What is the nature of fantasy?

I suppose it's different for each person, for each different room in the house of fantasy. For some of us, it might be a little different for each person every time we visit the house of fantasy; and for some of us, it is the same, time after time.

Whether or not you will appreciate a story like Surprise Package really depends on if you visit the bondage room in the house of fantasy.

One cannot deny that this is a strongly conceived sexy fantasy. The set up is that Meka has apparently won a vacation at "The Getaway," a rugged, mountain lodge that turns out to cater to fantasies. She is nursing significant non-specific hostility toward Bruce Wisdom, the boyfriend back home, a man who appears not to measure up in a whole lot of ways. In the meantime, her host at "The Getaway" is a big, macho, manly man whose name is never disclosed, but he is a professional fantasy maker. From the moment Meka admits her fantasy, agrees to his plan, and gets her alternative to a safe word, the story shifts into sex delivery mode.

The fantasy here is well developed and hot, even if it does take an immediate fast track to fruition. Some of the tension that comes from a longer build-up and more developed story line is missing here. The story is mostly an internal narrative--it's the kind of voice that is unavoidable when you have a bondage story and the POV character is not so much interacting as passively being acted upon. Though the host has no development (and I really do like a well-developed hero), and there are only hints at his characterization, he does a good job of reading Meka's secret mind to her obvious satisfaction--as good a stand-in for a mentally generated sex partner as could ever be written.

Hot as it is, story wise, the entire Bruce quagmire is a bit too pat. Now, I know no one is reading this for their English III finals, so others may not feel that the Bruce situation is too deliberate and heavy-handed, especially considering the short length of the piece. It's just that I feel that essentially, the core of the story is like a loosely set gem--that glittery surprise package could have benefited from a slightly tighter setting. Short stories are much more challenging to write well than novels. However, I don't want to take from the strength of Vonna's erotic writing. There is no denying the eroticism here. If you're looking for a quick visit to BDSM fantasyland, Surprise Package won't disappoint you.

Maîtresse
Copyright 2006