Celestial Reviews 122 - October 2, 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.  He says 
it is more story than sex. The only story I know of that is labeled 
“First Love” is subtitled “The Loves of Sir Richard” by Christine 
Morgan.  It has characters named Vrushenka, Richard. and Marinka.  

Does anyone out there know anything about either of these stories?  If 
someone will repost either or both of them, I’ll review whatever is 
posted.

Second Note: Here are the names and addresses of some people who 
archive their own or others’ stories:

Ann Douglas (http://www2.inow.com/~jfjellst/AnnD)

Deirdre (http://serv1.tech-one.com/~bill/deirdre)

Elf Sternberg (http://www.halcyon.com/elf/index.html)

Estragon’s (ftp://unix.tpe.com/pub/estragon)
and (http://www.tpe.com/~mule)

Jordan Shelbourne (http://www.u36.com/~jordan)

Mark Aster (http://users.aol.com/myfrthal)

Mary Anne Mohanraj (http://www.iam.com/maryanne/)

Patrick Donovan (http://world.std.com/~drwho/erotica.html)

Sisters Ng (http://members.aol.com/deidreng/index.htm)

Tooshoes (http://www.netcom.com/~tooshoes/PenPartners.html)

Warthog (http://www.connect.net/linetwo/stories.html)

The rec.arts.erotica web site is 
http://www.netusa.net/~eli/erotica.html

TG stories by several authors are archived at
http://satchmo.physik.TU-
Berlin.DE/~zirzlaff/nienor/pub/Stories/Nostrumos_Book/

Simon bar Sinister has a Mind-Control Story Archive at 
http://www.galaxy.net/~simon/

Robot Fetish stories are posted at: 
http://users.aol.com/robotdoll/asfr.html

Superheroine erotica stories can be found at
http://www.indra.net/~sharonb/aurora.htm

Some hot femdom stories can be found at
http://www.webcom.com/~akasha/

Vickie Tern’s stories can be downloaded for free at 
http://library.gaycafe.com/nifty/transgender/by_authors/Vickie_Te
rn
I assume other TG authors could be located at the same site by 
dropping Vickie’s name and using the index.

The Wulf stories (and apparently some others) are archived at:
http://www.teleport.com/~marawuti.

If any of these are no longer current or if there are others I should 
add, please contact me.  I am interested only in free, non-commercial 
sites.  However, I’ll also plug the following organization; although 
they charge for membership, they GIVE stories away to non-members.  (I 
suppose they hope you’ll eventually join.)

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.

Finally, Deja News is a search engine available on the World Wide Web.  
It is possible (without additional cost beyond your service that 
accesses the Web) to find most of the stories I review by entering a 
few key words into the search box.  To expedite matters, I suggest 
using “alt.sex.stories” as part of your search strategy.  You’ll get a 
short list of “hits,” one of which will include the story you are 
looking for.  You then click on the story’s brief title, and the whole 
text pops up on your screen, where you can save it to disk - even if 
your service does not give you access to the a.s.s. newsgroup.  A 
similar free service is offered at http://www.reference.com.

- Celeste

      “Wide Brown Eyes” by Mary Anne Mohanraj (romance)
            10, 10, 10
      “Glissando” by Mark (very hot non-sex) 10, 10, 10
      “Sweetness” by Estragon (femdom) 10, 9, 6
      “My Master's Gift” by MountainTop (bdsm) 10, 9, 6
      “The Watcher” by Peter (voyeurism) 9, 9, 9
      “The Plumber” by Fin Haddie (sex during a service call)
            10, 9, 9
      “Strip Dice” by MarkJoel (bdsm) 10, 10, 10
      “Quickie” by ButtBytr (quick anal sex) 10, 7, 10
      “Spring” by Anonymous (exhibitionism & bestiality) 7, 8, 10

“Wide Brown Eyes” by Mary Anne Mohanraj (moh2@midway.uchicago.edu).  
This is a very good story - but it’s not a really great SEX story.  The 
plot does contain sex, but it all occurs off-stage.  The main focus of 
the story is on the personality development of the central character, 
who reminisces about her past while she does routine chores in the 
present and plans her future.

I once got in trouble from an intelligent but irate reader for leaving 
Mark Aster’s “Rocks” off my monthly Top 15 list.  When I read that 
complaint, I immediately checked my records.  I had given the story 
straight 10’s; my only sin was in leaving it off the monthly list when 
there were plenty of other stories that were at least equally good and 
more sexually explicit.  Aster had even apologized when sending the 
story to me, saying something like, “This isn’t really a sex story, but 
here it is anyway.” There was no overt sex in it; just personality 
development that made the adult activities of the Allen Sisters more 
understandable.  However, even though I stood by my decision to leave 
that story off my monthly list, I had to agree with my correspondent.  
Serious readers often find that complete, interesting details do much 
more than “just” fill in background details.  They make the full story 
sexier; and taken in their full context, they can be pretty sexy 
themselves.

