Rogue Reviews Digest No. 30 - February 1, 1999


  NOTICE

If you are easily offended, not of the required legal age, or 
material of an erotic nature is illegal where you are, then do not 
read what follows.


  CONTENTS

Mailing List Information

Ratings

Note

Reviews

  "Helena" by E. Z. Riter
  "Mom's Dirty Dancing" by TDLC
  "New Year's Eve" by Al Steiner
  "The Problems of Utilitarianism" by Uther Pendragon
  "Summer Camp II" by MichaelD38
  "Valerie" by JS3729


*****


  MAILING LIST INFORMATION

I send my reviews individually, when I finish them, to the Sex Stories 
Discussion List.  If you are interested in joining there is a form for 
doing so on my home page.

* Home Page - http://www92.pair.com/leevine/rogue-reviews/
* E-Mail - santiago@switchboardmail.com


*****


  RATINGS

In order from best to worst I rate stories as follows:

Outstanding
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Grudgingly Good
Not Good

The "Outstanding", "Excellent", "Very Good", and "Good" ratings 
indicate, to varying degrees, that I like the story.

The "Grudgingly Good" rating indicates that I think the story is 
well written, but that I find some of the elements in the story 
so disturbing that if I were to review the story based solely on 
my personal tastes I would give it a "Not Good" rating.

The "Not Good" rating indicates that I do not like the story.


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Arousal Factor - This is a measurement of how arousing I found a 
story to be.

Story Factor - This is a measurement of how good I found a story to 
be, devoid of whether there is a lot of sex in it or not.  In 
determining the story factor I take into consideration the plot, the 
characters, and other more technical aspects, such as spelling and 
grammar.  

Possible values for Arousal and Story Factor are, in ascending order: 

   Nonexistent, Low, Average, High, Ultra


*****


  REVIEWS


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Rogue Review No. 294 - January 2, 1999

Helena by E. Z. Riter

M/F, NC

Length: 4,500 words

Rating: Grudgingly Good

Arousal Factor: Average
Story Factor: Average


  SUMMARY

Dan agrees to help a young couple work off their gambling debts by 
paying for the wife's services.


  COMMENTARY

I've got mixed feelings about this story.

It is not my cup of tea.  Regardless of whether Helena, deep down 
inside, was perfectly okay with working off her debts by sleeping 
with a complete stranger or not, for the most part this story made my
skin crawl.  I'll admit that I was aroused by the way Helena 
responded to Dan's commands, but at the same time I still was not 
over the feeling that something about this scenario was very wrong.

Technically, it is well written.  I just had a hard time identifying 
with either character.  That made the story less enjoyable for me.


  LINK

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=432861350&fmt=raw


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Rogue Review No. 301 - January 16, 1999

Summer Camp II by MichaelD38

M/F, M/F/F, Teen

Length: 28,200 words

Rating: Very Good

Arousal Factor: Average
Story Factor: High


  SUMMARY

Mitch and Beth encounter personal and professional problems during 
the first summer that they are in charge of the camp.

Plot A: Brittany loves Mitch, who happens to be engaged to be Beth.  
Mitch is not about to leave Beth for Britanny, but that does not 
mean that he does not care for her.

Plot B: Brittany is supposed to seduce Rich, and introduce him to 
the sorority.  She gets cold feet, but Karin is more than willing 
to take her place.

Plot C: Someone is spying on the camp.  Mitch's fears that it is 
a child pornographer.

Plot D: Leslie seems to know just a bit too much about sex, for a 
13-year-old.  Beth and Mitch are concerned.


  COMMENTARY

This story is too complex.  It felt like the author tried to jam 
too much into too short a story.  I think it probably would have 
worked better if the author had broken this story up into a 
couple stories.

The serious parts, "C" and "D", were handled too tritely to 
satisfy me.  At the same time, the serious plot lines were not 
arousing.  They made my pickle wilt and made me cringe inwardly.  
They also did not seem to be very well integrated with the other 
two plot lines, "A" and "B".

At least one thing in this story made me laugh.  The scene where 
Mitch gives in and agrees to sleep with two of the campers.  
Their names are Courtney and Monica.  The first thing that came 
to mind is the NBC sitcom Friends.  There is also a character 
named Chandler in this story.  Was this done on purpose?

My basic gripe with this story is that while the individual 
plots are reasonably well handled, I don't think it works to have 
them all in a story as short as this one is.  My favorite plot 
line is "A".


