"Ellen" by Dirty Dawg (drambo@primenet.com). What a relief! For a while there, I thought maybe I was getting too picky. After so many 10's in Celestial Reviews 15, I was on a string of stories that were not bad, but also not really excellent. This one *is* really excellent. The common theme in all of the stories I have read by this author is a person at first under-valuing another person and then falling deeply in love with that person. (I guess some diversity would be good. Nothing in these stories really surprises me, once I know who the author is. If this sounds monotonous, just don't read too many of this author's romantic stories in one week.) In this case, the story is told from the perspective of the woman, who is older and more experienced than the man.

The sex in this story is both tender and hot by any standard. However, what I liked best about this story was its intelligent treatment of an adult virgin's initiation into sexual activity. Having participated in such an activity myself, I am sometimes annoyed when a.s.s. authors tend to treat rapists, pedophiles, and enthusiasts of D&s, water sports, and all kinds of other activities as normal and adult virgins as freaks. (Don't flame me. I'm not down on D&s or water sports. Read on!)

I do not mean this as criticism of non-virgins. This is not a call to repent! I truly see no harm in fantasizing about and participating in a wide range of sexy activities; and I do not demand that everyone subscribe to my own value system. But I would like to request simple equality for virgins. Not all of us who made it to adulthood as virgins are destined to be permanently less responsive sexually than those who started doing it when they were twelve or thirteen years old (nor, I might add, are we necessarily morally superior). All I am saying is that pre-marital virginity is a viable lifestyle choice and actually a pretty good choice in the modern world; and my husband and I have had the audacity to recommend it for our children. There really can be something beautiful in having one's first sexual experience occur as part of a loving and consensual adult relationship. (Hell, I actually married the guy before we made love! Why should I have to be embarrassed about that? Our relationship has worked out wonderfully.) Why are there no stories at all on a.s.s. about people who wait till they are married to have sex? I'm not demanding that people adopt this practice - just recommending it over some other alternatives.

Anyhow, this story does a good job of describing such a first experience - and lots of subsequent "firsts." The sexually experienced woman at first thinks she will control her partner or at least have to teach her inexperienced lover about sex, and he also initially subscribes to this belief; but by the end of the story it becomes obvious that he is bringing as much to this really hot relationship as she is.