Celestial Reviews 49 - Jan 3, 1996

Note:  I am back from my holiday vacation and am resuming my reviews.  
I am also backed up on correspondence.  Several people asked where to 
find the stories.  The answer is that the stories are posted in 
alt.sex.stories.  I do not plan to reply any further to the numerous 
persons who asked this question.  Further information can be found in 
the Celestial Reviews FAQ, which I' ll repost.

Second Note:  I would like to thank the numerous persons who reposted 
their stories.  Well over half of the Top 100 Stories of 1995 were 
reposted within the two weeks after the list was originally posted.  If 
your story was on the list and you have not yet reposted it, please do 
so.  In addition, several persons have offered to make the stories 
available through their home pages or to distribute them in some other 
way.  I don't want to post information about these options until I have 
reason to believe these services will really be available.  Since I was 
on vacation, I have not yet had time to respond to these people, but I 
will do so soon.

Third Note: The proofreading service is in full operation, and people 
are reporting successful use of it.  Since I was on vacation, I am 
slightly behind on requests, but I'll catch up quickly.  IF YOU WANT 
FREE HELP AND FEEDBACK BEFORE POSTING A STORY, contact me, and I'll 
match you up with one of the reviewers.  Remember: you're not admitting 
to being a "bad writer" by asking for a proofreader.  Everyone can 
benefit from having someone to help with their work.  For that matter, 
if anyone wants to look over Celestial Reviews before I post them, I 
would appreciate the help - but I would need a really fast turnaround 
time.  If others are interested in offering their services as 
proofreaders, please contact me.


Here are some things I learned in the days since I posted my Top 100 
Stories of 1995 and their related reviews:

(1)  Dirty Dawg (whose story Lynn was rated number 1 and who had 
several other stories on the list) no longer posts on alt.sex.stories.  
This is not because of a religious conversion or anything like that - 
it's just that his new boss would thoroughly disapprove.  However, 
Dirty Dawg wrote to me and specifically stated that it was fine with 
him if others repost his stories.  I do not have time to do this 
myself, but I hope someone else will take up this challenge and post 
some of his stories.  I might add that Mr. Dawg reports that he has 
received about 2500 requests for his stories, and 1000 of these were 
for "Lynn."  This makes me feel good, because it validates my choice of 
that story as number 1 on my list.

(2)  A frequently posted story on a.s.s. is "Ellen" from the EBS.  This 
is NOT the Dirty Dawg story that made my list.

(3)  I also found out from a different source that some of the older 
stories by Dirty Dawg were contestants in the "Jesse Helms Erotic 
Fiction" contest. The stories in that contest had to follow these 
rules:  (a) All sexual activity had to be between married people in the 
context of a monogamous relationship; (b)  None of the activity should 
be offend the blue nosed "Senator from Phillip-Morris".  I understand 
that contest generated some excellent stories, and if anyone would like 
to repost some of them, I think readers would appreciate them.

- Celeste

On to new stories!

      "Swansong" by Unknown Author (emerging adolescence
            and elderly sexuality) 10
      "A Rube's Story" by Bazarov (mother-fuckin') 10
      "Let's Play Beauty and the Priest" by Connor Herridge
           (humor) 8
      "Saved by the Bell Redux" by Mike Garvey (TV parody) 1
      "My Indiscretion" by Atblown (Infidelity) 9
      "Nurse" by Deirdre (sex with the doctor) 5
      "Over" by Deirdre (Sex slavery) 8
      "Park" by Deirdre (Outdoor sex) 7
      "On French Soil" by T.S. Fesseln (chivalrous rape) 7

"Swansong" by Unknown Author.  After spending considerable time 
compiling my Top 100 List for 1995, I was a little apprehensive about 
returning to "ordinary" stories.  I figured I was in for a letdown.  
Not so.  This first story of the new year may make the list of Top 
Stories of 1996.  It's about a senior citizen who is getting tired of 
being looked upon as some kind of sexual relic and who suddenly has 
thrust upon himself some responsibility for helping raise the young 
teenage daughter of his stepson.  A large number of people (including 
myself) are often offended or at least annoyed by "pedophile" and 
"incest" stories.  I found this story about sexual activity between 
this man and his young charge to be not the least bit offensive.  As a 
matter if fact, the person most likely to be upset by this story will 
be the reader who reads this story to see some hot sex between a 
prepubescent virgin and her grandpa.  The sex is not at all vividly 
portrayed; but it's still a very realistic, sensitive, and sexy story.

