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From: li@uw-vlsi.ARPA (Phyllis Li)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: more sexual stuff
Message-ID: <202@uw-vlsi.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 12-Feb-86 14:53:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uw-vlsi.202
Posted: Wed Feb 12 14:53:00 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Feb-86 05:28:27 EST
References: <199@uw-vlsi.ARPA> <489@hoptoad.uucp>
Reply-To: li@uw-vlsi.UUCP (Liralen Li)
Followup-To: net.books
Organization: UW/NW VLSI Consortium, Seattle
Lines: 42
Summary: Lustbader has good sex :-)

In reaction to my saying that there is good sex in some literature and
giving both Tanith Lee and Eric Lustbader as examples of this...

In article <489@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
>Tanith Lee perhaps, but Lustbader?  You must be kidding!  All I read was
>"The Ninja", but that was packed to overflowing with not only gratuitous
>but silly and insulting sex scenes.  Insulting because the only way to
>reconcile them with Lustbader's obvious talent was to assume that they
>were deliberately inserted to make a bestseller, and most of us don't
>like being treated as manipulable sources of money rather than as readers.
>Firing a mock-gun dildo water pistol up someone's cunt in a lesbian 
>prostitution scene essentially unrelated to the novel isn't gratuitous???
>
>
Yes, Lustbader.  If you weren't so caught up in the ... uhm... action, you
would have noticed that that scene was essential in the development of the
character of Gelda, in the development of her charcter as one that has,
essentially, always thought of herself as a mirror to others.  Also, the
style of that scene is completely different from the sensuous scenes of Nick.
Here, the viewpoint is Gelda's and the viewpoint is clinical, completely 
detached, emotionally untouched and untouchable, even as the sex itself is
occuring.  Finally, the structure of the scene is much the same as the
structure of the murder scene that she describes later.  I believe that
Lustbader wrote up to his abilities with that specific scene.

Also, *The Ninja* isn't Lustbader's science fiction.  His Dia San series is
wonderful, and the characters are fully fleshed out.  You cannot seperate
his charaters from their sex or their sexual actions without taking a good
deal out of the characters.  I actually think that it is more lifelike than
the authors that ignore sex completely, because a person's sex is a very
basic and essential part of their personality, shows much of their abilities
or disabilitis in dealing with relationships and can exhibit tendencies
towards life in general.  No, I am not saying that sex is the *most*
important thing in everybody's lives, but, to most, it does take up a
substantial piece of it.

				Liralen Li
-- 
A closed mouth gathers no foot.

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