The Annex Reviews, July 2002
7/20/02 Betsy's Finest Hour (Alexis Siefert); The Machine (Brian); Titos' Adventures (Paladin); Paces (Trilby Else); Callback (Trilby Else); Best of Show (Norm DePloom)
7/7/02
Chris and Dale are a young couple who are immediately attracted to each
other at a cocktail party and decide to spend the night together. Two
years later, the relationship going strong, they marry, working out the
minor problems of family ties and where to have the wedding. The
kicker in the story comes from the fact the couple are never gendered;
they are never referred to as either male or female, so we don't know if
they are gay, straight, or no couple at all, just an empty "pair of tuxedos
at each altar:"
Do YOU believe in love at first sight?
For the record, I believe that love at first sight exists; but whether or not it is a wholly positive thing, or has legs, is another story.
Summer Solstice Romance Festival: POV [A]
A couple have hot sex in the afternoon. Nice, but look who witnesses it: a
pair of pet birds, a dog, and a cat, the dirty business amusingly described
by each pet:
This was a short story, almost a quickflash, and I liked it for the thoughts of the animals, especially the birds; they sounded as bubble-brained as a pair of cockatoos should be. The dog and cat were a little too human, but their reactions did remind me of my own conjugal bed, where, when the going gets heavy, the pet(s) present get covered by a towel, the towel then being whisked off when the business is finished. They are perfectly happy to remain covered, by the way. I have very innocent pets, I know.
Summer Solstice Romance Festival: Chocolate Kisses [A+]
A couple goes about conceiving a child in an unusual way: bondage and chocolate. The husband fetches sacks of candy from the store while, unbeknownst to him, the wife cuffs herself to the bed as a penance for an earlier disagreement. Unbeknownst to her, the husband has decided that this is the night to create their long-delayed fetus.
I liked this story a lot. The writer's style was smooth and engaging, and
the actions of the characters were realistic with the story still being hot.
It seems bondage stories are generally split into two camps: ones written
by professionals heavily into the scene, and ones written by people not
into the scene, but wanting to use the idea of bondage as a story element
for some extra spice. This one was part of a third camp: the amateur
scene, and it summed up the ethos nicely:
The torture we performed was that of delaying sweet release, or
repeatedly inflicting it, or both. The semblance of bondage merely
allowed us the illusion of submission and dominance, to more freely
express ourselves, and to experience what we might not otherwise have
the courage to seek.
The story had other good things in it, such as the equating of a chocolate candy's shape to that of a pregnant creature. Mounds bars will never look the same.
Hilasko [A-]
A young soldier is lost in a snowstorm and tries to find shelter. He receives it from an unusual rescuer: the legendary Lord Melanion Hunter, god of the dead, and hunter of animals and men, who goes about in the form of a wolf. Having no choice, he takes it, and finds out the Lord expects a price for his hospitality: "I fear there is but one bed in my home. Will you share it with me?" What follows is rough semi-bestial sex that leaves the soldier in mingled pain and ecstasy. This story was in one of my favorite genres -- fantasy -- and showed a lot of imagination in the setup of the sexual encounter and its deployment, but the third of the prose that went before was backstory that didn't make a lot of sense. I understood that the soldier was in thrall to his sadistic commander, a woman with a taste for BDSM, and that she used him as an unwilling spy in the war of two neighboring nations... and that the affair culminating in her whipping him bloody over a pit of fire. But it was way too much history for too little story, especially one that ended as abruptly and inconclusively as this one did. I think the writer was reaching for some point about submission and sacrifice, but whatever it was, it was lost on me.
Taste of What you Want [A]
A straightforward lesbian narrates this story ("People assume lesbians are a separate species. They either think we are girls having endless orgies with each other or they think we are women who have yet to meet the right man. Some think we all write poetry while others think I must have had a tattoo by now... I am a lesbian but I am also a person with strengths and weaknesses.") of a hopeless crush and its consequences. The narrator has the hots for another woman at work, but suffers in silence, unsure of how her love object will react. When the love object announces she's getting engaged the narrator is crushed, and sends out a desperate prayer to the cosmos: "Whomever listens to those in love or lust, please answer me. I love a woman who doesn't know me. I feel a consuming hunger for someone who would recoil at my touch. Please don't let this beautiful creature get married to a man." Later that night she has a very strange dream about a male god with two heads and two penises who will grant her the love she wants, but again there's a sexual price to pay: she must submit herself to him. As she finds male/female sex repulsive, the sacrifice is a true one... the irony being she must experience sexual distaste to know what she will be inflicting on her potential partner, who doesn't share her gender orientation. I liked this story a lot and, as in the story above, it seemed to be reaching for some kind of mythic truism. However, the ending disappointed me. I expected the narrator to make the right decision and let her crush go; instead, she reveals she's as ruthless as a man, a shame because she seemed like a likable gal in the beginning. But maybe that was the author's point.
