Message-ID: <43353asstr$1057975804@assm.asstr-mirror.org> Return-Path: <LadyCyrrh@aol.com> From: LadyCyrrh@aol.com X-Original-Message-ID: <11.152fcc25.2c4035b6@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 11:45:58 EDT Subject: {ASSM} {REVIEW} The Annex Reviews, 7/11/03 Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 22:10:04 -0400 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail X-Is-Review: yes Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org> Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories,alt.sex.stories.d Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: <URL:http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2003/43353> X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Story-Submission: <ckought69@hotmail.com> X-Moderator-ID: dennyw, hecate, newsman The Annex Reviews, 7/11/03 by Lady Cyrrh (ladycyrrh@aol.com) Website: http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh Har har, ye mateys! FranzKafka79 has organized the first of this summer's contests on ASSM, the Summer 2003 Pirate Challenge, prompting repostings of pirate stories from the past and new pirate stories from writers of the present. This is to coincide with the release of the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" starring male eye candy Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Though I still can't figure out why anyone would write a script based on a Disneyland ride, I picked eight pirate stories from the challenge to review, which is unusual for me as when I do theme reviews it's by story genre, not subject matter. I found it a nice change. Arrgh! Arr! In reading them I discovered that most pirate stories are, in a sexual sense, about the obvious: jolly, or cruel, or equally jolly and cruel buccaneers capture some poor young (usually female) thing, and have their way with her. The settings range from the golden age of piracy (the 16th - 19th centuries) to the modern and future ages. Sometimes the females are blushing upper- class virgins;, other times, spunky adventurers or spoiled daddy's girls, while the pirates have all the flash and glamour of Hollywood depictions. Rescues are rare: ravishment, often including BDSM and slavery, is the norm. The ravishings may be either romantic or nonconsensual in nature. What more can you ask for from a wily pirate captain? I would also like to note that in these reviews I will begin to add the Message ID of each story (if posted through the newsgroups) so readers can more readily look them up, and I will be leaving off the author's and poster's emails, as it has occurred to me they are far too tempting a target for spambots. If anyone wants to contact the author of a story, they're going to have to reference the original, sorry. The Stories: Pirates! (Dark Dreamer): M+/f, f/f, teen, rape, viol Captain's Whore (ben-wa): M/F, ncon The Pirate, Parts 1 and 2 (Wolfpup): M/m, F/m, original slash, BDSM, slave, tort Pirates of the 22nd Century (Meme Misspelt): M/F, M/M, SF, nosex, nc, viol, satire The Oarlock Tier (Valeria): M+/F, BDSM, slave, ncon, rape, hist A Pirate's Treasure (Spoonbender): M/F, F/F, rape, bond, ncon, rom Share of Booty (Anynom): M/F, mc, hist Slaves: The Lady and the Pirate of the Sands (Brush Strokes): M/F, D/s, slave, hist Pirates! [B-/C+] Where posted: ASS When posted: 8/17/98 Author: Dark Dreamer Message ID: 6r894q$gl1$45@winter.news.erols.com Type: M+/f, f/f, teen, rape, viol This story was one of the modern ones with modern pirates. Rich-bitch Jordan goes on a sailboat trip with hunky Bucky (hee hee, nearly wrote hunky Bunky) in the hope he'll deflower her, which she sees as just one more distraction for the terminally bored. Unfortunately Bucky, being rather dim, takes along his younger sister Brianna, who is supremely uncool and unchic, prompting Jordan to invite along Darcy, an even dimmer hunk, in the hopes he'll distract the little busybody. Thus the merry crew sets out. Unfortunately they're soon stopped by pirates, the males are thrown overboard, and the gang rape of the two girls begins. Dark Dreamer is writer who has a large following among those who like non-con and rape tales, but frankly, I don't see where it comes from. The story is well structured and the prose carefully written, but the characters were so unrealistic I felt that, as a reader, my intelligence was being insulted. It's like the writer didn't have a clue what teenagers were like in real life. OK, they're rich, idle teenagers, and thus inhabit something of a fantasy world from the start, but surely their behavior would be more grounded in reality than a poorly written, endlessly droning soap opera. Not that realism is always needed in a sex story, but if it's lacking, the author had damn well better be aware that it's lacking, and proceed forthcomingly into satire or camp, or chock the story so full of other unrealistic elements that the lack of character doesn't matter. This story took itself too damn seriously. Not only were the characters and their machinations unpleasant, but instead of cheering when the "bad" girl gets her comeuppance, I