RRD No. 2

===========================

NOTES:

(1)  IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 THEN STOP READING NOW!!!!!
(2)  IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY DESCRIPTIONS OF NATURAL ACTS WHICH SOME 
PEOPLE CALL PLEASUREABLE BUT YOU REGARD AS NECESSARY FOR THE 
PERPETUATION OF THE HUMAN RACE THEN STOP READING NOW!!!!!!!
(3)  IF YOU AREN'T SURE IF EITHER (1) OR (2) APPLY TO YOU THEN STOP 
READING NOW!!!!

===========================

Rogue Reviews Digest No. 2 - June 1, 1998

by Lee Vine

Contents

	Reviews

	Rogue Review No. 31 [Glenda by The Bear]
	Rogue Review No. 32 [Wanting by Lord Malinov]
	Rogue Review No. 33 [Desert Rain by Mat Twassel]
	Rogue Review No. 34 [The Dare by Michael K. Smith]
	Rogue Review No. 35 [The Hot Tub by Fin Haddie]
	Rogue Review No. 36 [A Certain Circle in New York by Marc Proust]
	Rogue Review No. 37 [Melody by Crimson Dragon]
	Rogue Review No. 38 [Hank by Greatness]
	Rogue Review No. 39 [Marie's Gift by fcp]
	Rogue Review No. 40 [Saliva by Hugo Alkaviade]
	Rogue Review No. 41 [Anniversary by E. Z. Riter]

Note 1: I have made a change in my review procedure.  I have stopped assigning 
numerical scores.  The Rogue Review No. 30 [Glenda by The Bear] is the 
last story I assigned a numerical score.

Note 2: 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://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/3112/

E-Mail - santiago@switchboardmail.com

======

Rogue Review  No. 31 - May 26, 1998

Glenda by the Bear

M/F

Length: 6,500 words


Summary

John sees Glenda, the twenty-something daughter of a friend of his, 
when he is driving home from work one evening.  He offers her a ride.
She needs a place to stay, so he offers to put her up for a few days.


Commentary

This story was a bit forced.  The plot was simple enough.  The 
characters were not very complex.  The dilemma, whether John should
allow a relationship to develop between himself and Glenda, seemed a 
bit artificial.

The story did seem to get a bit icky sweet towards the end.  It was 
an okay story, but nothing great.


Rating

I give this story a 5 on a scale of 10.

======

Rogue Review  No. 32 - May 26, 1998

Wanting by Lord Malinov

M/F

Length: 1,500 words


Summary

Joe returns to his office in a daze.  Someone has left a rose on a 
his desk.  There is a card that accompanies the rose.  Written on the
card are three words.  I want you.  Joe spends the rest of the day 
trying to figure out who sent him the rose.


Commentary

This was an outstanding story.  There are a few things that I really 
liked about it.  The way Joe wakes up as the story progresses.  His 
little fantasies about each of his female coworkers.  His cautious 
optimism that he can actually figure out who sent him the rose.

The ending was great.  I understood it one way the first time I read 
it and another way the second time I read it.  I am still not sure if
I was right either time.


Judgment

This is a great story.  I would not change a thing.

======

Rogue Review  No. 33 - May 26, 1998

Desert Rain by Mat Twassel

M/F

Length: 1,500 words


Summary

A man walks into a card and gift shop in the desert.  He is looking 
for a map of the local area, but ends up walking out with two 
umbrellas.


Commentary

I really liked this story.  The characters were all deliciously 
anonymous, but at the same time seemed very familiar.  The 
awkwardness of the man and the flirtatious nature of the woman at the
counter worked well together.  It did not feel rushed or forced.  I 
have always considered neckties to be phallic objects, but had never 
thought about belts in the same way.


Judgment

This is a great story.  I would not change a thing.

======

Rogue Review  No. 34 - May 27, 1998

The Dare by Michael K. Smith

M/F, Teen, Exhib

Length: 8,500 words


Summary

Katie issues an Official No-Underwear Dare.  Rebecca and her friends 
agree to the dare.  After giving Charlie Harker an eyeful, Rebecca 
briefly liberates his cock before enveloping it with her mouth.