Many of Mary Anne Mohanraj’s stories are similar.  They are not really 
as appropriate for this newsgroup as they would be for a more general 
forum.  There’s no good reason that the present story has to be hidden 
away with other under-the-counter material that might scandalize 
innocent eyes.  This is a simple, straightforward, good story that 
alludes to sexual activity.  I was happy to have an opportunity to 
review it because (1) it is a good story in its own right and (2) 
reading it made me feel I knew this author a little better, and I like 
that feeling.

As for details of the plot - I can’t give you any.  She tells it better 
than I can, and too much information would ruin the plot for you.  This 
is another good story.

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

“Glissando” by Mark (MarkB@aboy.demon.co.uk).  The guy has failed in 
his attempts to get lucky in the Netherlands the night before; but now 
that he has sobered up, it looks like things might take a definite 
shift toward the better.  At first I thought I was going to read my 
first story of Strip Yahtzee - a game to which the Dutch are apparently 
addicted, at least in its non-striptease format; but that lead didn’t 
pan out.

Then the guy does get lucky.  Real Lucky. The target of his emotions 
can barely keep her hands off him while they go up the steep stairs to 
his apartment and he bites her on the ass. When they enter the room and 
the clothes stop flying, there she is: her feet a good meter apart, 
braced against the onslaught she momentarily expects; her legs, slim 
and white, straight and locked, angled towards each other so that the 
eye is led up along the smooth curving thighs to their apex; and there 
is her cunt, spread and opened, pink and gleaming, moistening the trim 
crinkles of its surrounding light brown hair; above that, the asshole, 
nestled between the impossibly perfect geometries of her buttocks, 
which are thrust out by the arch of her spine. Her hands are resting on 
the back of the sofa, and she is looking over her shoulder in the 
direction of his throbbing erection.  

Then things get really interesting; but you had better check this one 
out for yourself.

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

“Sweetness” by Estragon (rgt@well.com).  Several years ago, when he 
appeared to me in a dream, I gave Joseph Conrad some advice.  “Joe,” I 
said. “I have three pieces of advice for you.  First, you should never 
have written ‘Heart of Darkness’ as a long story within a story.  All 
those single quotation marks within double quotation marks drive people 
crazy.  Not even the most interesting storyteller in the world can hold 
a group’s interest for seven or eight hours when you focus on the fact 
that it’s one lengthy narration. People start to yawn; and they think 
your story is boring, when it’s really exciting.” 

“Holly shit! (Or maybe it was “By Jove” - it’s been a long time.),” 
shouted Conrad, as he moved his newspaper onto his lap in an attempt to 
conceal his growing erection.  He had apparently never been around an 
intelligent and attractive woman before; and after all, this was MY 
dream.  “You’re right!  How could I have been so stupid?  Numerous 
American school children will grow up thinking I’m as boring as their 
old aunts and uncles at family reunions.”

He paused and looked at me with lust in his eyes.  “What are the other 
two pieces of advice you have for me?”

Surprisingly, my cunt juices were not running at all.  I was simply not 
turned on by this man. I suppose the problem was that I HAD read “Heart 
of Darkness” - once in high school and once in college and once as a 
thirty-five year old adult who was required to teach it to high school 
students.  I had hated it the first two time and had enjoyed it 
immensely the third time; but my earlier experiences had left me with a 
Pavlovian response set that made it impossible for me to feel 
attraction for this man, even though I now acknowledged him as a 
literary genius and even though in my dream he looked a lot like Paul 
Newman.  

I was jarred from my reverie; but this very awareness of my daydream 
within my dream forced me to realize that maybe the whole thing was a 
dream and that Joseph Conrad was not really asking me for advice.  That 
thought mixed with the notion that maybe Conrad would be upset about 
the fact that my feelings for him did not match his lust for me; and I 
felt a vague fear that perhaps he would retaliate by writing an 
interminably long short story about me that would make generations of 
school children hate me because they would not understand me and would 
have to read about me when they would rather be having sex.

“The Nigger of the Narcissus,” I replied.  “What ever possessed you to 
give a story a title like that?”

“For God’s sake!” he shouted.  As we waved his hands in exasperation, 
he moved his newspaper aside, revealing his tented crotch that made 
obvious his feelings for me.  “Give me a break!  English is my second 
language.  I wanted to call him an African American, but my publisher 
changed it.”  The glint in his eye told me that either he knew I was 
right or he wanted my body desperately.  Both possibilities reinforced 
the notion that this was a dream; and within my dream I debated with 
myself about whether or not I should wake up.  I plunged ahead.

