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From: Lady Cyrrh <LadyCyrrh@aol.com>
Subject: The Annex Reviews, 4/7/98
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Here's the first set of reviews for April. I've been doing this for
nearly a year, can you believe it?
There's been a lot of talk about reviews and reviewing going on
ASSD lately, and while I don't participate in that forum, I intend
these postings to serve as a way of making my opinions known.
First off, I'm all for multiple reviews and authors reviewing
authors. The "Spotlight" series is an excellent venue for this. It's
probably not a good idea to scale the stories, though, as everyone
had their own individual system and criteria. It could get
confusing for readers.
I chose my own grading system for its ease of use. If you want to
correspond them to Celeste's accolades, an A is equal to a 10, 10, 10
and an A+ is a 10, 10, 10 that goes above and beyond the call of
duty. However, I give A+ ratings according to my own personal
criteria, which evolves from day to day and month to month, and
while I feel I know what makes good writing and a good story, I
don't expect everyone to agree with my A+ ratings simply
because there is a personal element in them. So there you have it.
There's always a caveat in ratings systems.
I would also like to touch on briefly what differentiates a "stroke"
story from a "story" story. (I apologize for the inelegance of this
term.) Both are erotica, porn, what-have-you, but the stroke story
is pure exploitation whose only purpose is to get you aroused,
while story stories have plots, characters and character
development, well-rounded settings, and a measure of realism, no
matter how clumsily depicted. In other words, *some* effort is
made to locate the story in the real world and suspend the
reader's disbelief, making them believe, for a short time, these are
real events happening to real people. Stroke stories make no such
concessions. Pussies are always shaved, cocks are always 12
inches long, tits balloon into watermelons with a coating of
spunk. This is okay by me. I've read stroke on occasion, and
enjoyed it.
But the problem with stroke is that it's almost impossible to crit.
It's like trying to review directions on a Ronzini box for boiling
spaghetti. The sequence of steps to follow is either grammatically
sound and easy to follow, or it isn't. There's really nothing for a
critic, or a reader, to say...and if those particular sex acts don't
ding your doinger, you'll probably find the story disgusting,
ridiculous, or tedious. Whereas good plotting, characters, and
backgrounds can make even dull or abhorrent acts interesting.
So if I don't review a lot of stroke or sometimes seem to make fun
of it, that's why.
Lastly, I want to reiterate how time-consuming doing these
reviews is. I'm a normal working schlub like all of you out there.
I have a nine-to-five job, a house, pets, a social life. It's a lot of
work choosing which stories to read, reading them, writing
succinct and amusing reviews, then posting them. It's work to
maintain a website and find interesting links. I do this week after
week, for an average of 25 reviews a month. I'm not complaining.
I find the work very interesting. But for the other reviewers out
there, I want to repeat that's it takes a lot of backbone to make the
long haul.
Among other news, I am still collecting website addresses, and
also am collecting interesting newsgroups as well. If any of you
out there want to know more about the posting and reviewing, I
have posted a longer edition of the ASS story codes and Kim's
reviewer's guidelines on my website
(http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh)
The stories:
Killer, by Stachys (M/m romance, suspense)
Jungle Attack, Parts 1, 2, 3, by Islander (M/M rape, prehistoric)
Brownstones and Balconies, by Jeffb15 (M/F romantic quickie)
Smalltown Scandal, by Delta (M/F intrigue)
Stolen Moments, by Watcher (M/F intrigue)
My Sex Life, I.M. Strange (M/F teen)
The Temple, by GodzillaX (M/F rape)
Killer [A+]
When posted: 3/28/98
Where posted: ASSGM
Author: Stachys
Address: stachys@eurobell.co.uk
If you follow my postings regularly, you may have noticed that
the stories I give A+ ratings are either well crafted or deal with
their subject matter particularly well. This story is no exception.
The author has done an excellent job in creating his characters
and building up suspense, even though the prose was uneven in
places.
A teenage boy in an English town comes upon the naked corpse
of another youth when he's walking his dog. It's clear the kid has
been raped, and in addition to the normal feelings of shock and
pity one would have in such a situation the protagonist feels a
guilty pang of arousal as well. In a gay club that night he meets a
man who may or may not be the serial killer, and they embark
upon an affair as he tries to come to terms with both the crime
and his own homosexuality. Read the whole thing through to the
end, as there's a surprise I never saw coming.
In sum, this story deserves its high grade for the sensitive
handling of the boy's sexual identity conflicts, with another gold
star for realism.
Jungle Attack, Parts 1, 2, 3 [C-]
When posted: 3/29/98
Where posted: ASSGM
Author: Islander
Address: islander@onramp.net
A scientist-adventurer crash-lands his time machine somewhere
in the Iron Age. He's captured by the chief of a primitive tribe
and spends most of his time being raped.
This was not a good story. The writing was laughable, the
characters cardboard, and the plot idiotic. The sex was neither
bad enough to be amusing, insightful enough to be interesting,
or sadistic enough to be revolting. In fact, the whole thing came
across as being concocted by a 14-year-old who's just watched a
bad barbarian movie.
In short, as Ookla the Mok would say, "ARRugh!"
