't there. This wouldn't have bothered me if there was something distinguishing about the sex or sexual characteristics of the people involved, but there wasn't...just run of the mill DD tits and shaved pussy on a blonde bimbo who was described only in the most general of terms: "walking sex, to such a degree that it was almost unbelievable." Then there's the favorite sex act of hot chicks everywhere--hot cum on the tits--and they expand with every squirt, too, even though the story's narrator tries vainly to ignore the spectacle and fall asleep after lovemaking like he usually does.
Actually, this wasn't even a story about a blonde bimbo. It was about a plug-in sex toy. And why on earth was it called "Hoover?" But then, why are dogs called Rover...
X-Rated Shop [B]
When posted: 11/20/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: MrED157897
Address: mred157897@aol.com
For all the sex toy shops there are, it's surprising there aren't more stories about them. In this story, which can probably be safely classified as "wifeslut," a couple goes to one of those video-peepshow places and rents a booth, complete with glory hole. The wife gets so excited she sucks, then fucks, the men who come into the neighboring booth, and the husband in turn fucks her. They both leave later that night feeling like they've really accomplished something.
Like most wifeslut stories this didn't have a lot of background, or a lot of explanation for why the characters did what they did; it simply assumed the reader would receive an erotic understanding of whatever sex acts are portrayed therein. Which is fine, I guess, if you want a lot of mindless, readable sex, but if you're looking for something more substantial, you need a storyline.
Building Bridges [B]
When posted: 11/9/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Nick
Address: nick@cassandra.demon.co.uk
A man goes to visit the girlfriend of a friend of his, who's been revealing certain secrets about him that she shouldn't. It's his intent to confront her with his feelings of betrayal, but he loses his temper and pushes her around some. He discovers that she likes the treatment and wants to show remorse, and they have implied sex.
The story wasn't bad, but it only felt half-complete...because we never see what deep, dark secrets the remorseful woman blabbed to her coworkers. Therefore, neither the hero's nor heroine's behavior holds water...and while I could imagine people behaving this way, it was only with a fair degree of puzzlement.
The story was more interesting for the author's preface to it, which states: "I've been told that this story will get me a reputation which will be hard to shake off! I hope not! Although it involves M/F violence it's not gratuitous and it should be emphasized that I don't condone such things in real life. Its a story about provocation and anger rather than good ol' S&M, but there should be something in it to please anyone. If your worried it does have a happy ending, so if thats not what you're after - well sorry. Read it anyway, you may just like it!" which suggests to me he was self-conscious about it, or feels he should be self-conscious about it within the core group of ASS writers who post most frequently. I find this attitude a little strange. I read bizarre, violent and kinky stuff all the time, as do other ASS authors (no, I'm not naming names) even if they don't write it...and I know for a fact that if the same author writes, say, a romantic little M/F story, and one featuring bondage, rape, violence, and other goodies, the kinky one will draw three and four times as many responses as the "straight" one. I find the attitude that only M/F or F/F consensual stories are morally superior tiresome in light of the very broad, diverse range of sexual attitudes and behaviors adopted by the human race, but hey, I'm just a bystander in all this. It's all just grist for an imaginary doctorate.
I've heard of a shocking new development concerning archival of
web material. The program is called Alexa and, like Deja News, it
allows access to material that no longer exists on ISP servers. In this
case, however, the material in question is websites. The people
behind the development of this program intend it to systematically
archive *every website currently in existence* to provide a virtual
museum of "our electronic heritage" for future historians.
Now, whether this is bad or good depends on your point of view. If you're a historian or have a dumb little homepage somewhere devoted to your unicorn poems and needlepoint, fine. If you run an *adult* website, the implications are enormous, because anyone, future spouses, employers, children, may access long after the site is taken down. Or what of vengeful ex-spouses or lovers? Or vengeful writers, who don't like how their stories have become your money- making machine? Or lawyers?
More information about this development can be accessed at The Mining Company (http://personalweb.miningco.com/index.htm) under Personal web pages.
Remember, if you ever miss a review of *mine,* you can always access it at http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh.
Cabin Fever [B+]
When posted: 11/18/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: LM 1
Posted by: J M MCMURRAY
Poster Address: RNRH85C@prodigy.com
The cabin of the title refers to a cabin cruiser, not a log cabin.
A young man and his fiancee argue, and he leaves the apartment to go cool down on his parents' boat, which is moored at a nearby marina. After he takes a nap, his girlfriend comes around to make up, and they have hot sex in the boat's tiny cabin.
This seems to be one of those BBS stories that have been bopping around for ages, but it was pretty good, giving equal time to the love and respect the young couple have for each other along with the porn. The author has also managed to catch some of the innocence of young love too, as the narrator considers sex on a moored boat the kinkiest thing he's ever done...whereas readers ASS know better!
I am M1ke's Dick [A+]
When posted: 11/16/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: M1ke Hunt
Address: mrm1ke@aol.com
Website: http://members.aol.com/mrm1ke
I got very excited when I saw the title of this story because I thought it was going to be a spoof of that old Reader's Digest human anatomy science series which included "I am Joe's Eyes" (also the title of a 10,000 Maniacs song) and "I am Jane's Ovary" which, I'm not kidding here, was the first adult magazine article I ever read as a child. That the story wasn't shows my age perhaps, and M1ke's, but it was something just as good: a send up of the television industry, federally-funded PBS in particular.
