Celestial Reviews 158 - February 15, 1997

Note: Happy Valentine's Day!  As I mention in one of these reviews, I 
started out deliberately looking for at least one weak story - maybe a 
new author who would break my string of perfect 10s.  But after five in 
a row, I said to myself, "What the heck!  We'll proclaim this to be a 
Valentine's Day Special and bombard the readers with nothing but Perfect 
10 Erotic Stories in this issue.  Your personal taste may cause you to 
dislike one or another of these stories, but in my opinion they're all 
excellent.  Happy Valentine's Day!"

- Celeste

      "Testing the Device" by Tom Bombadil (virtual sex) 10, 10, 10
      "Excerpt: Virtual Reality" by Shelby Bush (virtual sex) 
            10, 10, 10
      "Mercedes" by Morgan Preece (slut training) 10, 10, 10
      "A Tale of New Eden: Tomiko" by Unknown Author (hedonistic 
            happiness in the harem) 10, 10, 10
      "Valentine's Surprise" by Dulcinea (romance) 10, 10, 10
      "Second Hand Rose" by Vickie Tern (surrealistic romantic
            revenge) 10, 10, 10

"Testing the Device" by Tom Bombadil (stbush@iglou.com).  This story is 
an interesting mixture of the erotic and the technological.  In a 
surrealistic atmosphere several people are participating in a scripted 
sexual encounter that involves simulated or vicarious interactions with 
other people.  These virtual encounters are perceived as real, and the 
pleasures experienced by the individuals are real.

This story gives an interesting insight into how technology could 
someday influence sexual behavior.  A problem with the story is that 
while I was reading it I often found it to be difficult to ascertain who 
was doing what to whom.  After I finished the story and checked back 
over the previous text, I managed to make complete sense out of 
everything and to verify that the author had been consistent.  In spite 
of my difficulty, I found this to be a complex but most enjoyable 
reading experience.

Ratings for "Testing the Device"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Excerpt: Virtual Reality" by Shelby Bush (stbush@iglou.com). This is an 
excerpt from a work in progress.  The author wants input.  Nevertheless, 
this segment itself is a good story, and it deserves to be reviewed 
here.

John has invented one of the biggest breakthroughs in medical science: 
His computer reads the nervous sensations traveling up a person's spine 
to the brain, and produces a signal that counteracts them. Such a device 
could provide the ideal surgical anesthesia -- without drugs!  It could 
eliminate chronic pain forever!  Not bad, you might say, but there's 
more.  If the device can read nervous sensations, it can record them.  
And if it can cancel them, maybe it can produce them.

John needs help (a) acquiring the sensations and (b) testing his 
machinery.  In the name of science, the narrator agrees to help.  Very 
soon, we make interesting discoveries.  Not only can the device record a 
blowjob; but by reversing polarities or something it can also let the 
person who gave the blowjob experience that same activity.  And when you 
attach the machine to two people simultaneously.... Well, you read the 
story and find out.  This story offers the potential for an interesting 
combination of science fiction, transgender self-discovery, and just 
plain hot sex.  For my part, I think this story has great potential!

Ratings for "Excerpt: Virtual Reality"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Mercedes" by Morgan Preece (zanna@whoever.com).  The narrator is a 
gigolo, I suppose; he hangs onto his piece of life by latching onto 
older women, who like him for his good looks and the sex he is able to 
throw their way.  As he says, " Sex is all in the mind anyway and I 
approached each woman as an intellectual puzzle subject to physical 
manipulation, like one of those multicolored cubes.  But things begin to 
change one day when he tries to seduce a rich woman who drives a 
Mercedes.  He finds himself trapped, enslaved; and he undergoes 
experiences that had never even occurred to him before.

I usually don't like sex-slavery stories or those that involve piercing 
and diapers; but I did enjoy this story.  It's hard to explain.  I 
recommend you check it out for yourself.

Ratings for "Mercedes"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"A Tale of New Eden: Tomiko" by Unknown Author.  As I explained in a an 
issue of CR in early January, I felt the beginning of a new year would 
be a good time to re-align or re-calibrate my rating system.  I didn't 
want to become excessively harsh, but too many stories were getting 
straight 10s.  Since I try to select stories that sound interesting, I'm 
not surprised that I get a lot of high ratings; but I have been pleased 
in recent weeks to note a nice sprinkling of 8s and 7s in my ratings - 
and even lower numbers for weaker stories.  So when I hit two straight 
10s to start this issue, I figured I'd read a couple of sex slavery 
stories: they're usually pretty inane, I figured, and one of them should 
snap my streak.  No way!  Mercedes was excellent, and so is this one.  I 
guess I had better look for an incestuous wife-swapping story!

Tomiko is a young woman who is a member of a Utopian harem.  Her only 
goal is to serve her master, who is apparently an insatiable sex 
machine, copulating with dozens of beautiful women each day and having 
others fondle his genitals, feed him grapes, and wipe his ass between 
the more specifically orgasmic love-making sessions.  The preceding 
sentence summarizes the story, but the author makes it sound a little 
more interesting.

One of the interesting things about Utopian stories is that if we 
violate just one of their assumptions, we woould often have an anti-
Utopian story.  For example, this story assumes no jealousy among the 
members of the harem: if we simply insert the possibility of jealousy we 
might have hell rather than heaven in the harem.  But "a woman's tits 
should exceed a man's grasp - else what's a heaven for?"

Ratings for "A Tale of New Eden: Tomiko"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Valentine's Surprise" by Dulcinea (imdulcinea@aol.com).  The woman has 
been instructed by her husband to dress nicely and to be ready for a 
romantic date on Valentine's Day.  She complies.  A limousine arrives at 
about the appointed time and drives her - back to her house, into which 
her husband has sneaked and set up a summer picnic in February.  It's 
very romantic - and very sexy.

Ratings for "Valentine's Surprise"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

"Second Hand Rose" by Vickie Tern (VickieTern@aol.com). The man and his 
wife differ in their selection of friends.  He figures hers are a bunch 
of snobs, and she gets embarrassed when he drinks to much and makes a 
fool of himself in front of her friends.  They go to a "stuffy" party at 
her boss's house.  He's a publisher, and since the book he's currently 
working on requires some research on anal sex, and since the husband is 
already making an ass of himself - well, they make him part of the plot.

This is a really bizarre idea, but the author carries it off well.

Ratings for "Second Hand Rose"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