The author approaches the relationship between the old man and young 
girl with sensitivity and in a context of moral ambiguity.  This story 
reminded me of "Mother and Son" by Ann Douglas.  I think it is normally 
a good guideline that parents and grandparents should refrain from 
having sex with prepubescent children; but both stories described 
situations in which it would be hard to say that the older people were 
exploiting the children with whom they were sexually intimate.  I don't 
know who the author is.  In fact, if the author reads this review, I'd 
like to hear from him/her.  There were a few stylistic problems that 
could be cleared up, but otherwise this was a well-written, thought-
provoking story.  (Rating: 10)

"A Rube's Story" by Bazarov.  There are many reasons to dislike this 
story.  It's difficult to read because it attempts to convey a heavy 
dialect that will be unfamiliar to many readers.  It's about a mother 
fucker, and even the dictionary doesn't like mother fuckers.  But there 
are also good reasons to like this story.  If the reader takes the 
trouble to read carefully, the story conveys the accent and dialect of 
the protagonist very effectively.  And that protagonist is "the boss-
man a' motherfuckers."

When I received this story from the author, I was upset because it 
contained a large number of little squares sprinkled throughout the 
text.  This is how my computer registers "unrecognized characters."  I 
sent a message to the author pointing out my problem, and he simply 
sent me another copy of the same thing.  Frankly, I thought he was an 
illiterate fool who would go away if I asked for a good copy.  When I 
eventually received my third copy, I decided to try replacing all the 
unrecognized characters with apostrophes; and it became clear to me 
what the author was trying to do.  I was dealing not with typographical 
errors or with a computer foul-up, but with dialect.

Writing dialect effectively is difficult - and so is reading it.  It's 
necessary for the reader to slow down and pretty much look at each word 
- at least until the flow starts coming naturally.  In addition to 
using a dialect that differed from mine, I found that the author was 
expressing the ideas of a man whose outlook on life and modes of 
thinking were a lot different than mine.  And so I said to myself, 
"It's the Christmas holidays.  Why not spend a couple of hours 
expanding my horizons by reading in an unfamiliar dialect about a guy 
fucking his mother!"

To put it kindly, the story focuses on the exploits of a young 
gentleman who was initially uninterested in sexual intimacies with his 
mother but whose ardor was aroused when he came across some magazines 
containing letters "from fellers who'd been feedin' their mothers a 
steady diet a' sausage an' these women who'd been treatin' their lil' 
boys with pleanty a' candied fruit."  To tell you more would run the 
risk of ruining your enjoyment of this story.  I might mention, 
however, that near the end of the story the narrator wonders what life 
will be like "in 'bout ten years when her bush be sprouted out with the 
gray hairs an' her ass startin' t' sag t' the floor."  My own 
assumption is that 'long 'bout that time he'll start plowin' th' field 
of L'll Sadie, who should sho'nuff have a right fine bush of her own by 
that time.

This is an extremely literate tale about an illiterate and 
dysfunctional family.  The author carries off the dialect exceptionally 
well.  I recommend absolutely none of the activities in this story.  In 
real life I would suggest that Mama pull the trigger on the 45.  But I 
really enjoyed this story.  (Rating: 10)

"Let's Play Beauty and the Priest" by Connor Herridge 
(Cheridge@onramp.net).  This is a brief script for a play based on the 
classical theme of mistaken identity.  Shakespeare and Chaucer have 
used this theme successfully, and so have Dick Van Dyke and Seinfeld - 
but usually with a focus on more socially acceptable behaviors.  In 
this case we have a sexy young woman who wants to plant dirty ideas in 
her boyfriend's mind by having him sneak into the empty priest's box of 
the confessional while she acts as the penitent and confesses her sins 
to him.  The comedy of errors consists of the boyfriend not making it 
to the priest's box (because the real priest gets there first) until 
later (when an old lady has replaced his girlfriend as the penitent).  
It's an imperfect but clever sequence of events.  

Since there are doubtlessly numerous horny members of the clergy who 
read this newsgroup, I would like to point out that I get tired of 
people picking on priests and other members of the clergy as dirty old 
men.  I think (if we ignore the behavior of the Roman Curia) in real 
life they probably abuse people sexually slightly less often than most 
other people.  But this is still a pretty funny story.  (Rating: 8)

"Saved by the Bell Redux" by Mike Garvey (mgarvey@nyc.pipeline.com).  
"Saved by the Bell" is a television series for young adolescents.  My 
daughter watches it almost every day and six times on Saturday, and I 
think it's actually wholesome entertainment.  I am told it also has a 
following among college-age boys, who lust after Kelly and her friends.  
And so a story about Lisa and Jessie gang-banging Kelly has potential; 
but that potential is not fulfilled in this story, which has the 
distinction of being the worst I've reviewed so far this year.  It's 
obviously written by a twelve-year-old boy who knows nothing more than 
Beavis and Butthead sex, story structure, or grammar.  <Hee, hee! They 
stuck the dildo up her ass.>  I don't know why the author would want to 
embarrass himself by posting such immature stuff.  Even other twelve-
year-olds (who possibly would enjoy this inane story) would enjoy a 
more creative presentation.  (Rating: 1)