  LINKS

http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16821.txt [1/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16819.txt [2/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16820.txt [3/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16826.txt [4/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16825.txt [5/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16827.txt [6/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16822.txt [7/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16823.txt [8/9]
http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/16824.txt [9/9]

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631638&fmt=raw [1/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406628164&fmt=raw [2/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406628166&fmt=raw [3/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631665&fmt=raw [4/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631661&fmt=raw [5/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631669&fmt=raw [6/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631643&fmt=raw [7/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631649&fmt=raw [8/9]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=406631654&fmt=raw [9/9]


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Rogue Review No. 302 - January 17, 1999

The Problems of Utilitarianism by Uther Pendragon

f/M, Teen

Length: 11,500 words

Rating: Very Good

Arousal Factor: Average
Story Factor: High


  SUMMARY

Johanna, an 18-year-old who has graduated from college and is 
starting graduate work, discusses sex with Jeremy, a friend of her 
father.


  COMMENTARY

This story is a wordier than your average sex story.  The author has 
mixed together an intellectual discussion of sex and a May-December 
romance.  I think he's done a pretty good job.  The two parts balance
rather nicely.  If anything threw me for a loop it was the transition
from one to the other, i.e. one minute they are engaged in a 
philosophical discussion of Johanna's sex life and the next minute 
Jeremy has his tongue buried in her pussy.

This is not your garden variety sex story.  Sex is central to 
the story's plot, but it is not the be all end all of the story.


  LINKS

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=435541794&fmt=raw [1/3]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=435541800&fmt=raw [2/3]
http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=435541806&fmt=raw [3/3]


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Rogue Review No. 303 - January 26, 1999

New Year's Eve by Al Steiner

M/F

Length: 6,600 words

Rating: Very Good

Arousal Factor: Average
Story Factor: High


  SUMMARY

Two couples swap partners on New Years Eve.


  COMMENTARY

This is a well written story.  The author has taken the time to set 
up the story properly.  If you do not like plot or background then 
you may want to skip the first half of this story.

Considering all the work that the author put into setting the story 
up, I found the action to be a bit disappointing.  It is not there 
was not enough of it, but that after taking the time to describe the 
world that his characters live in he more or less isolates them from 
it.

I'm not saying that I don't like buildup, because I do.  I'm not 
saying that I didn't enjoy this story, because I did.  I just think 
that I might have enjoyed this story more if the buildup had either 
been shorter, or more directly related to the action in the story.


  LINKS

http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year99/19293.txt

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=435943118&fmt=raw


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Rogue Review No. 304 - January 28, 1999

Valerie by JS3729

M/F, F/F, Cons, NC

Length: 17,700 words

Rating: Grudgingly Good

Arousal Factor: Average
Story Factor: Low


  SUMMARY

Kevin returns to hometown after his wife dies.  He runs into his 
high school sweetheart, who he has not seen in over twenty years, 
as well as a few other people from his past.


  COMMENTARY

I commend this author for trying to write a story that has a plot.  
Generally speaking, sex stories with plots are better than those 
without.  The fact that there was some build up to the sex made it, 
for the most part, more arousing that it would have been otherwise.

One problem I had with this story was the rapid fire manner in which 
it is told.  There are no lulls in the action.  The story proceeds at
an extremely quick pace.  Because of this, it was hard to take it at 
face value.  It seemed more melodramatic than serious.

On the other hand, the melodramatic mood did soften a couple other 
elements that I found disturbing.  The first, was a scene in which 
one of the characters is punished by being raped.  Considering the 
tone of the story up until this point I did not see this coming.  The
fact that the story for the most part did not seem to take itself 
seriously made it easier for me to stomach this scene, but I still 
found it distasteful.  The story coding did not include "nc" or 
"rape"; it should have.

The other element that bothered me was not quite as overt.  If I went
to some lengths I might be able to "prove" that it is present, but 
I'll settle for telling you how it struck me.  I am referring to what
seemed to be a homophobic message in the story line.  At first it 
seems that the main character just has a problem with accepting 
lesbianism and bisexuality, but by the end of the story it seems as 
if part of the authors intent in writing this story was to show how 
he or she believes things ought to be.

If you eliminated the homophobia and the rape from this story it 
would still need some work.  The plot is extremely complicated and 
would have worked better for me if it had been paced a little more 
slowly.


  LINKS

http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/18098.txt

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=423890770&fmt=raw


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Rogue Review No. 305 - January 31, 1999

Mom's Dirty Dancing by TDLC

M/F, Inc

Length: 2,400 words

Rating: Very Good

Arousal Factor: High
Story Factor: Average


  SUMMARY

Told in the first person, a young man in his mid twenties gets a 
lesson in dirty dancing from his mother.


  COMMENTARY

This story works for me.  It is stroke material, but it is well 
handled stroke material.  The story does not begin with sex and 
the author takes his time in building up to the sex.  The 
characters did not seem too far fetched, for an incest story.


  LINK

http://search.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=428472830&fmt=raw


*****


2/1/99