Celestial Reviews 131 - Nov 2, 1996

Note:  The story “First Love”, which I praised so highly in my review, 
has just recently been reposted with the title line “Celestially 
praised: FIRST LOVE (mf teen, story, love) Ch. 1-14.”  Two other 
postings (with similar title lines) contain the rest of the chapters in 
the story.  I rated this my Top Story for October; and so if you missed 
the review, you can find it under “Celeste’s Top 15 Stories - Oct 
1996.”  Both the story and the review can also be accessed through the 
Deja News search engine.

This story is also available from The BackDrop Club. Order it in two 
parts as"1stlovga.zip" and "1stlovgb.zip". The BackDrop Club  offers a 
service of helping people who are looking for a specific file, story, 
or a chapter or section of a story. If you are an adult and know the 
name of the file you wish to receive, send a request using the 
following format:

TO:       file.archives@backdrop.com
SUBJECT:  (the name of the file you wish as a single word)

I HAVE used this service myself, and it is my opinion that it is NOT a 
rip-off.  If you need more information, contact robin@backdrop.com.  
The BackDrop Club also has a Web Page at http://www.fantasies.com.

- Celeste

      “Masks - A Horror Story” by Tom Bombadil (Halloween)
            10, 10, 10
      “I Promise” by Tom Bombadil (romance) 10, 9, 10
      “Cobbler’s Bench” by Dafney Dewitt (Truth or Dare) 
            10, 10, 10
      “Rollo and Jeanette Are Dead” by PleaseCain (death &
            depression) 10, 7, 6
      “Dessert” by DJ (romance, voyeurism, & exhibitionism)
            10, 9, 9
      “Nancy Delivers” by Robotdoll (hypnosis & zombie
            sex) 10, 9, 6
      “The Prize” by Ann Douglas (romantic threesome) 
           10, 10, 10
      “Prenatal” by Mark Aster (pregnant thoughts) 10, 9.5, 10
      “Nextdoor” by Friar Dave (surprise!) 10, 10, 10
      “Hot for Hillary” by B. Traven (political intrigue & sex)
            8, 7, 7

Note: Someone is reposting Deirdre’s stories.  I got a little behind 
with the special Halloween Issue.  I am trying to catch up by reposting 
these reviews:

    * “Basement” by Deirdre (whipping) 10, 8, 8
    * "Beach" by Deirdre (nudity and romance in the dark) 
            10, 9, 8
    * "Bet" by Deirdre (submission and slavery) 10, 8, 8
    * "Big" by Deirdre (Breast fetish) 9, 6, 6
    * "Birthday" by Deirdre (mf bondage & anal sex) 10, 10, 10
    * "Bracelet" by Deirdre (spanking English teachers) 10, 8, 8
    * "Bride" by Deirdre (sex at wedding reception) 9, 7, 6
    * "Bridesmaid" by Deirdre (training for marriage) 10, 10, 10
    * "Brother" by Deirdre (fantasy about brother) 10, 8, 8
    * "Cabin" by Deirdre (Hypnotism and sex) 9, 8, 8
    * "Camp" by Deirdre (seduction & sex slavery) 10, 8, 7 
    * "Checkup" by Deirdre (Physical examination) 9, 6, 6
    * “Cheerleader” by Deirdre (anal sex) 9.5, 9, 8.5
    * "Chest" by Deirdre (Breast fetish) 10, 6, 6
    * "Clean" by Deirdre (Sexy Housecleaning) 10, 9, 8
    * "Clique" by Deirdre (bondage & dominance) 9, 6, 5
    * "Closet" by Deirdre (D&s, whipping, etc.) 10, 8, 8
    * "Coffee" by Deirdre (voyeurism and spanking) 10, 10, 10
    * "Compensation" by Deirdre (anal sex) 9, 8, 7
    * "Company" by Deirdre (breasts & bondage) 10, 10, 10
    * "Convention" by Deirdre (bondage & anal sex) 10, 10, 10
    * "Couch" by deirdre (Voyeurism) 10, 8, 8
    * "Cousin" by Deirdre (mild ff dom) 10, 9, 9
    * "Cozy" by Deirdre (anal sex and light D&s) 10, 9, 9

* Repost of a previous review (because the story has recently
    been reposted).