Commentary

I liked the tension in this story.  I could feel the narrator's 
thrill of doing something verboten for the first time.  Most of the 
story is given away early on, and yet it is still very enjoyable.

The characters were honest and realistic.  The author did an 
excellent job.  He reveals them to the reader rather then tells the 
reader about them.  I think this method is almost always preferable. 
It also fits in nicely with the exhibitionist activities in this 
story.


Judgment

This is a great story.  I would not change a thing.

======

Rogue Review  No. 35 - May 28, 1998

The Hot Tub by Fin Haddie

M/F

Length: 2,200 words


Summary

David is on vacation in Florida.  He is worried that he will not get 
laid.  He does get laid, and in a hot tub.


Commentary

The best things I can say about this story is that is does not do 
some of the things that make for a bad story.  The sex is not 
encyclopedic.  There is a plot, i.e. the sex does not begin with 
the second sentence.  The characters in this story have some 
standards.  Other then that it is just an average story.

The plot was simple.  The characters were not all that exciting.  
There was a dilemma, but it did not take any soul searching on 
David's part for it to be resolved.

The setting seemed generic, and did not have a life of its own.  
Actually it reminded me more of a wasteland, because the characters 
in this story could have been in an oasis in the middle of nowhere 
for all I could tell.

This was not a bad story but it was not a great story.


Judgment

This is a good story, but I would have liked to have seen a little 
more character development and a little more effort put into 
describing the setting.  These are major knocks on this story, but I 
still consider it a good effort.

======

Rogue Review  No. 36 - May 28, 1998

A Certain Circle in New York by Marc Proust

M/F, F/F

Length: 4,100 words


Summary

Simon and Julie have a vanilla sex life.  That changes after Meg 
starts cleaning their place for them.


Commentary

This story leaves a lot of unanswered questions.  That is not 
necessarily a bad thing.  It leaves a lot up to the reader's 
imagination, or perhaps I should say the readers imagination.

Another thing Mr. Proust does is omit quite a few apostrophes.  I got
the impression that he was semi-consistently trying to imitate the 
style of George Bernard Shaw, who if I remember correctly did the 
same.  There was also a certain Pygmalion-esque quality to this 
story, but the part of Henry Higgins in this case was not played by 
a man, but by a woman.

I liked the plot.  It basically tracks the sex life of Simon and 
Julie until it comes to a crashing halt one afternoon.  The 
revolution in Julie's personality was both disturbing and arousing.  
Simons reaction to it seemed typically male.

This story leaves me wanting more details about Simon and Julie and 
Meg.  It is a very narrow view that Marc Proust gives us, but is done
so well that it is hard to fault him.


Judgment

This story was excellent, but I would have liked a little more of 
something.  This is a minor consideration and expresses an extremely
subjective desire on my part.

======

Rogue Review  No. 37 - May 29, 1998

Melody by Crimson Dragon

No Sex

Length: 5,600 words


Summary

Terri is attending the company party.  She unsuccessfully attempts to
strike up a conversation with Melody.  After getting home that night,
she gets a call from Melody, who is in tears.  Terri comforts her and
in the process learns quite a bit about her.


Commentary

This is a touching story.  It is very well paced.  The descriptions 
are good.  The author did an excellent job of conveying the mood.

I could not help but like the characters.  What they did and how they
spoke revealed as much about them as what they said.  This is not an 
upbeat story, but it is well written.

There were places in the dialogue where periods were used too freely, 
specifically to indicate hesitation.  That seemed an inappropriate usage 
to me.  There were a couple of places where an adverb should have been 
used instead of an adjective or the wrong tense was used.


Judgment

This was an excellent story, but a little more editing would have 
helped.

======

Rogue Review  No. 38 - May 29, 1998

Hank by Greatness

M/F, Inc, NC

Length: 5,200 words


Summary

Hank's beautiful sister, Caroline, gets drunk and passes out.  He is 
drunk himself, so he takes advantage of her.


