Samhain Publishing, $4.50, ISBN 978-1-61923-277-8
Sci-fi Erotica, 2015
It is 2053. The aliens had arrived and made a big mess of the world, and the place is now a Mad Max movie. Our heroine Marisol Aquino is now all alone after her father bit the big one, and she could only stay in Flagstaff if she agrees to become the wife of some much older dude who already has a mistress. But she has no problems putting out to two guys at once later on, though, despite being a virgin at first. Why? Because they are so hot. The moral of the story is: guys, don’t be ugly. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Mari’s father was a scientist, one of those said to be involved in the creation of Twins, genetically engineered soldiers with super powers. Mari, like most people, isn’t sure whether the Twins are just rumors or real, since nobody has actually seen those soldiers in action. Still, when the only fellow passengers in the train out of town are twins, she could only wonder whether those dudes are the mythical soldiers.
Mari dropped her gaze before she attracted their notice, then found with a little thrill that she could study them almost as well by looking at their reflections in the window. Both had closely cropped dark hair and physiques that gave even her jaded heart a jolt of excitement. Clad in matching leather jackets and hard-wearing steel-toed boots, they sat casually, although each man gripped the underside of their seat as if steadying themselves. They wore their seat belts cinched tightly across their identical black jeans. If the rumors were correct, the muscles underneath their clothes were rock hard and far more efficient than those of the heftiest human bodybuilder.
The whole thing feels more Cyborg than sexy to me, but hey, different strokes for different people.
Finn and Gareth are, indeed, the Twins. They are amazing, if you can’t tell by now from the capital T. Super fast, super strong, super hung, super hot, I don’t know why the aliens don’t just surrender the moment they start popping out these Twins from their futuristic Mattel factory, because it’s not like there is any suspense as to whether these Twins would even get a scratch in a nail. Oh, and they have psychic powers too – “telepathic Twin link”.
At any rate, Mari won’t marry ugly guys that try to coerce her into putting out, but she has no problems suddenly feeling free and uninhibited despite being a virgin so watch, world, and be amazed. TWO DUDES AT ONCE!
“She’s likely a virgin. Some of those human Cities were catapulted right back to the Stone Age. Flagstaff was unfortunately one of them. Let’s watch our step.”
Gareth’s words prompted Finn to slow down. The sweet girl next to him was tempting, though. So tempting. He could lean down with ease, steal a kiss. One kiss.“I know. But she wants us, too, I can sense it. We just need to move slowly, make sure she’s okay with us.”
Well, there goes what little suspense there is too, in this story, as to whether the heroine would want to be beef patty in this happy burger bar.
He twitched the curtains closed before turning back to her, clad only in a black, short-sleeved shirt. His erection was enormous, a bead of moisture clinging to its head. She’d borrowed a copy of Playgirl once, but that didn’t hold a candle to the real thing. Mari had been half-embarrassed, half-intrigued, flipping through all those pages of naked men.
Playgirl lasted that long into the future? This is the only moment when I am floored while reading this story.
Paired Pursuit is basically a tale patterned after successful stories by the likes of Lora Leigh and such, although here the Twins don’t turn into horny dogs or cats or even a bucket of water. But because the Twins are so overpowered, this is a dreadfully boring tale of people going to Point A, overcome any puny obstacle in that place, sex, sex, sex, go to Point B, laugh at any puny problem that arises and then sex, sex, sex, Point C, repeat and rinse. Having the heroes show some vulnerability may make this one a hundred times more compelling, and making the heroes’ superlative virtues less exaggerated would have allowed me to take the story more seriously. The setting may not be anything new, but it may be intriguing if this story has been anything more than a silly excuse for the instantly-horny heroine to get double-motorboat’ed by two steroidal Ken dolls.
| 