The story is told through a series of memos, transcripts, emails, and phone conversations, all in present tense. Some producers at PBS are producing a documentary about human sexuality, and they enlist M1ke's help. Office politicking being what it is, he's given a ridiculously small salary and sent off to spin his wheels, but he gets a chance to shine when one of the male porn stars becomes sick and it's his dick that takes a turn before the camera instead. Tongue-in- cheek hilarity ensues.
The story was funny not only for its skewering of the industry, but also for the interoffice fighting among the true dickheads who actually produce documentaries like this. The story was also interesting for how the author has woven his online persona into the narrative, complete with mentions of his website address and mailing list. It's every bit as effective a tool (no pun intended) as Maryanne Mohanraj's website, which I review below.
Click here to see Website Review: Maryanne Mohanraj
Curiosity, Parts 1, 2 3 [A]
When posted: 11/16/97
Where posted: ASSG
Author: Davis Trell
Address: DavisTrell@aol.com
The author says of this: "Its plotless and been hanging round too long, so its not great, but I like bits of it. Story sort of peters out. I could have 'forced' a stronger ending, but I let to like the stories dictate their own rhythms." Well, okay; but it was also a very arch, in-crowd paeen to homosexual attraction.
A man goes into a California antique store to look at the porcelain figurines, Greek urns, and French provincial divans, and is attracted to the young man who is the store's clerk. As in his other stories, the writer's chaotic yet masterful command of description made things very interesting, particularly in how he relates the chatchkes to his potential lover ("I held it in my hand, this proud fine-veined flute-columned candelabrum, ornamented below with two gilded orbs, crowned with a gentle brunelleschi-type dome that sparkled as it shone.")
They do have hot sex amidst all the art metaphors, or perhaps in spite of them, and the story ends as the clerk departs to score a sale from a new customer, leaving the narrator stuck in a sort of existential anomie. Well, the ending could have been better, perhaps with the clerk then trying to sell the narrator a piece of bric-a-brac he really isn't interested in (the sex being what he usually does to clinch a sale) but all in all this was an enjoyable read that other writers should read, too, to see what can be done with the English language.
Raven's Journey, Parts 1, 2, 3 [B]
When posted: 11/26/97
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: SupMario
Address: demon@ih2000
Raven, a female assassin in a Dungeons&Dragons-inspired fantasy world, takes on jobs, botches them, falls in love, and gets turned into a were-tiger. This is a continuing series.
This story didn't work for me either as a fantasy adventure or as porn; though the words came fast and furious, the descriptions and situations were cliched and perfunctory...like a fan's first-person gaming adventures with sex tacked on. Though there were no glaring technical errors in the writing, it just wasn't very interesting or involving. I never felt Raven was actually in danger or falling in love, and her ideal form of sex is to immediately impale herself on a man's cock. To be fair, she was a spirited female anti- hero in a genre that has traditionally confined women to roles as booty or loyal fuckmates, but on the other hand, reversing stereotypes carries no interest at all unless you do it well.
Other writers such as Tom Bombadil ("Camara, Lady of the Sword"), Caintigern O'Nial ("Knight Errant"), Elf Sternberg ("Aimee") and Cobalt Jade ("The Black Pearl") have handled the mixture of sex and fantasy a lot better. I suggest this writer read some of their work.
I'm stretched for space at the end of this week, so I'm going to forego
story reviews in favor of two website reviews I've been working on and
a message from Steven. S. Davis concerning soc.subculture.bondage-
bdsm postings. It was posted about a month ago on ASSD, but I only came
across it only recently. I'm repeating it here to promote trans-
newsgroup harmony and also in case any ASS writers would like to post
to this group.
Just a FWIW: soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm, unlike the groups in the soc.sexuality.* hierarchy (whose names make them instant magnets for binaries and ads and so require that they be moderated), is not moderated, though being in a Big * hierarchy gives it an option to become moderated if that proves necessary, an option not effectively available to alt.sex.bondage, the newsgroup to which soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm is the successor group. So far, a combination of a name that doesn't contain the string "sex" and ferocious netcopping against the off-charter articles which do appear has kept the off-charter postings to a manageable level.
There are some stories that appear on SSB (and fiction is expressly permitted by the charter), though stories are a small percentage of the postings to SSB (though there are probably more stories posted to SSB than are now posted to alt.sex.stories.bondage). The stories, of course, generally feature BDSM or nonconsensual activities (nonconsensual activities being accepted in the BDSM community as fiction and fantasy - and only as fiction and fantasy).
By convention, fiction posted to SSB is expected to be prefaced with "STORY", since while fiction is allowed both by the charter and by the ASB traditions which the group inherited, there has always been a portion of the readership that preferred to be able to easily killfile or skip stories. Other labeling conventions are similar to alt.sex.stories, though the author's name is seldom used in the subject line (reposts by other than the author are rare and would probably not be well received without a statement in the text permitting such), and the fact that SSB uses capitalization to denote the "pitcher" (dominant/top/sadist), not the adult party (i.e. F/m means that the party in control is a female and the party being acted upon is male, not that an adult female is interacting with male minor; FWIW, neither the charter nor any ASB tradition bars stories involving children, however SSB has become rather inhospitable to such).
Just a brief overview for anyone who might be considering posting any fiction to SSB.
The soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm FAQ is available from the WWW at: http://www.unrealities.com/adult/ssbb/faq.htm
The soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm charter is available at: http://www.mindspring.com/~frites/charter.htm
Both can be found on the SSB Homepage, the URL of which is: http://www.phszx81.demon.co.uk/ssb/
The Welcome to ASB, almost all of which applies to SSB, can be found at: http://www.mindspring.com/~frites/wel.htm