RRD No. 2 =========================== NOTES: (1) IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 THEN STOP READING NOW!!!!! (2) IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY DESCRIPTIONS OF NATURAL ACTS WHICH SOME PEOPLE CALL PLEASUREABLE BUT YOU REGARD AS NECESSARY FOR THE PERPETUATION OF THE HUMAN RACE THEN STOP READING NOW!!!!!!! (3) IF YOU AREN'T SURE IF EITHER (1) OR (2) APPLY TO YOU THEN STOP READING NOW!!!! =========================== Rogue Reviews Digest No. 2 - June 1, 1998 by Lee Vine Contents Reviews Rogue Review No. 31 [Glenda by The Bear] Rogue Review No. 32 [Wanting by Lord Malinov] Rogue Review No. 33 [Desert Rain by Mat Twassel] Rogue Review No. 34 [The Dare by Michael K. Smith] Rogue Review No. 35 [The Hot Tub by Fin Haddie] Rogue Review No. 36 [A Certain Circle in New York by Marc Proust] Rogue Review No. 37 [Melody by Crimson Dragon] Rogue Review No. 38 [Hank by Greatness] Rogue Review No. 39 [Marie's Gift by fcp] Rogue Review No. 40 [Saliva by Hugo Alkaviade] Rogue Review No. 41 [Anniversary by E. Z. Riter] Note 1: I have made a change in my review procedure. I have stopped assigning numerical scores. The Rogue Review No. 30 [Glenda by The Bear] is the last story I assigned a numerical score. Note 2: I send my reviews individually, when I finish them, to the Sex Stories Discussion List. If you are interested in joining there is a form for doing so on my home page. Home Page - http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/3112/ E-Mail - santiago@switchboardmail.com ====== Rogue Review No. 31 - May 26, 1998 Glenda by the Bear M/F Length: 6,500 words Summary John sees Glenda, the twenty-something daughter of a friend of his, when he is driving home from work one evening. He offers her a ride. She needs a place to stay, so he offers to put her up for a few days. Commentary This story was a bit forced. The plot was simple enough. The characters were not very complex. The dilemma, whether John should allow a relationship to develop between himself and Glenda, seemed a bit artificial. The story did seem to get a bit icky sweet towards the end. It was an okay story, but nothing great. Rating I give this story a 5 on a scale of 10. ====== Rogue Review No. 32 - May 26, 1998 Wanting by Lord Malinov M/F Length: 1,500 words Summary Joe returns to his office in a daze. Someone has left a rose on a his desk. There is a card that accompanies the rose. Written on the card are three words. I want you. Joe spends the rest of the day trying to figure out who sent him the rose. Commentary This was an outstanding story. There are a few things that I really liked about it. The way Joe wakes up as the story progresses. His little fantasies about each of his female coworkers. His cautious optimism that he can actually figure out who sent him the rose. The ending was great. I understood it one way the first time I read it and another way the second time I read it. I am still not sure if I was right either time. Judgment This is a great story. I would not change a thing. ====== Rogue Review No. 33 - May 26, 1998 Desert Rain by Mat Twassel M/F Length: 1,500 words Summary A man walks into a card and gift shop in the desert. He is looking for a map of the local area, but ends up walking out with two umbrellas. Commentary I really liked this story. The characters were all deliciously anonymous, but at the same time seemed very familiar. The awkwardness of the man and the flirtatious nature of the woman at the counter worked well together. It did not feel rushed or forced. I have always considered neckties to be phallic objects, but had never thought about belts in the same way. Judgment This is a great story. I would not change a thing. ====== Rogue Review No. 34 - May 27, 1998 The Dare by Michael K. Smith M/F, Teen, Exhib Length: 8,500 words Summary Katie issues an Official No-Underwear Dare. Rebecca and her friends agree to the dare. After giving Charlie Harker an eyeful, Rebecca briefly liberates his cock before enveloping it with her mouth. Commentary I liked the tension in this story. I could feel the narrator's thrill of doing something verboten for the first time. Most of the story is given away early on, and yet it is still very enjoyable. The characters were honest and realistic. The author did an excellent job. He reveals them to the reader rather then tells the reader about them. I think this method is almost always preferable. It also fits in nicely with the exhibitionist activities in this story. Judgment This is a great story. I would not change a thing. ====== Rogue Review No. 35 - May 28, 1998 The Hot Tub by Fin Haddie M/F Length: 2,200 words Summary David is on vacation in Florida. He is worried that he will not get laid. He does get laid, and in a hot tub. Commentary The best things I can say about this story is that is does not do some of the things that make for a bad story. The sex is not encyclopedic. There is a plot, i.e. the sex does not begin with the second sentence. The characters in this story have some standards. Other then that it is just an average story. The plot was simple. The characters were not all that exciting. There was a dilemma, but it did not take any soul searching on David's part for it to be resolved. The setting seemed generic, and did not have a life of its own. Actually it reminded me more of a wasteland, because the characters in this story could have been in an oasis in the middle of nowhere for all I could tell. This was not a bad story but it was not a great story. Judgment This is a good story, but I would have liked to have seen a little more character development and a little more effort put into describing the setting. These are major knocks on this story, but I still consider it a good effort. ====== Rogue Review No. 36 - May 28, 1998 A Certain Circle in New York by Marc Proust M/F, F/F Length: 4,100 words Summary Simon and Julie have a vanilla sex life. That changes after Meg starts cleaning their place for them. Commentary This story leaves a lot of unanswered questions. