Story Reviews: Sk8r Dreams

Sk8r Dreams Part 1

I can't say enough good things about "Sk8r Dreams," which is definitely worth a second look. The story is about a young kid that discovers a computer disk with a sim-like program that turns him into a super alpha male, in his own words, a 6'6", 300 pounder. In the story's own words:

So what did he want? Someone who would be hell popular, did all the stuff he wished he could do, and was really cool. He went into personality and turned his character into a real extrovert, strong willed and extremely likable. Then he went into prefences, he got stuck for a while. Then he decided to have a gay character, very interested in guys, rap and skating. He gave his sim knowledge about computers, skateboards, sex, and few other things he thought might be useful. Then he bumped the IQ up to 160. He also bumped up the sim's sexual prowess and desires. James saved all his changes and went back to the main screen. He pressed the begin button, only as he was pressing it did he glance at the 'cheap' graphic that had been pushed to the side by the options. It was a perfect image of him, cept the clothes the image was wearing were different from his own. A tupac tee-shirt, baggy 3/4 pants, a heavy chain ran from a belt loop down his pants, and he assumed into his back pocket. This brief observation took place in a second.

The sexiest part of the story is the streetwise, brassy attitude, exploring punk and skater subcultures with a muscle twist. It has a definite place and location, which is a great strength of it. If you ever want to get your subculture associated with sex, just get your guys to work out with hardcore iron! In that sense, Sk8r Dreams does for skaters what the Firefighters Calendar does for firefighters.

The best element, the one I thought was the most innovative, was the idea of the GUI that lets you change your character around. Sk8r Dreams wasn't the first to have this, but it was the best, in the sense that it made the main character very different.

Stories with high school age protagonists are interesting in that they seem to have this axis of Jock and Nerd. You're either one or the other. This, incidentally, is a very jock way of looking at High School: you're either one of them or a "fag." More stories should be about the rest of the gang: punks, goths, stoners, and the rest.

Predictably enough, our hero proceeds to go on and live the dream: get himself a harem of gay muscleboys.

If there is any critique, it is that the worst punishment any character could receive is to be transformed into a woman. Bros before hos, huh? Guys start off life hating girls, and that doesn't change, they just get horny.

Still, a very endearing element of this story is the palpable feeling this is the author's fantasy come to life. In one part, a character says 'Hello there, nice shoes wanna fuck?' which he always wanted to say," you can almost feel the author, behind his monitor, going "tee hee hee."