“Masks - A Horror Story” by Tom Bombadil (stbush@iglou.com).  This 
story arrived the day after I posted my Halloween Special Issue of 
Celestial Reviews; but better late than never!  The story begins with a 
John contemplating his imminent demise - that is, he is waiting to be 
killed as part of some kind of ritual that evening, after being held in 
chains for a year since last Halloween.  We don’t initially know the 
complete rationale, but it sure sounds spooky - and morbid.  In stark 
contrast, this first plot alternates with another in which Wally and 
Jennifer are participating in a festive soiree being conducted by some 
student athletes on the eve of All Saints Day  - that is, some football 
players are having a Halloween beer bash.  A vampire countess and a 
beautiful witch crash the Halloween party.  Needless to say, these two 
are the real McCoy.  The connection between the two plots is that the 
party crashers are recruiting for their next cycle of human sacrifices.  
This story is certainly vivid and well written; but it’s not for the 
weak of heart - or stomach.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Ratings for “Masks”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“I Promise” by Tom Bombadil (stbush@iglou.com).  This is a very 
difficult story for me to write a review about.  Especially in the case 
of a really good story, I like to summarize the plot without ruining 
its potential interest and also to discuss important ideas or 
techniques that may arise.  The problem with this story is that it 
depends very heavily and successfully on releasing ideas a few at a 
time; and so I can’t tell you much about story without releasing those 
ideas and ruining the story for you.  {Incidentally, this story is a 
good example of when NOT to use the alphabet soup abbreviations.  They 
would ruin the story by eliminating all surprise from the plot.}

I guess I can tell you that Chris and Di are an interracial (black and 
white) couple planning to get married shortly after Di graduates from 
high.  Not many people are exactly enthusiastic about the relationship; 
but Chris’s family seems resigned to the idea that they will at least 
live together.  The two are deeply devoted to each other, engage in a 
lot of kissy-kissy, and look forward to having a family - although they 
are not sure their community will accept them.  My summary makes the 
story sound blah; but the details make it much more interesting as the 
plot unfolds.

I gave the story a 9 for “plot and character.”  That’s because the 
story frequently confused me, and I had to dock the author somewhere 
for this confusion.  The problem is that almost all of the story 
consists of dialogue, and I often had trouble figuring out who was 
talking and who was listening.  Sometimes even when I went back and 
checked from the beginning of a section I couldn’t figure out whether 
an emotion being expressed belonged to Chris or to Di.  Some of this 
confusion, I discovered later, was deliberate - that is, things weren’t 
what they seemed to be, and the author probably wanted me to feel that 
ambivalence.  The author wanted to keep me confused so that he could 
spring surprises on me; but some of the confusion was inappropriate.  
The author tried to help by putting clues into the dialogue (e.g., if 
the speaker says “honeychile”, that must be Chris); but some of these 
clues worked for me only in retrospect.  However, it’s easier to point 
out this problem than to solve it.  I have to give the author credit 
for at least trying an interesting approach.  And it IS a very good 
story.

Ratings for “I Promise”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“The Cobbler’s Bench” by Dafney Dewitt.  The four female friends have 
gathered and Jackie’s house to play Truth or Dare. It will be a night 
for telling stories. The rules of the game are simple. Each of the 
women will try to tell the scariest, sexiest story that she can.  The 
others have to guess if the story is True or just a Daring Lie.  
Whoever tells the scariest, sexiest story that is believed to be true 
will win. The only other rule is that there are no other rules.  
Everything is fair game.  The winner can do anything to win.

The other important element of the story is that Jackie tells her 
friends that her daughter’s pet ferret has escaped. Of course, ferrets  
like to burrow into very small dark holes.  If you pull on their tails, 
they may bite.  Many pet owners have had their fingers bitten to the 
bone and nearly amputated.  The Japanese are reputed to have used 
ferrets to torture prisoners.  I wonder what role the ferret will play 
in this story!

This was a thoroughly enjoyable story!

Ratings for “The Cobbler’s Bench”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“Rollo and Jeanette Are Dead” by PleaseCain (pleasecain@aol.com).  The 
narrator is sad because two people (apparently his brother and sister) 
have died.  His twin sister joins him for the funeral.  This story is 
all emotion with no plot.  If you want to feel depressed for a while, 
take a look at this story.

Ratings for “Rollo and Jeanette Are Dead”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 7
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

“Dessert” by DJ (103666.3074@CompuServe.COM).  John is a dirty young 
man whose thoughts seem to run almost entirely to sex.  His wife, Dana, 
is capable of non-sexual thoughts, but she adjusts to John pretty well.  
In this story they flirt, eavesdrop on another couple doing it on the 
beach, and then make love themselves in the restaurant.  I was 
initially kind of bored with this story, but the last part caught my 
full attention.