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It leaves a lot up to the reader's imagination, or perhaps I should say the readers imagination. Another thing Mr. Proust does is omit quite a few apostrophes. I got the impression that he was semi-consistently trying to imitate the style of George Bernard Shaw, who if I remember correctly did the same. There was also a certain Pygmalion-esque quality to this story, but the part of Henry Higgins in this case was not played by a man, but by a woman. I liked the plot. It basically tracks the sex life of Simon and Julie until it comes to a crashing halt one afternoon. The revolution in Julie's personality was both disturbing and arousing. Simons reaction to it seemed typically male. This story leaves me wanting more details about Simon and Julie and Meg. It is a very narrow view that Marc Proust gives us, but is done so well that it is hard to fault him. Judgment This story was excellent, but I would have liked a little more of something. This is a minor consideration and expresses an extremely subjective desire on my part. ====== Rogue Review No. 37 - May 29, 1998 Melody by Crimson Dragon No Sex Length: 5,600 words Summary Terri is attending the company party. She unsuccessfully attempts to strike up a conversation with Melody. After getting home that night, she gets a call from Melody, who is in tears. Terri comforts her and in the process learns quite a bit about her. Commentary This is a touching story. It is very well paced. The descriptions are good. The author did an excellent job of conveying the mood. I could not help but like the characters. What they did and how they spoke revealed as much about them as what they said. This is not an upbeat story, but it is well written. There were places in the dialogue where periods were used too freely, specifically to indicate hesitation. That seemed an inappropriate usage to me. There were a couple of places where an adverb should have been used instead of an adjective or the wrong tense was used. Judgment This was an excellent story, but a little more editing would have helped. ====== Rogue Review No. 38 - May 29, 1998 Hank by Greatness M/F, Inc, NC Length: 5,200 words Summary Hank's beautiful sister, Caroline, gets drunk and passes out. He is drunk himself, so he takes advantage of her. Commentary This story bothered me. The only character that seemed a little more than just a caricature was Hank. Caroline was just a body. She may have been conscious for part of this story, but her only role was as a receptacle for Hank's cum. The author tried to make this story appear consensual by saying, at the end, that Hank's sister was never asleep. She wanted exactly what she got and more. Whether she wanted what she got or not, Hank took advantage of her believing that she was unconscious. Of course this character, Caroline, was just a shell, without much of a personality, so maybe the author is right, and maybe the sex was consensual. To me, non-consensual sex means that one partner has not in some way indicated a willingness to participate. Passing out drunk, or appearing to pass out drunk, does not indicate willingness to me. There was not much to this story to begin with. The cop out excuses and the lack of plot or character development did not help. If you are going to write a non-consensual story then label it as such. Trying to avoid the non-consensual label by including a half-assed explanation, at the end, makes your writing even less credible. Judgment This was not a good story. The set up was not bad, but once the sex began plot and character development went out the window. ====== Rogue Review No. 39 - May 31, 1998 Marie's Gift by fcp M/F Length: 3,800 words Summary James' war wounds are healed and Donna's eyes are opened to new options in their sex life after an interesting night of playing bridge with their neighbors. Commentary This was a nicely paced story. The author did a good job of not filling in too many of the details. It was soft and subtle. It did not come out and grab me, but rather drew me in by making me think. The author did a good job with the plot and characters. Most of the descriptions helped to bring the story to life, however the card game and sex scene left something to be desired. The former because it was so technical. I am not familiar with the game of bridge. The latter because it lacked feeling. It was not totally devoid of emotion, but James tears were the only ones I felt. Judgment This was a good story, but the description of bridge was hard to follow and the sex seemed mechanical. ====== Rogue Review No. 40 - May 31, 1998 Saliva by Hugo Alkaviade M-solo, Teen Length: 2,500 words Summary Michael spends a day fantasizing about Christine, a girl who rejected his advances. He gets revenge on her by sneaking into the girl's locker room and beating off in her panties. Commentary This was a very well written story. The author has a nice light touch. His descriptions are not always central to the plot, but they do help to set the mood. He does not spend too much time describing any one thing. The humor was dry, and witty. I was a bit disturbed by this story. The narrator's feelings are not incomprehensible. His actions, on the other hand, are a bit over the edge. This is only a story, but it still gave me a creepy feeling. Despite my mixed feelings, well written but creepy, I liked this story. The author did not get into rape or torture, which it seems would be a logical expansion for some writers. I look forward to reading more by Mr. Alkaviade, but hopefully the tone will not always be the same. Judgment This was an excellent story. I would not change a thing. ====== Rogue Review No. 41 - May 31, 1998 Anniversary by E. Z. Riter M/F Length: 2,700 words Summary A couple celebrates their anniversary. Commentary My summary cannot begin to describe this story. It is a simple concept, but the way this author has done it makes it look like so much more. When I began to read it I thought I knew what the author was doing. I envisioned mechanical descriptions of body parts. I was wrong. He does not go into heavy details, but those he gives are more than enough to set the mood and stimulate the imagination of the reader. It might have been nice to have seen the couple in a less amorous situation. What are their day-to-day lives like? We get hints, but that is all. If I wanted to be picky this is where my criticism would begin. If I reread it a few more times I might spot an awkward sentence or two, but I cannot find anything seriously wrong with this story. It is well written, well paced, and well told. The characters are not fully rounded, but they are real enough. Judgment This was an outstanding story. I would not change a thing. ====== 06/01/98