Don't know if this Allison is the same is the one above.
Two Southern belle trophy-wives-in-training meet for lunch and a tete-
a-tete. (The story is told entirely in dialogue.) In between cocktails and
crab salad they talk about their conquests, boob jobs, bikini waxes, and
the effect of alcohol on the sex lives of the alcohol-intolerant:
This story was more anecdotal than plot-driven, but it did have nice
descriptive passages in it, like the one above, and this later one, a
satirical (I hope) look at pubic electrolysis:
This is the Venus Triangle of the title. I liked parts of this story -- enough for an A -- but thought the whole thing went on too long. It would have made more sense to take only one of these conversational subjects -- smashed girl, tits, female conquests, or electrolysis -- and spun a story out of it, with pithier dialogue. I also didn't identify much with the characters. Even though the story seemed to be satire I had the feeling the author was admiring the empty-handed narrators rather than laughing at them. I felt like I was trapped at a cafe table next to some mildly obnoxious guests who wouldn't shut up.
7/20/02
Betsy is a young homeless woman who works in an all-night diner and lives out of a locker at a bus station. When she's attacked by three thugs one night a thin, nondescript man named Howard comes to her rescue, and she takes him back to the diner for some coffee. The two become acquainted.
I didn't think this story was too promising at first -- it began in a purple-prose
way too much like a bad romance novel, with the girl tripping, and being
rescued in the nick of time by the alpha male -- but when the two protagonists
reveal themselves as real people with real problems, things picked up. They
begin to dance to the diner's big-band radio station, their desire growing in an
honest, heartfelt, well, romantic, way:
His arms clenched around me, grinding me against his body. My
nipples, hard from the friction of his jacket, were crushed under
the pressure. The air around us was suddenly thick with desire
and tension and unspoken promise, and I found myself having
difficulty breathing.
Their attraction grows... but fate intervenes when they stop for a quickie in an alley. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I didn't see it coming, and it ties back in with the title of the story. Very neatly, in fact. You might have a tear in your eye. So read this one, but I do recommend that the writer watch the length of her "setup" for bringing two characters together, as the second half of the story was more interesting than the first.
The Machine [B+]
Young Sarah has broken up with her boyfriend and is feeling down, so when she sees a fortune telling booth outside Toys R Us -- a device common in the United Kingdom I guess, and similar to the b&w photo taking booths we have here in the US -- she decides to have her fortune told to cheer herself up. Surprisingly she is not too phased when the machine tells her: "This machine uses a revolutionary new process for reading your future, and to function to the greatest accuracy, it needs the customer's bottom to be bare. If you do not want total accuracy, then you can remain clothed, otherwise, remove the garments from your lower body, and place your bare buttocks on the seat, and fasten the waist and thigh straps." A spanking follows, which the author intends as penance for her argument with her boyfriend. This was an original concept, but could have been done better; the protagonist goes along with it way too easily. I mean, a fortune telling machine that reads your *butt?* Who's gonna fall for that?
Titos' Adventures [A-]
I found these stories (Life as a Warlord, In a Darkened Land, Ryn in Captivity, A Man's Tribe) on the author's website. They are the first four chapters of the much longer "Titos' Adventures" series about the same character.
Titos (not Tito) is a barbarian mercenary in the Conan or Fafhrd mode, with
sexual appetites he is unashamed about. While employed as a captain under the
warlord Rath he captures a pretty elf prince named Ryn who is there on a
diplomatic mission, and semi-rapes him (with the elf's consent; this is not a
brutalization tale.) Realizing later that his boss is sure to abuse the prisoner,
Titos deserts the dark armies and takes Ryn with him, selling him later into
whoredom with a dwarf friend of his: "60/40 of profits only. Very high prices
and few customers but well worth the rate. No more than one a night and no
rough stuff. If the guy looks bad, don't sell." If all this makes him sound
mercenary, he is, but he also has a moral code of his own, made apparent when
the rest of the stories are read... the brothel was his way of keeping Ryn
protected while in enemy territory. Well, his heart's in the right place, at least:
Titos nodded and then looked at Ryn. He had been absolutely still and quiet as
they talked about him. The dwarf took his leave promising fresh supplies on his
horse. Titos slowly removed the gag and waited. But the prince said nothing, so
Titos spoke first. "He means it. You'll be well taken care. Trohan takes care of all
his employees."
Still the elf said nothing.
Titos sighed best leave now. But first. Firmly he grabbed Ryn's chin and turned
him towards him. Drawing him into his fierce and passionate kiss, again Ryn
responded instantly kissing back with deep need, but Titos withdrew.
The warrior paused as he walked out the door. "Don't forget me. I will return."
Behind him he heard the sweet voice whisper. "Never shall I ever forget...
never could I."
