"Foreplay" by Uther Pendragon (an569889@anon.penet.fi). Bob and Jeanette are newlyweds. They had refrained from sex with each other until after marriage. Bob is willing to remain committed to just this one wonderful woman for his whole life, but sex is very important to him; and he knows that Jeanette does not share his enthusiasm. Bob has suggested one night a week for experiments, or "games." Jeanette has agreed on the condition that she can choose half the games. Bob has agreed; and her first suggestion was the game called "missionary position." Hence Bob's concern about his sexual future.

Therefore, for his own first game Bob sets out to make sex so wonderful for his wife that she will crave sex even more than he does. This story describes a night of lovemaking when he gives her the royal treatment. The sex is very tender and passionate, and the descriptions are vivid. The author shifts perspectives to convey the conflicting or complementary emotions of both people.

This is a revision of an initial version of this story. I criticized the prose in the original story as too workmanlike. I said I would have liked to have seen some more metaphors or poetic insights. The revised version is a marvelous improvement; it exudes exuberance that simply was not present in the earlier version. I would like to think that my suggestions prompted this improvement; but more likely the author got lucky or got religion and the new worldview led to the improvements.

This was a very good story, and I sincerely enjoyed the description of "conventional" sex from a highly romantic perspective. A lot of readers will recognize themselves in this story (if they are lucky), and a lot of others will wish they had had a sexual tutor similar to this husband.