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| When I was younger I was a geek, and much of being a geek, for
me, consisted of reading most anything I could get my hands on.
Now, years later, some of my fondest, literary memories surround
the Choose Your Own Adventure series of young adult books that were all the rage during the
eighties. While other kids were out playing cops and robbers,
I was curled up under my frilly canopy bed, misunderstood, but
exacting an immature sense of control over the characters in The Cave of Time or Message From Space . Indeed, those were the days. It was therefore, with an almost
overwhelming sense of nostalgia, that I began reading Kathryn in the City and The Classics Professor, erotic choose your own adventure novels, recently released
by Gotham Books. Kathryn in the City , written by Mary Anne Mohanraj, editor of Aqua Erotica and Wet, is the time old tale of an innocent young thing who heads from Indiana to San Francisco on the heels of breaking up with her childhood sweetheart John who “had been more like a box of damp matches.” The writing is good, and most red-blooded humans will be sufficiently turned on by the protagonist’s erotic escapades, but the problem this book inevitably faces is the clichéd situations Kathryn encounters. Over the course of a couple hundred pages, she acts out a generic sexual playbook that a more creative-minded sensualist might find tedious. Within moments of her arrival, she is acquainted with a bisexual roommate named Rose, another bisexual roommate named Michael who happens to have a boyfriend, Jamie and before you know it Kathryn is either stripping at the Lusty Lady, or working at a lucrative freelance tech writing gig from home while getting into any number of delicate positions with dizzying combinations of her roommates at a dizzying pace. We’re set up to believe she’s an innocent babe but soon thereafter, defying any attempts at plausibility, Kathryn immerses herself into the sexual favors the big city has to offer. Then, you have the interracial encounter with Rose’s ex-boyfriend, Peter. A black man! My, how well endowed art thou. By way of Rose, the erstwhile feisty roommate, Kathryn ventures to a racy sex party and later, flirts with bondage, oh my. It’s all very formulaic and that may be the nature of the beast but it was, admittedly, disappointing because ultimately, regardless of which path Kathryn chooses, she ends up in the same place–not all that different from the person she was when she arrived in the city. The good news is that you get to choose which path(s) Kathryn takes, and with your own imagination, you can mix up the repertoire. The Classics Professor , story by Michael Hemmingson, and also written by Mohanraj, was by far the superior of the two books. Mark, the narrator, is compelling because you can never quite tell what he’s thinking. He’s infinitely more flawed than Kathryn, decidedly less pure, and you like him for that. You like him for being unabashedly male, for trying to forget the girl he left behind by fucking his way through the female population of New York–a city which serves a grittier backdrop you can sink your teeth into. While reading Kathryn in the City, you just want to smack the narrator. While reading The Classics Professor , you want to be the narrator. The Classics Professor is also a darker story–there are no Pollyanna encounters and the people Mark gets involved with are as fucked up as he is. From icy Wendy Lake and her dangerous games to the return of the girl he left behind, Mark’s encounters have a more human quality to them, and more depth. One of the most intriguing characters we meet is Belinda, a university colleague who once shattered her pelvis and can’t have traditional intercourse. I don’t want to give the whole book away, but it was refreshing to see this innovative twist because you are forced to redefine the acts that make up a sexual encounter. At the end of the day, there are only so many ways to have sex or talk about sex. Truly good erotic writing makes you forget that fact and The Classics Professor does so with flair. If you’re looking for a trip down memory lane, these books lack the innocent intimacy of the Choose Your Own Adventure series, however, both books are worth reading because in the saturated market of erotic fiction, different is good. Kathryn will stimulate your body but the professor will also stimulate your mind and I hope we have the opportunity to see how this series matures. |
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12.07.06: Scarlet Letters -- in case it isn't glaringly obvious -- is currently
on an extended hiatus. The web has changed, we've changed, and
we're trying to figure out how we both fit together now, which isn't a process we want to rush. If you're looking for more current SL-related content, you can
have check out upcoming books from editor Heather Corinna and previous co-editor Hanne Blank, check out Heather's current sexuality sites, or explore sites through the femmerotic network. We hope to be back with you soon, as fresh, challenging and
unexpected as ever.
In the meantime, by all means, enjoy our years of past content,
all of which still remain in the public and subscription areas.
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