yawned. There's no point to a torture story unless we can empathize with the victim and share vicariously in his or her fate, whether they deserve it or not. And in this story, I didn't empathize, and I didn't care, and reading the whole thing was extremely tedious. Not only that, there's plenty of offensive Latino stereotypes, and some truly stupid plot twists (Jordan fools the Mexican pirates into thinking she's the maid of the gringos by speaking high-school Spanish and wearing an unattractive dress. Yeah, right.) Not recommended unless you like overdetailed rape stories with unrealistic teenagers. Captain's Whore [A] Where posted: ASSM When posted: 6/28/02 Author: ben-wa Message ID: 37093asstr$1025259003@assm.asstr-mirror.org Type: M/F, ncon This is what a pirate tale should be. A sheltered young lass is captured by a "Ho ho! Me lads" type pirate and brought before him for his inspection. The shredding of clothes, and the shredding of dignity, follows: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "How dare you! You ruffian, you blackguard," I screamed at him. My head snapped back as pain exploded in my right cheek from a slap I had not even seen. "Watch ye tongue lassie or I'll cut it out. Show proper respect for the captain," said he. Stars swirled before my eyes. No one had every struck me before. I would have fallen, but was still held tightly, now thoroughly cowed. As I was trying to recover, I felt his hand lift my right breast as if to weigh it. "Ye got ample equipment lassie," said he as his other hand began to maul my left breast. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yes, I'm perfectly aware that if you want to argue realism, the hairy, scabby brigands would be more likely to rape her, then kill her. But it's all tongue in cheek here and meant in good fun, playing off our preconceptions of pirates, and our romantic preconceptions of pirates as well. The Pirate, Parts 1 and 2 [C] Where posted: ASSM When posted: 7/9/03 Author: Wolfpup Message ID (Part 1): 43299asstr$1057752605@assm.asstr-mirror.org Message ID (Part 2): 43300asstr$1057752607@assm.asstr-mirror.org Type: M/m, F/m, original slash, BDSM, slave, tort Pirates go slash in this story, which wasn't labeled as such, but clearly is by the style. It was originally written and posted ten years ago by someone with the name of "Wolfpup." The male protagonist is the victim of a pirate raid in which his father dies and his mother and sisters are captured. He awakes tied up in the pirate's ship and immediately starts feeling sorry for himself ("He felt his tears flow in grief for his father, and the ship lurched again. He felt his stomach respond, and he vomited onto the floor, next to where he was laying.") That pretty much sets the tone for everything that follows, in which said vomit receives several more mentions before finally being cleaned up. I don't know, is dwelling on vomit really appropriate for a nice slashy sex fantasy? I'd rather be thinking of other body fluids. Anyway, as usual for a pirate story the protagonist is claimed as a slave by the captain: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Alex, welcome to my world. I am captain of this ship, the Black Cutlass." The man sighed. "I know what you're going through, and what you're feeling. I killed your father, yes. Your mother and sisters are alive, and were claimed by pirates on other ships. You will not see any of them again. It is important that you obey me and not resist me. I have an image to uphold, and, since you are my slave, so do you. Any attempt to resist me or escape, and you will be punished SEVERELY. I have killed slaves before, and I will not hesitate to do it now, if provoked. Do you understand?" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This speech references an odd combination of personality traits for a pirate -- he's at once melancholy, sympathetic and sadistic, and prone to schoolmarmish lecturing -- and indicates a lack of writing skill on the part of the author. The rest of the story was not very good either. It had the overdetailed yet distant tone of the journeyman slash writer, with a boring style and lots of overwrought tears and sadism that never went anywhere. It read like the author was just tooling around, putting down whatever cliches (such as leashed and collared slaves crawling about on deck) came to his or her mind. I couldn't even figure out how old the protagonist was supposed to be, never mind how he felt about all this. Uninvolving and definitely on the "eh" side of slash. Pirates of the 22nd Century [A] Where posted: ASSM When posted: 7/9/03 Author: Meme Misspelt Author website: http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/meme_misspelt/www Message ID: 43285asstr$1057741803@assm.asstr-mirror.org Type: M/F, M/M, SF, nosex, nc, viol, satire This story began in classic mode: the female captive is about to be ravished by the brigands that captured her. In this case, she's naked and tied to the mast of the pirate ship, awaiting the arrival of a savior that never quite manages to save her. Yet in the middle it took