Celestial Reviews 156 - February 8, 1997

Note: I am again experiencing difficulties with my database management 
program.  If anyone out there is an expert at Microsoft Works 4.0 on the 
Macintosh, I'd like to hear from you.  I have been getting messages that 
say that there is "no translator available" to import my file - when it 
shouldn't need a translator at all.  Not having access to my database of 
previous reviews has seriously impeded my ability to do these reviews.  
If anyone can help me, I'm eager to listen to advice.

- Celeste

      "Julia" by daVinci (sex with the prof) 10, 9, 9
      "Rocking my Canoe" by Rachel Taylor (outdoor sex)
            10, 9, 9
      "An Affair To Remember" by Huggy Bear (one-night stand)
            9, 9, 9
      "'E' is for Eyeliner" by Dulcinea (romance) 9, 9, 9
      "Home Sweet Home" by Webby (miscellaneous) 6, 5, 4

    * "Strip Chess" by Delta (gambling for sex) 10, 10, 10
    * "Travels with Aunt Paula" by Estragon (female dominance)
            10, 10, 10

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


"Julia" by daVinci (rmbte1@ix.netcom.com).  Professor Mitchell is a 
scholarly, mild-mannered, intellectual; but Julia has a fantastic ass 
and is pouring out her problems to him. And so when she begins grinding 
her pussy against the prof's crotch, we can assume that the discussion 
is going to be more than academic, especially since the whole 
conversation is taking place in front of the fireplace in his house, 
which is 90 minutes away from the campus.  It's going to be difficult 
for Julia to build a case for harassment!

The description of the sexual action is very hot and well written.  This 
is part 1 of a story by a new author, who wants to know if he/she should 
post part 2.  That would be all right with me.

Ratings for "Julia"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

"Rocking my Canoe" by Rachel Taylor (MCG@bartra.demon.co.uk).  This 
Merrill, Castle & Gray story deals with two couples who go for a short 
canoe trip in the wilderness.  The women decide to go topless, and 
everyone gets turned on.  After everyone settles down for a nap, the 
narrator is awakened by a gentle presence fondling her body.  At first 
she is determined to find out who it is, but then she decides to just 
relax and enjoy it.

Ratings for "Rocking my Canoe"
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

"An Affair To Remember" by Huggy Bear (Backdrop Club: 
archives@backdrop.com)  This is listed as AFFAIR.THB in the Backdrop 
Archives.  A woman goes on a business trip; the man seated next to her 
on the plane flirts with her, has dinner with her, and then makes love 
to her.  We see the woman's emotions as she goes through this pleasant 
seduction.  This is a very good story about a very common theme.

Ratings for "An Affair To Remember"
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

"'E' is for Eyeliner" by Dulcinea (ImDulcinea@aol.com).  With eyeliner 
pencil in hand, the man is plotting revenge.  His wife had previously 
drawn a mustache on him with the pencil while he slept, and now he is 
contemplating what part of her body to use for his retaliatory artwork.  
Contemplating the possibilities gets him turned on, and he eventually 
decides that it would be more fun just to wake her up and make love to 
her.

Ratings for "'E' is for Eyeliner"
Athena (technical quality): 9
Venus (plot & character): 9
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 9

"Home Sweet Home" by Webby (webby@adiewebster.demon.co.uk).  This is a 
fairly long series of loosely related stories.  Some parts are fairly 
clear (for example, a woman moves in with another woman and begins to 
explore her sexuality with her flatmate); others are largely incoherent 
(for example, a lot of pissing, beating, and humiliating without any 
apparent purpose).  

One of the story's main flaws was some faulty grammar. To a certain 
extent, the grammar gives the story an aura of homeyness that increases 
its appeal; but some of the errors are just plain distracting.  Combined 
with the incoherence of the plot, these errors result in a series of 
interesting ideas that are badly organized and difficult to follow.  I 
think this author may have a reasonable plot here - or even several 
reasonable plots; but I wouldn't recommend reading this story until the 
author puts it into better order.