Commentary

This story bothered me.  The only character that seemed a little more
than just a caricature was Hank.  Caroline was just a body.  She may 
have been conscious for part of this story, but her only role was as 
a receptacle for Hank's cum.

The author tried to make this story appear consensual by saying, at 
the end, that Hank's sister was never asleep.  She wanted exactly 
what she got and more.  Whether she wanted what she got or not, Hank 
took advantage of her believing that she was unconscious.  Of course 
this character, Caroline, was just a shell, without much of a 
personality, so maybe the author is right, and maybe the sex was 
consensual.  To me, non-consensual sex means that one partner has 
not in some way indicated a willingness to participate.  Passing out 
drunk, or appearing to pass out drunk, does not indicate willingness 
to me.

There was not much to this story to begin with. The cop out excuses 
and the lack of plot or character development did not help.  If you 
are going to write a non-consensual story then label it as such.  
Trying to avoid the non-consensual label by including a half-assed 
explanation, at the end, makes your writing even less credible.


Judgment

This was not a good story.  The set up was not bad, but once the sex 
began plot and character development went out the window.

======

Rogue Review  No. 39 - May 31, 1998

Marie's Gift by fcp

M/F

Length: 3,800 words


Summary

James' war wounds are healed and Donna's eyes are opened to new 
options in their sex life after an interesting night of playing 
bridge with their neighbors.


Commentary

This was a nicely paced story.  The author did a good job of not 
filling in too many of the details.  It was soft and subtle.  It did 
not come out and grab me, but rather drew me in by making me think.

The author did a good job with the plot and characters.  Most of the 
descriptions helped to bring the story to life, however the card game
and sex scene left something to be desired.  The former because it 
was so technical.  I am not familiar with the game of bridge.  The 
latter because it lacked feeling.  It was not totally devoid of 
emotion, but James tears were the only ones I felt.


Judgment

This was a good story, but the description of bridge was hard to 
follow and the sex seemed mechanical.  

======

Rogue Review  No. 40 - May 31, 1998

Saliva by Hugo Alkaviade

M-solo, Teen

Length: 2,500 words


Summary

Michael spends a day fantasizing about Christine, a girl who rejected 
his advances.  He gets revenge on her by sneaking into the girl's 
locker room and beating off in her panties.


Commentary

This was a very well written story.  The author has a nice light 
touch.  His descriptions are not always central to the plot, but they
do help to set the mood.  He does not spend too much time describing 
any one thing.  The humor was dry, and witty.

I was a bit disturbed by this story.  The narrator's feelings are not
incomprehensible.  His actions, on the other hand, are a bit over the
edge.  This is only a story, but it still gave me a creepy feeling.

Despite my mixed feelings, well written but creepy, I liked this 
story.  The author did not get into rape or torture, which it seems 
would be a logical expansion for some writers.  I look forward to 
reading more by Mr. Alkaviade, but hopefully the tone will not always
be the same.


Judgment

This was an excellent story.  I would not change a thing.

======

Rogue Review  No. 41 - May 31, 1998

Anniversary by E. Z. Riter

M/F

Length: 2,700 words


Summary

A couple celebrates their anniversary.


Commentary

My summary cannot begin to describe this story.  It is a simple 
concept, but the way this author has done it makes it look like so 
much more.  When I began to read it I thought I knew what the author 
was doing.  I envisioned mechanical descriptions of body parts.  I 
was wrong.  He does not go into heavy details, but those he gives are
more than enough to set the mood and stimulate the imagination of the
reader.

It might have been nice to have seen the couple in a less amorous 
situation.  What are their day-to-day lives like?  We get hints, but 
that is all.  If I wanted to be picky this is where my criticism 
would begin.  If I reread it a few more times I might spot an awkward
sentence or two, but I cannot find anything seriously wrong with this
story.  It is well written, well paced, and well told.  The 
characters are not fully rounded, but they are real enough.


Judgment

This was an outstanding story.  I would not change a thing.

======

06/01/98