Ratings for “Dessert”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

“Nancy Delivers” by Robotdoll (robotdol@pipeline.com).  Nancy has been 
a bad girl.  She is a con artist- a flim-flam lady who has advertised 
some kind of sexy tape and has simply pocketed the fees sent by the 
eager hordes of kindly men who wanted to purchase the artistic wares 
she had advertised.  But now the time has come to pay the piper.  A 
dissatisfied customer has taken her into custody and has bound her in 
his hi-tech lab, where he is going to get his money’s worth from her.

The author of this story is the keeper of the alt.sex.fetish.robots 
movie FAQ.  The members of that newsgroup enjoy films, pictures, and 
stories of women acting like robots, androids, mannequins, dolls, wind-
up toys and hypnotized/mechanical sex zombies.  During sexual activity, 
I rarely meet any of the aforesaid specifications; and hence, I would 
have enjoyed the story more had there been less zombification.  The 
story is actually well written; it held my interest all the way to the 
end.  I just found myself waiting for something really interesting to 
happen.  People who are into this fetish will probably enjoy this story 
more than I did.

Ratings for “Nancy Delivers”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

“The Prize” by Ann Douglas (annd@pop.tiac.net).  While vacationing in a 
tropical paradise, Alyssia has won a race against her fiance, Stephen; 
and for her prize she expects some tender lovemaking.  Since she’s a 
bit of an exhibitionist, she would like to make love outdoors; and so 
she is disappointed when Stephen invites her inside for a shower, with 
a promise that the prize will come later.  While they are in the 
shower, there is a knock at the door.  Stephen leaves the shower, and a 
moment later announces that the prize has arrived. The prize, it seems, 
will be a massage from the masseuse who has just arrived.  Alyssia is 
disappointed.  Certainly she likes it when Stephen gives her a massage, 
but doesn't Stephen realize that what she loves most about his massages 
is that they inevitably end with a hot lovemaking session?  Well, yes, 
he does; and that’s the rest of the story. 

Ratings for “The Prize”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“Prenatal” by Mark Aster (MyFrThAl@aol.com).  Pat is very heavy with 
child.  The story consists of her quiet thoughts while she gently plays 
with herself in the minutes after she awakens.  Her reflections include 
her own activities with her lover the night before, her sister’s sexy 
relationship with her lover, and her own anticipation of things that 
might be.  All of this blends with the feelings and hormones that are 
so often prevalent around the time of childbirth.  This is a very nice, 
quiet, but sensuous story.

Ratings for “Prenatal”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9.5
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“Nextdoor” by Friar Dave (friar.dave@teamhbbs.com).  The single father 
comes home from work early and discovers his only child Jan, who is 12-
years-old, in the shower with Marty, the much older physical fitness 
instructor who lives next door.  Eavesdropping briefly, the father 
concludes that the activities in the shower include anal intercourse.  
Since he doesn’t want to traumatize his child, the father decides to 
wait until they’re finished and confront them.

As I read this story, I grew suspicious.  Friar Dave is a good, 
creative author, and this story bordered on the banal.  I began to 
consider the possibility that maybe there was a punch line - maybe 
things weren’t what they seemed to be.   Maybe the father had jumped to 
the wrong conclusion and taken me with him- maybe the child and friend 
were just giving the dog a bath or something.  So I tried to read the 
story with possible innocent meanings in mind.

I was right.  Things weren’t what I thought they were.  But I still 
missed the surprise ending.  Maybe you’ll have better luck.  It was an 
enjoyable story.

Ratings for “Nextdoor”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“Hot for Hillary” by B. Traven (political intrigue & sex).  With the 
American presidential election fast upon us, it’s important to have all 
the information that we can get in order to make decisions of 
monumental importance.  As this review goes to press, I just noticed 
that a new version of this story has been posted with Hot Bonus Pics; 
but I don’t have time to check those out.  This is probably not a 
serious omission, since “bonus” is almost certainly a misspelling of 
“bogus” in this case.

This story, purportedly taken from the files of a noted psychiatrist, 
reveals the sexual anomalies behind White House politics. To put it 
concisely, Hillary is a dominating woman - too much for feeble and 
egotistical Bill to control by himself.  The author may have a point 
here.  I’ve watched Bill Clinton on TV, and he’s no Ross Perot.  
Anyway, Bill tricks a secret service agent into breaking Hillary for 
him.  Then everyone lives happily ever after.