Ratings for "Home Sweet Home"
Athena (technical quality): 6
Venus (plot & character): 5
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 4

* "Strip Chess" by Delta.  This is one of my favorite ever stories.  
Some people resist downloading stories that are nine parts long, but 
this one is worth it.  A group of college kids get together for an 
evening of fun, and someone suggests playing strip poker.  Knowing she 
has no chance at the card game, one of the girls suggests strip chess 
instead, with the winner getting the body of the loser.  (The observers 
make side bets and do things to distract the players).  The only bad 
part about this story is that I had serious problems with my 
concentration the next time I tried to play chess.  Really!  You don't 
have to know chess to love this story, but the chess will make sense to 
good chess players.  And the sex fantasies make sense to good sex 
players.  

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

* "Travels with Aunt Paula" by Estragon.  Paula is the guardian 
for her ten-year-old nephew, the child of her deceased sister.  
Since she generally requires Cal to appear naked in her presence, 
we might suspect that she is a dirty old woman.  Not true! Paula's 
every desire toward Cal is indeed maternal, even her long-
established insistence on his naked humility. It is all for his 
own good.  She has always known in her heart that a worshipful man 
is a happy man; and an adored and well-served woman is happier 
still. All she wants for her sweet nephew is as much happiness as 
a life of early sorrow can still afford. 

We learn several important Hidden Truths from the Feminist 
Catechism - a few things that make one go "Hmmmm."  For example, 
why does it feel good for a boy to have his penis become hard?  
Answer: Because the erection shows that the nearby female has 
power over him, and it's good to be honest and respectful in that 
way.  We also witness a detailed description of circumcision - 
that sacrament (best conferred when young girls are holding the 
boy's legs apart) which is designed to humiliate and shame a young 
boy and to enable him to find his place in the world designed for 
women. 

After his circumcision, young Cal became popular with the local 
girls, many of whom had been present at his gala circumcision and 
who had told their friends that here was a lad who was willing to 
become obediently naked for instructional or conversational 
purposes.  They could ask him questions about his boy things and 
even touch them if they wanted. His aunt didn't mind at all, and 
nobody even knew whether he did. Nobody asked him. Nobody really 
cared. The girls who heard all this said it was incredible but 
they'd believe it when they saw it. Cal had many visitors. 

The censors might be suspicious of this story - thinking, for 
example, that there is something unseemly in the idea of an 11-
year-old girl gazing at and touching the newly circumcised penis 
of a 6-year-old boy.  That would be the perception of a person 
with a filthy mind; most readers of this story will easily see 
that this is simply an example of a lower-order member of the 
species offering his genitalia as an educational tool for a young 
member of the Super Race.  For, as every British schoolgirl knows 
(with apologies to Thomas Babington Macaulay), "The battle of the 
sexes is lost before it even begins.  Ladies just happen to enjoy 
being reminded of this fact." 

Like most of Estragon's writing, this story is a fictionalized 
version of a feminist philosophical tract.  Some readers will find 
the ideas a bit exaggerated or even bizarre.  "Who could ever 
believe crap like this?" they'll say.  Well, my old Aunt Emma, for 
one.  I escaped from her clutches long ago (I think).  She's dead 
now and can no longer reach me (I hope).  But she had these weird 
ideas about religion that ran exactly parallel to Aunt Paula's 
sexual theories.  Aunt Emma's books did not emphasize physical 
circumcision or sexual humiliation - just spiritual versions of 
the same themes.  I haven't looked at the "Imitation of Christ" 
lately - and I doubt that it's high on the reading list of most 
a.s.s. readers - but my recollection is that it seriously argues 
that humans become more perfect by becoming better slaves of God.  
My point is that if otherwise sensible people have been known to 
apply this dominance/slavery theory to the relationship between 
God and humankind, it should hardly be surprising to see it 
applied to the relationship between men and women.

Estragon writes extremely well, and this is another good story.  
Every time I sit down at my computer to review one of Estragon's 
stories, I say to myself, "This female dominance stuff is 
nonsense.  I want men to be my equals, not my slaves."  Then, as I 
read the outlandish but interesting events in the story, I find 
myself realizing that there's a huge kernel of truth behind what 
Estragon is saying.

Ratings for "Travels with Aunt Paula" 
Athena (technical quality): 10
Venus (plot & character): 10
Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10