Awww! Later adventures deal with the emotional anst generated by the first two stories as Ryn deals with an insistent orc at the brothel and Titos meets a virginal young priest who takes him to a desert tribe with strange customs. The writing was surprisingly sensitive and eloquent for the Howardesque subject matter (the writer also does slash in the Highlander and anime fandoms, so I'd guess she is female) with the captured prince scenario reading more yaoi than hack n' slash. These stories weren't as polished as some of the gay fantasy fiction I've read (they were rife with spelling errors, for one thing) but they had a friendly, charming tone; I could tell the author invested extensively in the characters, which gives a piece of fiction a certain 'magic' even if it is rough and full of plot holes. I was sufficiently involved to return to the site and read on to see how things turned out, the real proof of the pudding for any writer on the net.
Paces [A+]
The mind control genre of sex stories offers some of the best net reading around. And it's not just for those into this fetish or even sex... for character development and psychological depth, a good MC story can't be beat. Not surprisingly, most of the better authors are female. Trilby Else came to my attention in 2000 with the excellently written rape story "Fighting Words" which I praised for its sensual yet disturbing examination of the consequences of rape. Since then, she's written a whole stories of F/F mind control stories that are even more fantastic in premise. In contrast to "Fighting Words," which was firmly rooted in the real world, her more recent stories veer off into alternate world science fiction of the type commonly utilized by writers of slave fiction... plausible near-future scenarios where sinister activities are accepted or go on unimpeded, allowing the writer's imagination full rein.
In "Paces," for example, attractive female criminals are enslaved and
brainwashed into being ponygirls or 'bitches' -- slavish girldogs who faithfully
service their mistresses in bed and out, with the tacit approval of straight
society. This concept -- a high one in movie terms -- provides a frame for a
story told from one bitch's point of view, as her owner-mistress trains both her
and her companion and copes with problems caused by a third bitch who is not
being so readily assimilated. Some of the most compelling parts were those
where the bitches are being 'walked' in the park by their owner-mistress,
naked and on leads:
"Yes, Altair. Now." At the command she tensed and relaxed, and they listened to
her stream hit the moist earth.
When the last of it petered out, Mistress murmured "Good girl!" and Altair smiled
up at Her uncertainly.
"Stay, girl. Capella, clean."
Capella dropped to her knees, suddenly below the other bitch's eye level. She
leaned forward and breathed onto the other's belly before balancing and
leaning further, between her thighs. Delicately she licked the sour piss that
beaded around Altair's smooth cleft, and worked her tongue into it, tasting the
other bitch's flavor gradually strengthen over the sourness. As she heard Altair
start to moan, stimulated beyond her training, Capella slowed down, and when
the other's thighs weakly tried to trap her head her own training drew her
away to kneel again, facing the other bitch.
Holding Altair's eyes, she slowly licked her lips, and smiled as warmly as she
could. It was Mistress' alone to praise and reward Altair, if She chose, for being
so good on her first walk out on a leash, but Capella liked the other bitch and
wanted to help her obey and earn Mistress' praise.
Thoughout the story the writer keeps in the hypnotized victim's POV so she never wonders why she's a bitch, and how and when these changes to society happened. She overhears the transitory conversations but she doesn't understand them, though the reader does... letting us, but not her, piece together the plot. This plot device is masterfully handled and a real accomplishment -- not just for a mind control sex story, but for any sort of story. "Callback" was slightly more complicated, again set in a near-future universe where females are kidnapped, reprogrammed in mind-control pods, and set to work as playtoys and pussylickers for an all-female organization that is never named. The twist comes when some of the victims are yanked out of the process halfway through the process and must deal with not only the physical rigors of escape but their feelings of disorientation at being left amnesiac, horny, and half-brainwashed in alarming ways. The author handles both with skill as the escapees bond as a unit and make their way through the woods, the protagonist of the story finding she's becoming uncomfortably infatuated with the rescue team's surviving member, who is female. All in all the psychological twists and turns were very well done and will keep you reading. There's a shocking ending you'll never see coming, but I warn you, it's not happy. Very well done, and recommended.
Best of Show [A-]
I chose this story to contrast with the girldog tale "Paces" above. With some more fleshing out and some introduction of mind control techniques, it could have been written by the same author. Girl (she has no other name) is leashed and trotted around in an arena setting reminescent of a dog show, but one for submissive females rather than pets. ("The judge walked slowly around Girl, stopping to place a hand firmly on her buttock then move the hand down the back of her thigh, squeezing gently to check her muscle tone. Walking back around to Girl's front the judge thoroughly examined her breasts and nipples to confirm that no surgical procedures had been used to enhance their appearance.") Like the stories above, this state of affairs was never explained. Curious and curiouser, as a writer friend of mine would say. But for a D/s vignette, it was pretty hot, if not exactly original. I'm sure someone has done it, somewhere, before. How could they not? I guess Girldog fiction is officially a new genre of sex story now.
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