"Tabitha" by MountainTop (Topspace4@aol.com). This story is a blend of what appears to be accurate information about some of the women who work in stripper bars and the narrator's fantasy about what he would like to have done with one of these women. The narrator visits a bar while he is away on a business trip, and he meets Tabitha, who has sexual interests that are similar to his own. At first she gets to know him by reading his stories and then she ventures off to his motel with him. They don't actually copulate, but they engage in several erotic D&s activities together.

My criticism of many D&s stories is that they often don't make sense to an outsider. That may be fine for the author, if he wants to write only for insiders - people who are already turned on to D&s and simply want to see some stereotypical rituals performed in a different context. This author avoids that pitfall: as I read the story I got the impression that I was experiencing some aspects of life that were not familiar to me, and they made sense to me. I'm not inspired to go out and try the same things, but I have s slightly better understanding of people who do so. I appreciate that in a story.

I might add that my own experiences with stripper bars have been far different from this. I have visited such establishments only when I was out of town (far from my students, their parents, and school board members) and in the company of my husband. My impression has been that these are often tawdry places where the dancers are extremely artificial and not all that attractive and have a lot more pressing things on their rather mundane minds than revealing their titillating personalities or having philosophical discussions with fascinating customers. Of course, maybe one gets a different response if one selects the establishment more carefully, tips more robustly, and isn't obviously accompanied by one's spouse.