The Sweetest
Thing by Julius
Addlesee
Edited by Nan Andrews
Do
you
remember
good
old
vanilla
lust?
Before
FSOG
or
A.N.
Roquelaure’s
Beauty
Trilogy?
Before
music
videos
full
of
lewdly
prancing,
half-naked
androgynous
bodies?
Before
twerking
and
sexting?
Before
being
gay
became
a
fashion
statement?
Do
you
recall
watching
your
next
door
neighbor
hang
her
undies
or
wash
his
car
and
thinking
you
were
going
to
die
of
desire?
Do
you
remember
when
sex
was
rare,
when
it
was
private,
when
you
dreamed
about
it
non-stop?
Julius
Addlesee’s
collection
The Sweetest Thing
will
take
you
back
to
those
days.
Although
the
characters
and
situations
in
this
book
vary, all these stories focus on mutual heterosexual lust,
seasoned by serendipity, affection, and, in many cases, lingerie.
Julius’ characters often start out lonely, but when a carnal
opportunity presents itself, they seize it with both hands (and get
other body parts involved as well). Although most are set in
contemporary times, these tales feel old-fashioned because the
characters experience desire in such an enthusiastic, uncomplicated
way. No one takes sexual pleasure for granted, but no one questions
it, either. There’s no guilt, no angst, no inner conflicts other
than some occasional embarrassment at having one’s arousal
unmasked.
There’s an innocence about these
tales. The mostly male narrators display a sense of wonder when
confronted with the glory of women. Characters linger over foreplay,
delighting in the tastes, smells, and textures of their partners, who
tend not to be model-thin or movie-star handsome but who are
nevertheless almost unbearably desirable. Sex is special, a sweet
mystery to decipher, a gift waiting to be opened.
In “There Comes a Time”, for
instance, we meet twenty five year old Justin. “Life had conspired
to make him a virgin, or rather, to keep him a virgin.” His buxom,
fifty-ish neighbor Brenda knows just what to do about that problem.
Neighbors help one another out again in
the exuberant “Mrs. MacLeod”. In this case the protagonist is a
widower who admires the lady of the title as she walks by his house
each day:
His late wife had accused him many times of being a tit man. He was a
tit man. He loved all the other bits, too, but it was a woman’s
boobs that always drew his first glance. That, or rather those, were
what made Mrs. McLeod special. Hers were big. By most standards they
were too big, but when you’re a real tit man, it’s hard to
ascribe the words ‘too big’ to any woman’s breasts. Hers
fascinated him.
He never missed his sightings of them. She was perhaps five-eight,
and although wide of hip and heavy of bust, she bore herself with
considerable grace. Her breasts varied their position on her chest,
no doubt depending on her choice of bra. Their bounce factor varied
too, for the same reason, of course.
One glorious day, he’d seen her obviously braless. Just the once.
She’d no doubt realized, as did Reg, that her breasts were too
heavy to be free like that. But their heavy movement and very, very
obvious nipples had been a remarkable sight. The next day, he’d
even set his alarm clock - just in case. But there’d been no repeat
of that delightful performance, that morning or since.
Julius likes his
ladies with plenty of flesh. Age doesn’t really matter. His
heroines may be fresh and sassy or mature and nurturing. In “Happy
Birthday, Mr. Hewitt”, a voluptuous twenty-something woman shows up
in Graham Hewitt’s office, dressed in a garter belt, lacy black
stockings and a tiny thong, and proceeds to give him a very special
birthday gift – only to discover her services had actually been
booked on behalf of Graham’s twin brother Gordon. In “Perfect in
Every Detail”, orderly and somewhat repressed Milly receives a box
of exquisitely detailed, penis-shaped chocolates, mistakenly
delivered to her confectionery shop rather than to the adult toy
store next door. When she returns them to their rightful owner, she
is introduced – much to her eventual delight – to the real-world
model for the candy cocks.
Some of the
stories, like “The Airman and The Lady” or “Six Miles High”,
focus on chance encounters or once-in-a-lifetime adventures. Others,
like “Crumpet Buttered Lips”, “Waking Dream” and “Her Fuck
Was Coming”, offer peeks into the lives of established couples.
Even when the couple involved are strangers, the tales in this
collection take a romantic view of sex. More often than not, there’s
at least a hint that the wonderfully satisfying sexual encounters
chronicled in the story will be repeated in the future.
One of the more
unusual stories, and one of my personal favorites, is “Time Travel
Made Easy”. This scifi fantasy takes place two centuries in the
future. Fertility has dropped dramatically. The narrator works in the
“Female Acquisition Department”, where androids deliver healthy
young women fetched from the twentieth century. The females’ eggs
are harvested before they’re returned to their own time. Due to a
system glitch, copper-haired Arabella shows up in the acquisition pod
– a woman from 1699 rather than 1999. Born in a benighted time when
women were property and men were more or less brutes, Arabella has
never experienced foreplay or the pleasures of a considerate lover.
As you might guess, she turns out to be a fast learner.
Another favorite
was “Pussy-holic”, about an author of erotica who is more of less
stalked by one of his fans. Together, they act out what had
previously been only fiction.
The author is very
much present in these tales. His personal feelings about women –
something just short of worship - blazes bright in every story. In
addition, several of the stories feature historical or cultural
notes, especially the tales that draw on Julius’ own career in
aviation.
Overall,
The
Sweetest
Thing
is
an
arousing
and
entertaining,
if
unfashionably
straight,
book.
It
left
me
with
a
sense
of
nostalgia
– as
well
as
an
appropriately
moist
pussy.
