LESBIAN SEX STORIES - Angelina Cristie Robinson

 Lesbian Sex Stories.  Well...yeah. Of course!

Aside from the rather obvious sexual titillation, my curiosity in lesbian fiction is - 'how is it different from other erotica or sex stories? Is it just that it's two (or more) women together, or is there something emotionally different? Based on this book, I can't really tell you.

It's extremely rare for me to DNF a book. I will generally suffer through, assuming the author put in a lot of effort to write it, the least I can do is read it, even if I don't connect with it.  But this.... No.  I could not finish this.

I read the first four stories, but that fourth one, "The Girl From the Park," was so poorly written I couldn't go any further. Where do I start...?

Perhaps English is not the first language for this writer, but English-speaking or not, proofreading and editing are a must, even for a self-published book.  Here's a snippet of incorrect words (incorrect words highlighted by me):

"...she just kept staring into the deep debts of... of..." 

"...I was still young at that point in my live, like say 17, and I..."

"This strange lady didn't seem to have any bad intensions..."

"I walked over to her and putted the bicycle not too far behind me"

"Then I finely gathered some courage to speak."

This is just in the first two or three pages and it doesn't get any better. Some of my favorites are: 

"My parents are going away this weekend, would you wane come watch..."

"...and she forced her tong into my mouth..." (and this was not just a typo because later; "Our tongs started to twirl a bit then jus dance around...")

"I  pooled her a bit closer to me..."

It's difficult for me to get beyond such an absolute trashing of the English language. This is not a commentary on the writer herself - I know some very intelligent people who struggle with spelling and English. But ... if you are going to choose a literary format for your  fantasies or intend to present your work in this fashion, then you really ought to do your best to make it presentable.  And if you aren't up for that, find someone to help you.  I happen to know there are groups of people on Goodreads who will offer to be alpha and beta readers for erotica.

Although it's nigh impossible for me to overlook the actual writing, I'd have to say the storytelling isn't much better.  I found it immature and very much in the "Mary Sue" style (wherein the author is projecting her desires into a story and she is, essentially, the main character).

I give a lot of credit to the author for putting out 76 distinct works (according to Goodreads), but I do see that a number of them are 1 star ratings and based on my reading of four short stories here, I can understand why.

1/2 Guilty Pleasure star

TARNSMAN OF GOR - John Norman

 

This seems like a good way to start off my Guilty Pleasures Book Blog because this was one of the first books I remember reading specifically because of the nearly-naked woman on the cover (thanks, Boris!). And our hero, Tarl Cabot, seemed like the ideal hero to a 14 year old boy ... he was smart, and strong, incredibly lucky, and very respectful. Even though slaves were common on this planet, Gor, Tarl would look to free them. And when women threw themselves at him (and they did), he wouldn't take advantage of them if they were only doing so because they were ordered to do it. And despite Tarl's seemingly gentleman-like behavior, there isn't a single woman in the book who isn't either a slave, or treated like slave and wearing a slave collar.

The story: Tarl Cabot is a British man who goes out for a hike in New England and is somehow transported to Gor - an Earth-like planet that harkens back to a more barbarian era.  Warriors fly on the backs of large birds called Tarns, and Cabot is quickly quite adept at this and becomes a Tarnsman with great skill. He meets his father who disappeared from Earth many years ago, and his father fills him in on the hierarchy of the planet.

Tarl goes off to try to steal a special icon (a stone) recognized as belonging to the leader of a ruling clan, but after a series of events, he instead comes away with the ruler's daughter. Misadventure after misadventure, Tarl is often sentenced to death, but manages to survive through dumb luck or divine intervention.

In the final battle, Tarl believes the evil bad guy is killed (though they never find the body) and he (Tarl) is set to marry the beautiful princess when he is whisked back to Earth where he spends his time back in New England trying to find whatever it was that magicked him off in the first place.

It was fun to read this again after 45+ years, especially since it's gotten to be of some cult status. It wasn't as bad as a I was expecting, given all the negative talk about the book, but it's certainly not high literature.

I was surprised at how often Tarl was about to die (for various reasons) and was then saved from almost certain death.  It almost became comical it happened so often.

I also never realized how much it was a cheap knock-off of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars. Chances are I hadn't yet read Burroughs when I first read this and by the time I did read the John Carter books, I'd forgotten all but the sex (such as it is) in this Gor book, but the similarities are obvious enough - a man from Earth magically, wondrously, transported to a different world.  Plenty of unique aliens.  Plenty of fighting, and of course our hero has some skill at this. Hooking up with a princess. Somehow sent back to his own world/time just as he was getting used to the new world.

This was a quick read (I remembered it being longer) and not nearly as hardcore as YA books today, but it was definitely a book you didn't want your parents to know you were reading back in the 1970's.

If I read any more of the series back in my youth, I don't remember them at all, but I will be looking forward to checking out a few.

3 Guilty Pleasure stars