The 1997 Cyrrheal Awards

This being my last posting of the year, I'd think it's appropriate to hand out awards for those stories and authors that have made a particular impression on me, for good or for bad, since I began the review business last May. Not all of these are A+ stories, nor have all received written reviews by me. In no way is this intended to be a "Best of 1997" recap or a recommended reading list. I'm not that conceited. It's chiefly for my own amusement and, hopefully, yours as well.

Best Gothic Mystery:
Blizzard (Mathis B. Rogers)

Best Soundtrack:
Gratuitous Sex, 1, 2 and 3 (Davis Trell)

Best Slash:
The Playboy series (Torch)

Best Sex Slavery:
The Whip Must Win (Marlissa) [not reviewed]

Best Corporate Sex:
Presentation (Solstice)

Best Introduction to Erotica for the Neophyte:
When Morning Comes (Joe Parsons)

Most Whimsical:
Juan Carlos, King of Spain (WW Mitty)

Most Outstanding Nonfiction:
ASS, a subculture (Ole Joe)

Most Outstanding Humor:
The Absolutely Astounding Adventures of Angelica Ahsmacker (Tom Bombadil)

Tobe Hooper Award for Bodily Mayhem (tie):
Fiduciary (Mr. Spraycan) [not reviewed];
Stacy and Me (Christine) [not reviewed]

The Spam "Is" Us Award (tie):
I've Got Big Tits (Eli the Bearded);
Sam's Bad Day (Bronwen SM)

Will and Ariel Durant award for best attempt at historical fiction:
The Sultan's Heir (Tigger)

The Latex Playtex Playmate Award for fetishwear (tie):
Lori's London Vacation (Anonymous);
The Perils of Supergirl (Richard Marnet)

The Ye Olde Jeweled Codpiece award for best medieval sex:
The Knight Errant series (Caintigern O'Nial)

The Moms! Make Sure Your Teenagers Read This Award for responsible condom use:
Prize Pig (Cobalt Jade)

Should Have Been Lobotomized at Birth Award:
The author of "Tammi"

Marvel Award for best superhero sex:
Batgirl vs. The Crime School for Girls (S. Sneakly)

The I'm Ashamed To Admit I Gave This Award award (tie):
The Boss (Dr. Phil);
The New Mare (anonymous) [not reviewed]

Safeword Award for outstanding BDSM:
MarArch

The Plan 9 From Outer Space Award for something so bad, it's good:
Lady Sarah's Erotic Fantasy (Lady Sarah)

Cyberian Khaatru Award for best cybersex:
Java (Mandible)

Team Sports Award:
1997 Teen Blow Job Tournament (Daphne Xu)

The Boy, I Wish I Was a Character in This Story Award:
The Palace (Akasha)

The Jr. Salami Award for male teen masturbation:
Walls Have Ears (Taria)

The State of the Art - 1997

One of the things I have noticed since the beginning of this year is the unbelievable increase of spam on the alt.sex newsgroups. The ratio of spam to posts is about 100 to one. It appears that moderated newsgroups are the only way to stem the tide. Several have been set up already: soc.sexuality.spanking, alt.sex.stories.gay.moderated, and soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm, and I sincerely hope more brave souls step forward to take up the torch and start moderated arenas of their own. The decay of Usenet is too bad, of course, as it was a truly democratic way to disseminate different points of view to a worldwide audience; but short of the federal government intervening, what can we do?

I have also noticed more and more writers are setting up their own web pages to self-publish their fiction, and so are archivers. With the advent of reasonably-priced server space (many companies, like Geocities and Tripod, will even offer it for free) I expect even more personal sites will appear next year. I think this bodes well for the general state of the art. I'm hoping writers, reposters and archivers will band together, offering links to each others' work on their sites and setting up web rings in much the same way slash fandom does. It's the only way to beat the spam. The trend is still in its infancy and it will be interesting to see what it matures into. Already some amateur site creators are utilizing CGI and Javascripts to play sounds and movies and setting up chat rooms, and using feedback techniques such as questionnaires, page counters, and mailing lists to keep track of their audiences, which is an interesting case of art imitating consumer research.

The general quality of stories on ASS is still pretty high, though it tends to dip around the holidays when people are busy with family, etc. I have the feeling the average quality of stories is slowly creeping upward. Many of the A+ stories I review are worthy enough to be professionally published.

In sum, it's been an interesting year.

Lady Cyrrh