“What you really should have done was use the style from ‘The Secret 
Sharer’ in all your stories.  That was one of the best stories I ever 
read.  Clear.  To the point.  Philosophically insightful, yet 
interesting.”

As I said these words, Conrad’s anger subsided almost instantly, 
leaving him metaphorically naked in front of me, filled with lust for 
my body and obvious admiration for my literary insights.  I was 
beginning to like him a lot better too.  And then I blew it.  All I 
wanted to do was seize the opportunity and make him feel really good; 
but I blew it.

“Just think!” I added.  “Wouldn’t it have been great if you would have 
written ‘Moby Dick’ in the same style that you used with ‘The Secret 
Sharer’?

I awakened pretty soon after that.  Needless to say, I did not make 
love to Joseph Conrad that night, even in my dreams.  On a hunch, the 
next morning I checked my bookshelves, and “Nigger of the Narcissus” 
still had the same title and “Heart of Darkness” was still an 
interminably long narrative within quotation marks.  And yes, Herman 
Melville was still the author of “Moby Dick.”  I sat down that evening 
and reread “The Secret Sharer”; and it was still one of the best 
stories I had ever read.

Somehow Estragon brings out the classical literary critic in me.  I 
have long wanted to share this dream with someone, and I knew that 
Estragon would feel honored to be associated with Joseph Conrad in this 
review.  The present story reminded me of my dream because it is 
written as a lengthy narrative by a character within another story.  
Quotation marks within quotation marks ad infinitum ad nauseam.  It’s 
not too late, Estragon!  Don’t use this style - or you’ll wind up like 
Joseph Conrad!

Estragon lives in a world where young boys trade service - after-school 
missions to stores and libraries and launderettes, assistance with 
homework, plain waiting-in-case-of-need, not to mention various acts of 
pointedly pointless exertion - for the opportunity to remove their 
clothes and stand at attention or kneel before young girls, pleading 
with them for permission to masturbate in their presence or to endure 
some other shame to make them feel queenly.  I’ve never met any males 
like this (except in a metaphorical sense); but I guess I am willing to 
grant them at least hypothetical existence.  The main plot of the story 
evolves around Estragon listening to a guy named Renny Polhemus, who is 
describing his attempt to be properly submissive to his niece Amy.  If 
you really like femdom stories, you might enjoy this one.  If not, 
you’ll probably categorize this with something by Joseph Conrad.

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

“My Master's Gift” by MountainTop (Topspace4@aol.com).  Like some of my 
students, I spend a lot of my time in a world of blissful ignorance.  
Sometimes this results in cultural deprivation.  For example, when I 
read this story, I had to look in the dictionary to find out what a 
“quirt” is.  It’s a riding whip with a short handle and a lash of 
braided rawhide.  My husband doesn’t own one.  If I asked him why, he 
would say something silly like “because I don’t own a horse.”  If he 
told me to put on my play shoes so that we could have sex, I would get 
my Reeboks, presumably so that we could make easier progress into the 
woods.  I suppose my husband acts this way because he is a lazy shit 
who doesn’t want to go through the trouble of or of dragging me by the 
hair into the woods while I wear four-inch heels.  He thinks that 
restraint refers to something he must show in the supermarket when he 
knows I’m not wearing any underpants and I take my time picking out the 
bananas.  Neither he nor I know what a breast clamp looks like.  But I 
don’t know any better, and so in my blissful ignorance I just seduce 
him and get seduced through boring strategies of reciprocal flirtation 
that give the impression that he loves and respects me as much as I do 
him.  Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I DO have a common ground with this author.  Blindfolds and feathers I 
can understand - even feather dusters applied to parts of the body that 
have no apparent surface dust.  And ice cubes too. But I associate 
these with pleasure and playful teasing, not with torture and pain.  
The lady in this story really gets off on what Robert does to her; and 
Robert certainly seems pleased with himself and is richly rewarded.  
The author says that this story is written primarily for submissive 
females.  I suppose I don’t fit that category.  I suspect that women 
who do fall into that category (as well as men who need women who fall 
into that category) will enjoy this story more than I did.

Ratings for “My Master's Gift”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 6

“The Watcher” by Peter (beowulf@xenon1.win-uk.net).  This is the first story I 
have seen by this author.  I hope he reposts it for general consumption.  It’s 
about a man who is a night security guard for a large company.  In addition to 
the boring views of nothing happening that he must watch every night, one of 
the cameras is focused on a window several hundred yards away in which a 
beautiful woman customarily plays with herself every night.  Tonight she is 
unexpectedly joined by several partners.  I don’t want to tell you more, 
because discovery is a large part of the fun with this story.

