Celestial Reviews 123 - October 5, 1996

Note: A reader recently wrote to ask me if I ever heard of a story 
called “First Love,” with characters named Matt, Jen, and Ryan.  
Somebody sent me the story, and it really DOES look good.  However, I 
don’t know the name of the author.  Can someone please send me the name 
of this author, so that I can give proper credit when I review it?

- Celeste

      “Trances" by Michael K. Smith (mind control & romance)
            10, 10, 10
      “Extra Effort” by RC (ff mind control) 9.5, 10, 10
      “Hotel” by Mark (bdsm) 10, 10, 10
      “Impossible Dream” by ButtBytr (wet dream) 8, 5, 3
      “Her Third Confession” by Jul 4 1944 (depressing sex)
            6, 1, 1
      “Trinity Trilogy Novel 13/14” by Tom Trinity 
            (miscellaneous orgies) 10, 10, 10
      “Modern Exchange” by Fin Haddie (sex with exchange 
            studs) 9, 7, 7

“Trances” by Michael K. Smith (mksmith@metronet.com).  When he was a 
freshman in college, the narrator learned from his friend Edward how to 
hypnotize people.  As his first conquest, he hypnotized Edward’s kid 
sister Sharon - making her believe that the licorice her gave her was 
chocolate candy.  When he eventually turned to more prurient 
possibilities, he hypnotized a schoolmate named Kathy not to give him a 
blowjob, but rather to fall in love with him and to do everything 
possible to make him reciprocate.  After many good times together, he 
realized he had laid the foundation poorly and he released Kathy to 
have a happy life of her own.

And so it goes with other “experiments.”  The narrator is a sort of 
benign dictator with Power to control other people, but he generally 
uses this in only the most constructive ways.  With girls and women 
this usually means freeing them from their inhibitions and enabling 
them to do (with him) those things that they would secretly like to do 
anyway.  The story has two major components: (1) the flashbacks induced 
by hypnosis, during which his clients describe in very sexy terms their 
own previous sexual experiences, and (2) the narrator’s current sexual 
activities with these partners.  The author skillfully joins these 
complementary components into an interesting plot.

I found this story to be an excellent blend of mind control and 
romance.  Mind control stories in which the main characters simply make 
other people do dirty things for them have always seemed a bit 
uncreative to me.  In this story, however, the mind control, though 
still an essential part of the story, is more subtle.  The narrator’s 
sexual partners act freely, even though they are under his control.

Of course, as I have said before, I personally consider mind control 
stories to be essentially balderdash.  {That’s strange; I’ve never used 
that word before.}  The notion that people can go into a college 
library and learn how to control the minds of other people is bunk.  If 
mind control really worked, surely someone would figure out a way to do 
it through cyberspace.  If this were possible, then an incredibly sexy 
man could have his way with, say, an equally sexy English teacher and 
then top it off by having her spend a major part of her life writing 
extensive reviews of stories for a Usenet newsgroup and get 
consistently high reviews for his own stories.  Such an idea is clearly 
impossible.

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

“Extra Effort” by RC (74734.271@CompuServe.COM).  As soon as Linda saw 
her, she knew she wanted her. There were only two problems. She was her 
professor in her advanced psych class, and Linda was about half her 
age. Oh - and since the prof was not known to be a lesbian, she might 
have a hard time accepting Linda’s advances.  These obstacles, it turns 
out, are not insurmountable.  As is commonly the case, the student 
simply looks into the teacher’s eyes, says the magic words, and poof! 
She’s in a trance and easily becomes a sex slave.

Then we shift focus to the prof’s point of view.  Ms. Richards knew she 
had somehow allowed herself to fall under the spell of one of her 
students. She had never really thought about other women in a sexual 
context, much less one of her own students, and now here is a young 
woman who has the power to make her do her bidding.  But what the hell; 
if it feels good, do it!

Everything works so well that readers might wonder why more people 
don’t just read a book on hypnotism and get all the sex they want.  
Maybe it’s because there’s a pervert out there who is hypnotizing 
people to resist hypnotism.  Or aliens.  It could be aliens.  Maybe 
really sexy aliens are hard to hypnotize, and there are more of them 
around us than we think.  Or maybe it could be English teachers.  
Perhaps once people have been subjected to the incredibly hypnotic 
power of a really boring English teacher they become impervious to 
other forms of mind control.

This is a very good story.  Of the two mind control stories that I have 
reviewed back-to-back, I personally liked “Trances” better.  It’s hard 
to put a finger on the exact difference; maybe it’s just that Smith has 
a natural knack for really excellent writing.  Then again, I think 
maybe the difference is that Smith managed to integrate mind control 
into a really interesting romantic plot and thereby made it less 
difficult for me to suspend my disbelief.  Anyway, as I said, this is a 
good story; and I suggest you take a look at it.

Ratings for “Extra Effort”
Athena (technical quality): 9.5
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10
 
“Hotel” by Mark (MarkB@aboy.demon.co.uk).  Tragically, this is the last 
of the Alphabet Stories currently available from this author.  He says 
he’s open to suggestion for new titles.  I recommend “Isometrics” and 
“Jugular” for his next two titles.