This story fascinated me.  I assume the author is an anti-Clinton 
enthusiast, who would like to believe that this story will serve as a 
sort of old-fashioned broadside to subvert the president’s attempt to 
get re-elected.  The irony, of course, is that people who read this 
story are likely to mumble things like, “Way to go, Bill!” or “That 
Hillary really got what she deserved!”  Overall, the story is not 
really good political satire.  I know it didn’t change my opinion of 
the real Hillary.  I know I still plan to vote for her for president.

Ratings for “Hot for Hillary”
Athena (technical quality): 8
Venus (plot & character): 7
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7

* "Basement" by Deirdre. In this story the man and his wife have 
secretly admitted to each other that although they would not like to be 
whipped themselves, they would both like to beat a woman for a sexual 
thrill.   Then one day the guy comes home to find a woman bound in his 
basement and his wife with a grin on her face.  What's going on here?

Ratings for “Basement”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* "Beach" by Deirdre.  A man and wife visit another couple who live on 
the beach.  They quickly become persuaded to engage in nudity, which 
they find to be more exciting than they had expected.  Then the home 
couple takes the guest couple to the beach and leaves them there in the 
dark, some distance apart, with instructions that they are to find each 
other but not speak.  They do so and make romantic love.  The question 
we are left with is to whom did they really make love in the darkness?

Ratings for “Beach”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* "Bet" by Deirdre. A guy happens to get invited to a party with his 
wife and friends and loses a bet; and so he and a woman have to serve 
dinner naked from the belt down.  It turns out he likes it, and so do 
his wife and the other woman.  They become more intimately involved; 
and then the story takes a sudden twist. 

Ratings for “Beach”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* "Big" by Deirdre.  The narrator of this story is a woman who is sorta 
the queen of the hill in the office with regard to breast size.  A new 
woman joins the office staff, and suspicion arises that hers may be 
bigger.  They eventually do show and tell and hold regular worship 
services.  This story wasn't quite as plausible to me as most of 
Deirdre's other stories.  Maybe that's because I myself don't have the 
problem faced by the narrator of this story - being envious of the size 
of other women's tits; but some people do, I'm told.  My problem lies 
more in the area of comparing my husband's cock size to some of those I 
read about on this newsgroup!

Ratings for “Big”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 6
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

* "Birthday" by Deirdre.  I guessed the plot of this one!  Or at least 
I think I did.  At the end of the story, neither I nor the narrator can 
say for sure exactly what happened.  The female narrator (who has led a 
pretty straight sex life) decides to let her husband (who has spoken 
favorably about bondage) do anything she wants to her on his birthday.  
Since she is embarrassed to bring the topic up to him, she conveys this 
message to him in a letter, which she types at the office and gives to 
her secretary to mail; and subsequently she receives a typed reply from 
him, giving her detailed instructions.  "Aha!" says I.  "The secretary 
may have never mailed the letter at all.  She may have read it herself 
and written her own reply.  I should be a rocket scientist!  The 
secretary is going to have her way with the boss!"  Well, maybe.  The 
woman follows the instructions, and mysterious but sexy things happen 
to her at the designated time and place.  But the husband never brings 
it up again, and their sex lives remain status quo.  So, was it really 
somebody else - perhaps even a group of ribald fun lovers known only to 
the secretary?  Or was it really the husband who fucked her brains out?  
Is he playing dumb to make it more fun?

What's really great about this story is that even though I read it from 
the perspective that I thought I had figured out the secret, it's 
really impossible to tell what actually happened.  This impossibility 
arises not because the story is written in a confusing manner (as is 
the case with many stories), but because Deirdre has written the 
details in such a way as to support either theory.  This is a very 
clever and sexy story.

Incidentally, as you may recall, I have a theory that Deirdre is really 
Sherwood Anderson reincarnated in the body of a late 20th century smut 
writer (perhaps as either a reward or punishment for what he did to the 
people of Clyde, Ohio).  One of my readers has suggested that he sees 
more O. Henry than Sherwood Anderson in Deirdre's stories.  However, 
this reader's suggestion that I am wrong is misguided.  I'll stand by 
my Sherwood Anderson theory, but I'll admit that there is a distinct 
possibility of O. Henry's influence - perhaps in Deirdre's maternal 
ancestry.  This story exemplifies that influence.

