This book is part of the "BM8 EROTIC BOOK SPIRAL".
A nice collection of short stories. "Puppy Days" is a most funny one!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The first book of the "BM8 EROTIC BOOOK SPIRAL"! Off to Switzerland. Enjoy!

The spiral has begun.. thanks...try to get this read and on its way before it melts all the snow here in the Alps. A few other books in front of it though. All the best for a magnificent 2009!

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Enjoyed this one more than the other book by this author which came around as a ring... Some of the stories do make me wonder about what a sheltered life I seem to have lived, though! Content as is, thank you very much.
Thanks for making this available, it's now on its way to Greece.

Thanks book-man-8 for including me in the spiral and penelopewanders for posting the book to me.

With a cover like this, it isn't a book I can read in the metro :-))

Link to the spiral's journal.

In For a Penny is the second title by "Penny Birch" that comes my way, and now I realize that the series of books under this pen-name are all interconnected by the common set of characters that (re)appear in them. (Not quite sure I appreciate this marketing ploy.)
The stories in this volume start off promisingly enough.
In "A Perfect Example" the porn-within-porn motif is a creative touch, when Penny finds herself unable to control her urge to browse the girly magazines she discovers hidden under the flowerpot. Her need to use the material to get herself going is the author's playful wink-wink to the reader who's holding In For a Penny in their hands. Penny’s descriptions of the photos in the magazine she is browsing through add another layer of heat to her story.
In “Justice”, I commend the author for being able to stretch the description of the removal of the sub’s underwear to a text spanning 4 full pages, even though it’s not something that I have the patience to read through – or maybe that’s exactly the point, teasing the reader as well as the sub with its slow and meticulous descriptions.
But... following the meta-porn elements of the initial stories, I find that the remaining the stories devolve in quality of presentation.
In the stories with flip endings, where the protagonist of the story comes face to face with an unexpected truth not known to them until the very last lines of the story, I felt that these plot twists have potentional but are not executed successfully. Sweet Charity, Cindy, Getting into Trouble, The Story of the Ice Princess, The Malice of Satyrs – in all of these the turnarounds come in one or two sentences, so that each story ends there somewhat abruptly.
A criticism I had of several stories: Too often the adult characters get all worked up about being ‘rude’ or about being humiliated by indulging in ‘rude’ thoughts/activities and it happens so often it isn't particularly convincing. (I was greatly tempted to do a word count for 'rude' 'rudest' etc to see how often it turns up.) I would have liked it if there was a greater variety to the way the adults experience 'humiliation', not just in terms of exhibiting 'rudeness' or 'naughtiness' (which I interpret as infantile responses). It’s only in the teenage schoolgirl Susan James’ story "Sulky" that 'rudeness' is appropriate age-wise, but by then I’d come across the word so many times in the preceding sections I was no longer interested in the concept.
The prevalence of the ‘rudeness’ theme also manifested itself in the numerous times that the sex became ‘dirty’ by its direct association with other bodily functions...urination, lactation, & even the molasses & baked beans used in the wrestling pit in “Mucky III” – details which gave a infantile overtone to an otherwise satisfactory story.
“Fille Farci a la mode d’Epineau” seemed like it was going to go someplace with the (Freudian) relation btwn sex & food/elimination, but at three pages long this segment just didn’t have time to develop in depth, and so the eschatological theme didn’t venture beyond a child’s level of fascination.
In “The Malice of Satyrs” again the brief length and lack of plot development is unsatisfactory. That there is no dialogue or communication between Poppaea and the satyr is a refreshing change in narrative style; the sex is described in its elemental form withouth the Victorian/Freudian overtones. It's not so clear who's really in pursuit of whom; for this element the story intrigued me. But again, at the end the narrative petered off, and I wish there was more to it.
Finally, the closing segment “An Extract from the Memoirs of Colonel Bufton Bis” is a puzzle, in terms of what it’s about or why it’s included in the collection.
It may be that these stories are a smattering of segments edited out of other "Penny Birch" volumes, hence the sense of incompleteness to the segments, and to the collection as a whole. I don’t feel the pieces are ‘stories’ in their own right, more like seconds or remainders edited out from the works to which they refer.

The first book of BM8 EROTIC BOOK SPIRAL is here! Will try to read as soon as possible.

It's the first time I have read Penny Birch stories an enjoyed them! I'm not very sure about humiliation thing and urination repeating in too many stories, also spanking, even though I find this element quite erotic. But probably that's the concept of the whole collection. Anyway, looking forward to other books of this spiral!
Thanks book-man-8 for organising this an okyrhoe for sending it my way!

Book sent to molekilby today.

Arrived today, with a postcard almost as suggestive as the book cover. Thanks to bookman-8 for organising and voveryte for sending. This will be my next read, probably to start early next week.

Another outing for Penny in more ways than one. I must admit that the situations in this book are quite different from my own tastes and experience. Does it make me want to try them? Not really. Still a chance to pass the time. An interesting mix and I shall send on as soon as I have an address.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy.

Received in the post this morning and will get to shortly

Received this morning, thanks for sending it on. It looks good, but not one I'll be taking to work to read on my breaks!

An enjoyable collection and really, really funny in places - although I'm not too sure that this was the idea! My favourite stories were 'The Ice Princess' and 'The Malice of Satyrs'. both because they pander to my love of all things fantastical and mystical!! Anyway, this will be travelling on soon and I'm looking forward to getting the next book in the spiral.

Thanks to all...

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Continuing on it's journey...

The first book in the spiral has come my way:) will start on this one in 1-2 days:)

As always with Penny´s stories, there are some good things and some bad things. I always find the part about the humiliation hard to swollow, it´s really not for me.

Am now waiting for JennyC1230´s address:)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The book will next travel to JennyC1230:) enjoy:)

I got this book yesterday and I have read some of it already. The stories are fascinating! Strange and hard to put down! I will be finished reading this soon and pass it to the next person.

Thanks for sharing Book-man-8!

My Review:

A few of the stories were not my cup of tea, so I didn't finish them, but most of them are just raunchy and illicit! For me I was more often grossed out than excited. This isn't the type of erotica I am used to reading, so it's hard to put into words how crazy this book is! What's that saying: It's interesting to see how the other half lives, but I don't think I want to live there. ;-)

I got the next person's address so will be mailing this soon!

Mailing to kontessarose today via Media Mail! Delivery Confirmation #03080730000097435214

Delivered, June 18, 2009, 2:09 pm, FORT HUACHUCA, AZ 85613

Book is in AZ! Thank You!