In “Hotel” the Narrator is an Englishman working in a university town 
in the Black Forest region of Southern Germany.  He strikes up a 
friendship with the workers at the hotel and develops a particular 
fondness for the lady who manages the establishment and for one of the 
beautiful young maids.  The manager, it turns out, is seriously 
interested in bdsm; and since she is naughty, she must be dealt with.  
The maid simply craves his body.  Things could easily get out of hand!  
And they do.

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

“Impossible Dream” by ButtBytr (buttbytr@ix.netcom.com).  Finally! 
Something about which I can agree with Jerry Falwell.  The protagonist 
of this story smokes in bed.  That’s a bad idea.  People should not 
smoke in bed.  Actually, I think Walt just DREAMS that he smokes in 
bed.  Maybe he’s OK after all.

This is a story about Walt, who has lusted after Vonne through 
cyberspace.  He has dreamed about her for a long time, but now he holds 
her in his arms after a night of passionate lovemaking.  But no; it’s 
only a dream.  Sadly, Walt wakes up to discover that he has just been 
having a wet dream.

This author has a trademark: whenever he wants to express an 
antithesis, he introduces the second alternative with “butt” instead of 
“but.”  This story has potential, butt it really drags in its present 
form.

Ratings for “Impossible Dream”
Athena (technical quality): 8
Venus (plot & character): 5
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 3

“Her Third Confession” by Jul 4 1944 (jul41944@aol.com).  This is a 
story about a man and woman who might throw chairs at each other on the 
Gerry Springer show.  He’s a stupid shit, and she’s a nasty bitch, and 
they don’t really get along, but they stay together because they 
deserve each other.  At first I thought this story would be a little 
depressing, butt that was an understatement.

As I understand it, the reason the guy has stayed with the wife is 
because he realizes she could be running around on him like a cheap 
tramp. The thought gives him a shiver that is “a strange combination of 
terror and jealousy and exhilaration.”  As their ironic love has 
deepened over the years, she has felt free to reveal more and more 
about the details of her sex life with the men that bring sordid 
comfort to her in his absence.

Good grief!  This dismal story doesn’t even have hot sex to redeem it.  
I suspect that this story was posted here by a nun who taught me 
religion in my junior year of high school, and whose goal was to make 
sex sound so bad that nobody would ever want to engage in it.  She’s 
one of the main reasons my children have gone to public rather than 
parochial schools.

Ratings for “Her Third Confession”
Athena (technical quality): 6
Venus (plot & character): 1
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 1

“Trinity Trilogy Novel 13/14” by Tom Trinity (stbush@iglou.com).  After 
the last story I needed a pick-me-upper; and so I plunged right into 
this week’s installment of the Trinity Trilogy Novel.  One of the most 
frequent comments I hear about these stories is that they are “happy” 
or “morally uplifting” - or “immorally uplifting,” as one correspondent 
put it.  I agree with that assessment; and I think it’s important.  
Many of the stories on this newsgroup are depressing.  Well-written 
stories about generally dismal or destructive topics have their place 
in literature and on this newsgroup.  They often reflect reality, and 
the worldview that “life is a big ashtray and we’re all butts in the 
bottom of it” may even be valid.  But it’s nice to have a source of 
stories that are optimistic about life and about sexual activities.  
The people in this series have fun, and nobody gets hurt by their 
sexual adventures.

I think I offended the editor of these stories a few issues ago by 
stating that these characters were fictional.  He steadfastly maintains 
that they are real people.  Presumably, this is an edited version of 
their common sexual history.  OK!  Whatever he says!  Just don’t stop 
reposting the stories.  From my own perspective, however, it’s not so 
important that there are people somewhere in the world who actually did 
all these things as that the author presents the stories in a manner 
that holds my attention and seems to be authentic.  Too often the 
writers who claim - probably honestly - to be telling us “true stories” 
get bogged down in details that detract from the story.  The result is 
a “true” story that doesn’t ring true - that misses its point.  This 
author skillfully avoids that pitfall.

As we near the end of our odyssey with the Trinity Gang, sex life 
continues pretty much as usual - except that reality intrudes as they 
grow older.  Val’s husband of 30 years dies, Jennifer reaches the age 
of thirteen, and Janie accepts a promotion that means a new job in 
another city. Through it all they relax and enjoy life.

A part of this segment that I especially enjoyed was the “Venus 
Butterfly” dream sequence.  As an isolated short story, this chapter 
would not have worked.  But as a dream sequence that is part of a 
bigger picture, it works very well.

Ratings for “Trinity Trilogy Novel 13/14”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10

“Modern Exchange” by Fin Haddie (sgoodman@primenet.com).  The woman is 
married to a guy who no longer cares about sex.  Fortunately, they take 
in exchange students who are real studs, and so her unmet needs are 
gloriously met by these studious but kindly Latin lovers.

This author asked me in a personal note whether his stories rang true 
for women.  For me, “The Plumber” (reviewed last issue) did, but this 
one didn’t.  I felt that I could identify with the plumbing lady; but 
this woman sounds struck me as the kind of woman horny stud wannabes 
wish for, rather than a real person.  Within that constraint, it’s 
still pretty hot stuff.

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