Brownstones and Balconies [B-]
When posted: 3/28/98
Where posted: ASSM
Author: Jeffb15
Address: jeffb15@aol.com
I could tell this author was trying...and trying very hard...to
write a fancy piece of erotica that might have been intended as a
present for a wife or girlfriend. In it, he details what happens
when he and his lover go to a party in a brownstone and later
fuck on the balcony. Not bad in theory, but romantic quickies
happen all the time in sex stories, and this piece had nothing new
to say about it except in the use of that intriguing title.
There were also a number of very peculiar descriptive phrases:
"What delicacies are your ears, tender whorls inviting me deeper
into a trance" "I mentally tug on the cord tied to your crotch"
"The warmth of your buttery buns pressing against my stomach "
that had the effect of producing snickers from this reader rather
than awed literary respect. There's also this: "Damn, the
underwear gets in the way. Frustrated, I take out my clasp knife
and cut through the flimsy material. It falls in tatters inside the
puddle of your pants." Why the hell do women in these stories
never complain that their panties are ruined? And why don't
complain about the crusty stains on their slacks and dresses that
happened because they were forced to drive home without their
panties?
Smalltown Scandal, by Delta [A]
When posted: 4/2/98
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: Delta
Address: delta@nym.alias.net
In a small, god-fearing town somewhere in the heartland of
America, a teacher has an affair, and has to be dismissed from
her job. But there are repercussions from the act...
The writing in this short story was flawless and the technique
interesting as well, the story being told by a narrator in
alternating flashbacks and real-time scenes. The mystery drew
me inexorably on to the story's conclusion, and there was real
heartfelt emotion there as well. Make room for this one on your
reading list.
Stolen Moments, by Watcher [A]
When received: 3/29/98
Author: Watcher
Address: llxzt@hotmail.com
This story also deals with intrigue, this time in the business
world. A financial analyst working for Cor-Tec is called upon to
do some work at the posh home of Barbara, the sharp but
surprisingly vulnerable owner of the company. While he's
working she asks him to spread suntan lotion on her back (she's
in a bikini by the pool) and what follows is one of the most well-
written oiling sequences I've read. The narrator is
understandably nervous about this, as A) she's married and her
husband is his boss; and B) the husband has been secretly
siphoning money from the company coffers. Nothing happens
the first time, however, though later CEO and employee share a
special encounter where her motivations are revealed.
This was an excellent story that kept surprising me...from, "Oh
no, not another sun n' sex story," to "This is getting interesting"
to "Wow, this was really good." The prose was technically
proficient as well with nary a phrase of word out of place, and
the characters were believable, especially the CEO. The narrator
could have used some work--I wasn't sure of his age or exact job,
for example. But this was only a small nit in something otherwise
very good, with a point to make about human nature as well.
My Sex Life #6 [B-]
When posted: 4/1/98
Where posted: ASS, ASSM
Author: I.M. Strange
Address: IM_sub@hotmail.com
The writer of this story says: "[I] have had an interesting sex life.
Nobody knows everything I've done. There is a part of me that
wants to be known. The Internet affords me an opportunity to
cater to exhibitionism and let all us voyeurs watch as I replay My
Sex Life." He's also written nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 for those voyeurs
among us who can't get enough of his Sex Life, and presumably
My Grocery List and My Insurance Clause will follow. He
continues with "All of the stories written here are true. It's been
spiced up where necessary to hold the interest of the reader, but
the events as portrayed actually happened."
Ohhh-kay. Didn't the media try the same thing with Monica
Lewinsky?
Putting aside this writer's hubris for the time being, this was an
average, not particularly outstanding story straddling the median
line of literate in which the narrator tells us about two girls he
fucked as a redneck high school senior in the early 70s. How do
we know that when no period detail is given? Hippies have a one-
line mention. Both girls have great tits, the prettier one has a
jiggly ass, yadda yadda yadda. Guess I've read too many this-
really-happened sex stories, because this one failed to light up.
The Temple [B]
When posted: 3/26/98
Where posted: ASSD
Author: GodzillaX
Address: damos@adweb.net
A young virgin is tied to an alter as a sacrifice and teased into
sexual readiness by a priest. A series of thuds announces the
arrival of the god/demon/creature, Thoth, who is part man, part
beast, and made of solid bronze, with a gigantic penis. When the
rape is over (she eventually enjoys it) she is proclaimed "queen
of the valley, and is nearly worshipped by the people of the area.
"
The story was told in second person voice as if the narrator was a
cinematographer describing a scene ("You look and can see
semen coming out
of the girls vagina, in great amounts") and though the tone
wasn't as silly as those stories describing sexual acts from that
point of view, it wasn't particularly innovative, either, and came
off as a bit lazy...like someone who's narrating what's happening
in the latest episode of "Xena: Warrior Princess." And it wasn't
much of a story: virgin is sacrificed, gets raped, then becomes a
queen. Not a lot of plot tension or character development. I also
question the name "Thoth" for the god, as this is the name of an
Egyptian deity with the head of a stork, and some of the
descriptive passages were a trifle dumb ("her breasts stand high
and proud, even lying down.")
However, it was a nice ritual rape fantasy (is that an oxymoron or
what?) that tries to end on a positive note, which a lot of rape
fantasies don't. If you like virgin sacrifice stories you might want
to read this.
Comments to: ladycyrrh@aol.com
Website---> http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh
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