"Unexpected Company" by Eric Shon (EricShon@aol.com). Guest review by BillyG (hayden@mindless.com).
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It has been a recurrent complaint of mine, often voiced in these reviews, that too many of the a.s.s. offerings are little more than wham-bam, teenage fantasies peopled with two-dimensional players set in an improbable and contrived paper-thin plot littered with anatomic measurements. "What happened," I lamented, "to the substantive plots filled with rich and believable detail played out by *real* people?" (This lamentation has been most commonly offered in my own fantasy that it once *was* that way. Ha.)

Well, if he was ever gone, he's back. Eric Shon's offering, "Unexpected Company" is a far cry from any cardboard story. It's believable, rich in it's fabric and moves more like an account of a real story. It's the slow pace, the gradual unfolding of the deepening plot peopled with characters we come to know and root for.

At the outset, we might say, "A horny dude with a nice house and his unexpected company, his sexy niece? Yeah, sure. We know where this one's going." Surprise. It doesn't fall with terminal velocity into the expected. In fact, it moves slowly, even tantalizingly, gradually unveiling, teasing, almost-promising and then drawing back. The 'certainty' become less certain. We *think* we know how it's going to evolve and then suddenly, it doesn't. The tension builds, becoming sweeter and more seductive.

This story's not a quick read. To the contrary, it's best read in small bites. Too often, I'm 'impaired' by a speed-reading capacity that takes in gulps and large drafts of art that might enable me to do well on a test, but misses the beauty. At times, I have to consciously slow myself down to savor the art. As love making is not all about getting off, I need to enjoy the process. It's the journey, not the destination.

I must admit to a point of disconnect. In contrast to the delightful, slow- as-molasses development of the first ninety percent of the story, the last bit and the conclusion suddenly leaps out of chronological context and careens off in near-free-fall velocity. It's like, "Holy shit! What happened?" Maybe Shon became fatigued and decided to end it. I know what that's like.

Shon's story, I think, is best appreciated in smaller bites, for they're delicious in themselves. This is a thumbs-up story worth of a 10.