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

“The Gentlemen's Club” by PleaseCain (pleasecain@aol.com).  This incredibly 
short story is incredible. Hampton-Davies and Spillsworth and the other 
gentlemen are sitting around the club eating vagina when an uncouth bloke 
comes in and offers them some pussy.  They rebuff him and go about their 
regular routine.  Really!

Ratings for “The Gentlemen's Club”
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 8
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

“The Plumber” by Fin Haddie (sgoodman@primenet.com).  As is so often the case, 
the plumber is late.  As is also so often the case, the homeowner eventually 
gets tired of waiting, leaves the door unlocked, goes to take a shower, and 
emerges to find the plumber hard at work in the bathroom.  As is not often the 
case, however, the homeowner is a guy who has been massaging his tool in the 
shower and the body in the plumber’s jumpsuit belongs to a woman.  His 
immediate concern, of course, is whether she’s a union plumber.

The man has to go away to do a job at work while the plumber finishes working 
on his plumbing.  When he gets back, he finds her in the shower, and he 
observes her through the translucent screen massaging her own tools; and when 
she emerges she really fixes his plumbing.  This is pretty hot stuff!

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

“Strip Dice” by MarkJoel (markjoel@ix.netcom.com).  The woman meets a stranger 
and takes him back to her apartment to play strip dice - low roller removes an 
article of clothing.  After he wins all her clothing, he rolls one more time 
and wins her body for the evening. He agrees to let her out of the bet.  He’ll 
put his finger to the outside of her pussy. If it's dry, then she’s free to do 
whatever she want to do. If she’s wet, though, he’s going to make her his 
obedient little submissive all night...and she will love every minute of it. 
He does; she isn’t, but she is; and she does.

But problems ensue.  She has a roommate who needs a ride home.  The hotel is 
booked completely and it is necessary to negotiate a special deal to get a 
place to frolic for the evening.  And she has to follow all his instructions 
while she goes through this process; and his instructions are a little more 
complicated than simply, “roll over and spread your legs so that I can stick 
this thing into you.”.  It’s very titillating stuff!  This is one of those 
stories that puts bdsm into a context that even a non-aficionado like myself 
can enjoy.

The story includes an interesting vocabulary mistake: “She removed her other 
sock...her feet now bare. Well, he'd better be a pedophile, because her feet 
was all she planned on showing him!”  A pedophile is a person who feels a 
strong sexual attraction to children - not an attraction to feet.  The author 
has tried to mix the Latin root ped- (foot) with the Greek ending -phile (love 
of) to get a word meaning “love of feet.”  The problem is that a word already 
exists that combines the Greek root pedo- (child) with -phile to get “love of 
children.”  The Greek root for foot is pod- (as in podiatry).  Logically, I 
would expect the Greek word for a person with a foot fetish to be podophile, 
but none of my dictionaries lists such a word.  Somebody out there must know 
the technical term for a foot fetish.  I would appreciate it if you would tell 
me.

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

“Quickie” by ButtBytr (buttbytr@ix.netcom.com).  The main shortcomings 
of this story are (1) that it’s really not a complete story - there’s 
no plot development at all; and (2) it takes that annoying second-
person (your) perspective that often makes it hard for readers to 
identify with the characters.  If we ignore those two limitations, it’s 
actually excellent stuff.

The author admits that sex with lots of foreplay is usually best; but quickies 
have their place.  I agree.  Likewise, stories with lots of development are 
usually best, but mini-stories that just go slam, bam, thank you ma’am also 
have their place.  I agree again.  As for the perspective - this author made 
me think he was talking to me, as he described approaching me unseen from 
behind, getting down on his knees, putting his arms around my thighs, pulling 
my ass into his face, while I push my butt back against his face, and he not 
too gently quickly pulls my panties down and continues his licking, this time 
licking the luxurious bare skin of my mounds of flesh.  But if I tell you 
more, we’ll have more in this pre-quickie than there is in the story.

I plan to check out a few more stories by this author.

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

“Spring” by Anonymous (dekion@dave-world.net).  The woman loves animals.  She 
keeps her puppy handy to lick her cunt when she needs stimulation. The woman 
also has a proclivity toward exhibitionism.  For example, in one of her bras 
she has cut has holes exactly the size of her nipples.  They poke through the 
bra, and if one of them gets the least bit hard the exposure just makes itself 
that much more so.  She loves to wear these bras when she knows she will be in 
a place public enough to keep her husband from jumping her, but secluded 
enough she can rub her nipples and play with them, or (even more agonizing) 
rub them on her husband.
 
I am especially fond of stories about happy husbands and wives who have 
children but omit them from their sexual activities and who do things that are 
harmless, provocative, and enjoyable but which would be considered a little 
bit kinky by people who are inflicted with puritanical morality.  This story 
exceeds my own limits once in a while, and I wish this author would have 
cleaned up the style a little; but otherwise, it fits the bill nicely.

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


