"First Love" by Unknown Author. This story presents an interesting paradox. I don't know who wrote it or how it got posted. I want to review it and give it some publicity, because it is good. On the other hand, I don't want to violate the author's copyright privileges. I don't mind associating with and befriending people who write about topics that are taboo to "decent society"; in fact I find most of the people who write for and lurk on this newsgroup to be interesting, intelligent people with whom I share common interests. But I draw the line at copyright infringement. The authors work hard on these stories, and they deserve to receive credit for their own work.

Using simple logic, since I know two people who say they got this story through this newsgroup, I think I can assume that it was posted here at least once. In general people who post are willing to have their work reposted in the same forum; or even better, they'll repost it themselves if they become aware of the request to do so. Therefore, what I am going to do is post this REVIEW and let someone else (either a reposter like Red Dragon, who seems to have an extensive collection, or the author him/herself) repost the actual story.

After I read the first few lines of this story, I simply could not put it down. This story is long - real long - nearly 95,000 words long. I knew I should have been correcting my students' papers and going over the next day's lesson; but I rationalized by telling myself that this story was about kids like those I teach, and this story would help me understand those kids better. Right! That's the ticket! Read this story for its pedagogical value.

The story focuses primarily on a young girl going through her high school years and her first sexual experiences. Aside from its interesting plot, what I liked most about this story was its realistic use of interesting details and events. For example, without realizing that the answering machine is recording his entire conversation, Matt brags to his friend on the telephone about his conquest of Jen. His parents listen to the recording and have to confront him. Later, Matt gets beat up by Jen's former boyfriend. When he gets home afterwards, his mother hastily assumes that Jen had something to do with the beating and angrily drags Matt off to Jen's house to confront her. It is difficult to predict the reaction of the protagonists to these subtle but interesting events; and they greatly enrich the plot as it unfolds.

Jen and the others in the story experience occasional communication problems - usually arising from moods and an inability to express emotions correctly. These problems are common among young people going through adolescence. The author understands these problems thoroughly and does a good job of setting them up and bringing them to resolution. What this story actually reads like is a juiced-up Judy Blume novel. I'm certain it's not, since I have read all of that author's acknowledged work. Wouldn't it be nice if kids could read and discuss a book like this in their English classes? They can't, of course, because it talks about kids having sex and uses words like clit, cum, and cunt. The characters also engage in ecstatic sex that is a lot of fun and in irresponsible activities that cause them really serious problems. Of course, since high school kids don't have sex and don't know the meaning of clit, cum, and cunt, they shouldn't read a story like this - even if the vicarious experience might help them deal with some of those problems in their own lives. They should read "The Scarlet Letter" and "Moby Dick" instead. The good news is that in schools all over the country we are forcing kids to read Hawthorne and Melville, and their predominant reaction is to think those authors really suck. Kids mean nothing personal against those authors when they say things like that - they have no idea what those stories are about anyway, unless they read Cliff's Notes. Since the present story is banned for them, they'll almost certainly read it, enjoy it, and learn from it. I certainly hope somebody reposts this story soon, so that the young people who don't lurk on this newsgroup can not read it.