Books

John returns home from East Africa for family reasons, after three years as a development consultant. With no job to return to, depression sets in. His wife struggles with the realities of living. John discovers Yahoo Personals. He recognises pleas for help, though often disguised. He submits an invitation about his early autobiographical writing. He wants something — a parallel universe — to offset living reality. It's like Alice in Wonderland: falling, falling, falling... Many respond. He selects one who writes intelligently.

Part 1 describes this falling. It is an innocent start, simply searching for comfort through shared thoughts. She is divorcing, worrying about the impact on her young son. He describes his own experience as the young son, losing his mother. Eroticism is stumbled upon. She encourages him to imagine. Consequences follow.

Part 2 sharpens matters with his losing touch. His mind is now fired. It is a series of erotic vignettes. Their only connection is with the gradual descent of the mind, as each normally unrelated episode passes to the next. Many involve John directly. Each is with a willing partner, except in one case. Some are imagined from a woman's perspective. John thought, ‘If Fanny Hill can be written by a man, why not some of this collection?’