Ratings for “Birthday”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

* "Bracelet" by Deirdre.  Two college students get called into the 
English teacher's office; she gets naked; and one of them spanks her.  
What could be more normal than that?  Why is everyone always picking on 
English teachers?  Actually, the circumstances under which the 
punishment occurs evoke some interesting questions.

Ratings for “Bracelet”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

"Bride" by Deirdre.  I appreciate a story like this once in a while.  
It proves that I don't just blindly give perfect ratings to Deirdre.  
The story is based on an interesting idea - the bride getting it on 
with someone other than the groom at her wedding reception; but little 
action or even really hot imaginings actually occur in this story.

Ratings for “Bride”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 7
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

"Bridesmaid" by Deirdre.  Deirdre's stories are just full of little 
surprises!  In this one a woman is getting married, and she meets her 
bridesmaid (the groom's sister) for the first time the night before the 
wedding.  To her amazement, the bridesmaid informs her that she'll be 
"training" her for the marriage.  You'll have to read the story to 
learn more about this training regimen.

Ratings for “Bridesmaid”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

* “Brother" by Deirdre.  Many years ago the woman noticed that her 
brother and sister seemed to be having a sexual relationship.  Then the 
sister told that brother that the woman wanted to have sex with him 
(which was untrue), and he came to her when she was sleeping one night.  
This gets confusing to summarize, but it was a short, interesting 
story.

Ratings for “Brother”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* “Cabin" by Deirdre.  Most of Deirdre's stories have a surrealistic 
tenor; but in this case there's a specific reason for this dreamlike 
atmosphere.  The woman and her husband rent a lakeside cabin, and they 
join the other happy campers for a party.  Somebody suggests that they 
play games, and they get hypnotized.  Sure enough, they find themselves 
doing sexual things they would never have expected themselves to do.

Ratings for “Cabin”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* “Camp" by Deirdre.  A woman goes camping with a friend and her 
daughters.  She finds herself attracted to one of the teenage daughters 
when she undresses in the tent; but she controls her feelings, until 
the mother starts coming on to her.  One really does have to be careful 
with whom one hangs out in Deirdre's stories.

Ratings for “Camp”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7

* “Checkup" by Deirdre.  A woman goes for a physical checkup at a new 
place of employment, and the nurse practitioner and the rest of the 
medical crew have their jollies during the examination.  A lot is left 
to the imagination in this story.  Also, I think it lacked realism; no 
nurse practitioner would be dumb enough to do what this one did in this 
age of sexual harassment lawsuits.

Ratings for “Checkup”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 6
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

* “Cheerleader” by Deirdre.  The high school kid longs for the 
cheerleader but can’t even get up the nerve to talk to her at the 
dance.  He goes into a dark room, and there she is with him.  But the 
quarterback is also there, and she instructs the guy to let the 
football player have anal sex with him.  And that’s the predictable 
part of the story!

Ratings for “Cheerleader”
Athena (technical quality): 9.5
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8.5

* “Chest" by Deirdre. A woman working in an office is the target of 
constant put-downs from a coworker who has well endowed breasts.  The 
woman with the mammaries eventually turns the lady with the little tits 
into a sex slave by letting her lick her big breasts as a reward for 
services rendered.  This was kinda lame for a Deirdre story.  I think 
it must be a forgery - actually written by Francis Bacon or William 
Shakespeare.

Ratings for “Chest”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 6
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

* “Clean" by Deirdre.  In case you haven't figured this out yet, 
Deirdre delights in taking extremely mundane situations and turning 
them into unusual (even bizarre) but believable occasions for sexual 
adventures.  Here we have two young women who are roommates and who 
decide to hire someone to help with the housecleaning.  Sounds 
harmless; mom would approve.  The temporary maid offers to take charge 
and give orders; the girls agree; and a good time is had by all, as 
they engage in hitherto taboo activities.  And the apartment really did 
get a good cleaning.

Ratings for “Clean”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* “Clique" by Deirdre.  A college freshman is determined to become 
popular by getting into the social circle of the most popular senior.  
She feels that this will put her far ahead of her more mundane rival 
from high school.  The senior invites her to a party at which she will 
be initiated into a social group, but the narrator chickens out before 
anything kinky happens to her.  This story left me wondering what was 
supposed to be happening.  I could try to guess what was going on, but 
the story didn't motivate me to want to bother.  

