Harriet and the Heman – Tarot: Eight of Wands

Captain Harriet Barnstormer is a professional spacepilot and, as such, she takes her contractual duty to keep herself physically fit – both inside and out – very seriously. Unfortunately, the power pack on her Pursepecker internal exerciser is dead, and the machine is long out of production, so no replacements are available. The Heman company has sent her three different copies of its Hiram Heman Seductor Mark 3 model, and each of them has broken down within days. Harriet is very upset with this company and its inferior products!

Getting ready to blast off without another replacement, Harriet sees a man outside the ship, trying to get her attention. Since she can’t stop the countdown, and she doesn’t want the man to be killed by the blast, she pulls him inside the ship. He is, he says, Xander Heman, and Harriet assumes that he is the upgraded replacement model that she was promised. Will this model be satisfactory or will it fail like the other three?

This was a fun little story (42 p.) that will give you a great laugh. Just imagine what would happen if one of the requirements of a profession was to have regular sex, and what a commercial opportunity it would create for sex toy manufacturers! The story is very light and – yes – superficial, but that style fits the humor of the story. The characters of Harriet and Xander are fast-talking and wisecracking, just like the most flip private investigators in mystery fiction. But before, during, and after the talking are several funny and graphic sex scenes. If you like humor with your science fiction and erotica, you will enjoy this story as much as I did.

Reviewed by: Jean