"My Indiscretion" by Atblown (atblown@aol.com).  A young wife and 
mother gets horny at an office gathering, her husband is out of town 
for the next 2 days, and she has been flirting with a much younger 
stud; so what the hell!  They fuck like minks in heat - much as those 
of us with hormones carry on in our minds with a sexy movie star whom 
we'll never actually meet.  Later, she feels guilty and eventually 
confesses her indiscretion to her husband, who appears to be distressed 
by the whole matter.  She offers to do anything to make it up to him, 
and he lets her atone by servicing him and hot little Shannon.  She 
gets turned on to this activity and has some of the hottest sex of her 
life while satisfying her debt.  All is forgiven, and her felix culpa 
has led to a new and wonderful interest in her life.  {Look at that!  
You can work ideas from these reviews into your theology or biblical 
studies classes when they discuss the concept of the felix culpa - the 
fault that leads to benefits for the sinner.  This is actually a good 
example, but you may find it best to simply think about it and grin 
when the teacher or preacher mentions the concept.}

I really like it when I encounter a new writer who writes well.  This 
is the first posting by this author.  Its purpose was to turn me on.  
This may be an unfair test, because my husband was out of town when I 
read it and I had not had even a pat on the ass for nearly 36 hours; 
but in all honesty, I have to admit that I found it necessary to have 
an orgasm to clear my mind before I could write this review.  (I had 
access to neither the young stud nor the red-headed Shannon; but things 
worked out just fine.)  This story has room for improvement: there's 
something just slightly wrong with the timing or wording of the story; 
but I really hope to see more stories by this writer.  Either she's a 
dysfunctional matron who has no chance of a happy marriage or she has 
fantasies a lot like my own!  (Rating: 9)

"Nurse" by Deirdre.  A nurse who is new to her job realizes halfway 
through her first day of work that the doctor seems to have only female 
patients and that they all seem to be exhausted when they leave his 
office.  So, what's the story about?  If you are a new reader to a.s.s. 
you might surmise that in your dirty mind you have already figured out 
the plot: the doctor is boinking the patients.  But this is a Deirdre 
story.  It can't be as simple as that.  Well, actually, there's a 
little more to it than that, but not much.  This is not an awful story, 
it's just not as creative as most of Deirdre's work.  (Rating: 5)

"Over" by Deirdre.  When I was halfway through this story, I paused and 
realized that unless I had known that it had been posted on 
alt.sex.stories and had been written by Deirdre, I would have had no 
way to know that it was about sex.  So far it could have been a story 
in a magazine at my dentist's office: an artist has been flown to New 
York by Beatrice Moreau, a wealthy woman who has admired the artist's 
work and wanted to meet her.  To be honest, if I were in my dentist's 
office, I would at this point have set the story aside and started 
reading the New Yorker or that stupid photography magazine that all 
dentists have in their office.  But this story was by Deirdre, so I 
assumed that the unwary artist was going to become a sex slave of the 
rich woman and would enjoy every perverse moment of her new vocation.  
Her life as an artist would be "Over" - hence the title.

After my pause, I smirked as a servant wearing nothing more than a 
diaphanous gown (and perhaps a subtle smile) removed the artist's empty 
glass.  I was on the right track!  But I'll let you read this story to 
find out for yourself what happens.  Let me just point out that if a 
beautiful French woman offers to pay you royally to pursue your 
profession and bestows upon you a beautiful sex slave or two for you to 
use as your whims dictate, you might want to look the gift horse in the 
mouth before it's all over.  (Rating: 8)

"Park" by Deirdre.  Two people stop to take a look at the scenery and 
the unexpectedly girl gives the guy a blow job.  This isn't really much 
of a story, but I thought it was very sexy.  (Rating: 7)

"On French Soil" by T.S. Fesseln.  This author has planned a multi-
chapter work dealing with rape and sex in the midst of knightly 
warfare.  The first two chapters deal with the rape of the daughter of 
the knight's enemy.  My presumption is that as the action progresses 
the knight and the woman will develop a reciprocal fondness, probably 
based on sadism and masochism.  The action of the first two chapters is 
violent and vivid.  The writing shows signs of being rushed to press 
before it was really finished.  Nevertheless, what I have seen so far 
is the beginning of a good story, and I hope the author continues with 
more chapters.  If someone out there likes the story, why not contact 
the author and offer to preview and comment on the next chapters before 
he posts them?  The result will be a better story.  (Rating: 7)