Ratings for “Clique”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 5

* “Closet" by Deirdre.  Deirdre tries to create surrealistic 
atmospheres that give fuzzy focus to bizarre sexual activities, and she 
is highly successful in this story.  The writing is so clear that it is 
easy to understand what is going on in the story, and it's all 
perfectly plausible; but at the same time it seems impossible to 
believe that this could ever really happen.  It's like one of those 
dreams where you dream that you're dreaming and then dream that you 
wake up but then dream that you're only having a dream that you're 
dreaming.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention - this is a strange story.

Ratings for “Closet”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* “Coffee" by Deirdre. When housewives/mothers get their last 
preschooler off to school and finally have some time on their hands, 
what do you men think they do?  They gather for coffee, of course.  Do 
you really think they sit around and drink coffee, or is it more likely 
that they engage in kinky sex?  Guess!!  Actually, in real life they 
drink coffee while watching either soaps or talk shows until Jeopardy 
comes on.  But that's not the way this story tells it!

Ratings for “Coffee”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

* “College" by Deirdre.  What strange things can happen to young girls 
at a private college?  Why do memories of sexual events that never 
happened creep back into memory at odd times?  This is a very short 
story, and it gets a short review.  I like much of Deirdre’s writing, 
but this one didn't strike me as good as some of the others.  It nicely 
sets a mood of mystery, but I'm still have no idea what happened.  But 
that's the point!

Ratings for “College”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 6
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

* “Company" by Deirdre. .  This is another story that verifies my 
theory that Deirdre is actually Sherwood Anderson reincarnated.  I have 
no idea what this story is about.  But from the first paragraph to the 
last word, I couldn't take myself away from the computer screen.  Very 
interesting!  (Rating: 10)

Ratings for “Company”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

* “Compensation" by Deirdre. A man has been longing to have anal sex 
with his wife, but she has adamantly declined.  For his birthday, she 
let's him have her ass; but he has to pay.  You'll have to read the 
story to find out how he pays.

Ratings for “Compensation”
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 7

* “Convention" by Deirdre.  A guy and his female colleague are taking a 
break from a convention by spending some time on the beach.  Two 
bodybuilder guys and their girlfriends come by and do the sexual 
equivalent of kicking sand in their faces.  True to Deirdre's style, 
the action gets hot and heavy in a surrealistic way.  The only question 
I had at the end of the story was how much would you tip the maid if 
you left in your room a woman tied spread-eagle to the bed?  The author 
had some problems with the various tenses of "lie" and "lay," but these 
will be the topic of next issue's Tip of the Week.  (Rating: 10)

Ratings for “Convention”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

* “Couch" by deirdre.  A recent "Re" comment in a.s.s. panned deirdre 
as "the Jane Austen of porn."  This critic meant the comment in a 
negative way.  Jane Austen's books would definitely be more interesting 
if she would stop talking and get right down to the sex.  Deirdre 
probably took the reference as a compliment; what deirdre does really 
well is build up a scenario that leads into the sex.  And sometimes I 
imagine a lot more than she writes - which is the mark of a good 
writer.  (Incidentally, if I ever find a story to be really boring, 
I'll refer to the author as the "Henry James of porn."   That man 
couldn't fuck Daisy Miller even with a Turn of his Screw... never 
mind.)  The climax of this story comes when the neighbor is getting 
screwed by her husband and makes eye contact with and blows a kiss to 
the voyeur outside the window, just a few inches away.  Good story.  
But more like Charlotte Bronte.

Ratings for “Couch”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 8

* “Cousin" by Deirdre.  At a family reunion two female cousins share a 
bedroom.  The younger cousin comes on sexually to the more introverted, 
less sexually sophisticated, older cousin.  It's a simple story, but 
hot and interesting.

Ratings for “Cousin”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

* “Cozy" by Deirdre.  A guy is living with his fiancee and her mother.  
His old girlfriend comes to town; he meets her for dinner; and has anal 
sex with her in the bathroom at the restaurant.  The girlfriend asks if 
she can stay the night, and so he brings her home and introduces her to 
the rest of the gang.  The girlfriend somehow gets his fiancee to give 
the guy better sex than he has ever had from her before, and he gets 
even better sex from his attractive future mother-in-law.  Then the 
girlfriend takes off with his fiancee, and the guy is left with his 
fiancee's mother; but he really has no gripe, because his only problem 
is that he has to have hot sex with her so often.  Go figure!  I've 
told you the whole plot; but if you're still unclear about what's going 
on, that's because I am too.  It's hard to explain; the descriptions of 
the sexual activity are not vivid and it's not really clear why 
anything is happening, but it's still a very erotic story. 

Ratings for “Cozy”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