a 180-degree turn into something else, when it's revealed the whole thing was a virtual reality setup and the innocent lass is not what she seems. In fact, neither are the two anti-pirates who eventually save her (they're gay, for one thing.) To reveal more would give the story away, but it has something to do with artificial intelligences and those who use them. This was a good, clever writing that played with a nifty science fiction concept and gave it a few extra twists. I do think, however, that it could have been longer -- an action or sex scene in the middle wouldn't have hurt. I would also have liked to read more about the couple at the end, who went off-camera as soon as we were introduced to them. It may be that this do-gooding pair have more stories written about them; if they don't, they should, because they intrigued me that much, and so did their world. The Oarlock Tier [A-] Where posted: ASSM When posted: 7/9/03 Author: Valeria Message ID: 43297asstr$1057752602@assm.asstr-mirror.org Type: M+/F, BDSM, slave, ncon, rape, hist This story only mentioned pirates in passing, but it had two of the three necessary ingredients: high seas adventure and a female who's ravished. The protagonist of the story is a pleasure-slave whose owner has tired of her and thrown her to the galley slaves to give them some amusement. She's roundly raped, but when her ship engages in battle she becomes more useful, giving the slaves water and binding their wounds. So useful that when a pirate craft attacks them later on the ship's captain elects to whip her instead of banging his drum to time the slaves' oarstrokes, knowing that they'll row faster to protect her from harm. This was a deliciously cruel concept, and the author seems to have done her homework regarding the historical details of the ship and the slaves (though specifics, like century and geographic area, were not mentioned.) However, the story contained grammatical errors ("covering her with sperms" "to the Warf") and the character of the slave herself was inconsistent -- she's supposed to be a (presumably) Norse shield-maiden versed in battle, yet comes across as a passive victim in the beginning, and she mixes her mythology as well, referencing Norse gods on one hand and Poseidon on the other. Nevertheless I thought this was an interesting and unusual story. You don't see too much galley slave fiction. A Pirate's Treasure [A+] Where posted: ASSM When posted: 2/9/99 Author: Spoonbender Message ID: 19796eli$9902090502@qz.little-neck.ny.us Type: M/F, F/F, rape, bond, ncon, rom Spoonbender has long been one of my favorite writers. He hadn't written much in recent years, and has never created a website to showcase his work. Which is too bad, as he's one of the finest the ASS newsgroups have produced, switching from humor to science fiction to dark, disturbing tales of bondage with ease. What all the stories have in common is a fertile imagination, an attention to detail, and a wonderful sense of pacing and revelation. Here he takes on the pirate story (though, being posted in 1999, it was not a response to this challenge.) He carefully fits in all the classic elements: an 18th century setting; a charismatic pirate captain; a virginal young thing; and various other females to be raped or abused. Sixteen-year-old Lisa is on her way to meet her betrothed on the Caribbean island of St. Georges when her ship is waylaid by pirates. Her combination of naivete, youth, and forthrightness attracts the notice of the dashing pirate captain ("dressed in a billowing white shirt, gathered tightly around his wrists and waist... his pearl white teeth gleamed in the nut brown of his face.") The other females are divvied up amongst the crew, but young Lisa is kept in reserve. She's tied to a post, stripped, and mercilessly diddled; after having been well heated up she is deposited in the captain's bed. Her reaction to her deflowering is sensitive and perceptive for this kind of story: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> It was at that point that she looked down and saw it. She'd heard about them, of course. Many a breathless, giggling gathering in the gloom of her dormitory had been called to speculate endlessly on what they looked like and what they could do. Emily had seen her brother's once when he was peeing and so she was the 'expert' on this matter which was considered to be of vital importance to both her and to all her friends. Emily had said that it was floppy and small and that he had had to hold it or it would spray everywhere. They had all giggled and blushed scarlet in happiness. But they all wondered, in the fastness of their cots, on how it was supposed to fit inside their secret places if it was so floppy that it had to be held. The Captain's was anything but floppy. It looked hard and mean and menacing as it bobbed between his legs. She could see the ragged slit carved into the plum-coloured pulsating head and, to her innocent mind, it looked both evil and deformed. A true tool of the devil. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The other females don't have it so easy ("Her crotch was a glistening mass of shifting slime which coagulated and dripped to the floor") and neither does Lisa, who eventually has to clean up that glistening mass with her tongue. But on the whole the nastiness is not dwelt on, just mentioned, factually, in passing, giving us a little jolt of cruelty before the story moves on. The females are eventually by the English Royal Navy and the brigands imprisoned, but gossip and rumor follow them around, leading to trouble with Lisa's fiance, the odious Lord Mayverley. Extracting, and getting not a little turned by, the tale of her abuse he visits the prison cell to gloat over the pirates, who are to be executed the next day. But to no one's surprise the pirates ambush him and the captain makes off with Lisa, and the author has made it clear which man she prefers. A noncon tale that is romantic as well as being cruel. Recommended. Share of Booty [A] Where found: The Mind Control Story Archive URL: http://www.mcstories.com/ShareOfBooty/index.html Author: Anynom Type: M/F, mc, hist Captain Mesmon is a charismatic pirate known for his nobility of manner ("However, he had a strange code of honor that set him apart from most pirates. He did not slaughter a weakened enemy and, while he would take the valuables and female passengers, he did leave the ships in decent enough shape to return home"); his crew consists of both males and females, all of them devoted to looting and pillaging in a existentialist way ("We're not exactly the most popular people around. Although, if you think of it, we're none the worse than the very governors you serve. We're just honest with how dishonest we are.") When the pirate ship captures an English freighter and the luscious plum Kate -- an adventuress and a bit of a rebel -- she soon finds out how the captains gains such loyal followers -- his hypnotist powers, of course. This was an interesting twist on the subject matter by the author; playful without being too sinister, as mc stories can be. Tongue-in-cheek, too. Slaves: The Lady and the Pirate of the Sands [A-] Where found: Randomerotica.com URL: http://www.randomerotica.com/Stories/slaves/ladypira.htm Author: Brush Strokes Type: M/F, D/s, slave, hist In this story the pirates are desert (land) pirates who capture a caravan of bored English wives who are traveling from Cairo to meet their husbands in Khartoum. It's the Victorian age, and young Ivy Bradford is mortified when, after protesting her treatment like a good Victorian woman would, she is singled out for attention: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Once again the leader spoke in Arabic. The man who had just checked their bonds walked over to his camel and got his riding crop. Walking back to the now terrified Ivy, he grabbed her by the hair and forced her down to her knees, pressing her face into the host sand. She could feel him using the hand which held the crop to lift up her dress and petticoats. To her dismay, he did not stop at her bloomers. He pulled them down too. With her face pressed into the sand, she could not even scream. Her bare backside was exposed to all the marauding band of supposed rescuers, and, even more degrading than this, all of the ladies who accompanied the column were witness to this shame. Pain filled her entire body as the crop was laid across her buttocks three times. Pulled to her feet by her hair, she gasped for air as she was returned to the line of female captives. Her face was covered with a mixture of the dessert's fine white sand and shame. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Later she's slung across the pirate captain's saddle and secured with a knotted robe that rubs against her privates, causing continual orgasms as she slides back and forth. And as if that wasn't enough, at the pirate camp she's stripped, strung up by her wrists in a tent, and forced to wriggle to the beat of a whip aimed at her feet. This promptly converts her over to the joys of slavehood at the hands of her overwhelmingly handsome and masterful captor. This story combined several genres: pirate, Arab-slave, historical, and D/s, and while it handled them well, it lacked something. Perhaps the protagonist was too much of a strident Victorian moralist, instead of deliciously sobbing out her helplessness or having conflicting feelings like the heroine in the Spoonbender story. Perhaps there should have been some humor, some knowing asides to the reader. Perhaps the heroine's conversion came too quickly. She's strung up and within the space of a few minutes becomes a whimpering sub? Not very likely. Perhaps the whole thing was just too calculated. ____________________________________________________ Comments to: ladycyrrh@aol.com Website---> http://members.aol.com/ladycyrrh -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com> | | FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderator: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d, look for subject {ASSD}| |Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org> Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+