Explorations
Blurb:
Both newly divorced and trying to make
sense of their newly acquired freedom, Janice and Cedric simultaneously
gravitate to live model drawing classes and swimming, their increasing
acquaintance leading to a more private modeling experience. Great story, with
wonderfully descriptive narration and profound insights into the void left by
the absence of a long attachment, whether pleasant or not. A lovely
non-threatening interlude for two people looking to get back in the game. This
story has a sequel entitled Further Explorations.
Excerpt:
Sure enough, it was Cedric!
Quite impressively dressed in the black of his hair colour—cords, suede shoes,
velvet jacket and fine polo. In spite of blushes on both sides, recognition did
not falter.
“Well, well. Worlds are
ridiculously small. How come you’re here?”
Cedric fumbled a few moments
for words… at length to come out with the routine truth… “I left a book here a
few days ago. I just came to collect it. But fancy us both knowing Marcus!”
“We follow life’s currents, its
winds and waves…come on, sit down.”
* * * *
How ideal! Everything laid on!
It would have really spoiled things if either of them had overstepped their
customary manners and tried to arrange a meeting, as the telephone advisers
always said, in a neutral public place.
Janice put on an album of
Beethoven String Quartets and kept the volume low, but with quite a lot of
bass. The music blended, unobtrusively, with their sensations. Its sombre
explorations penetrated their minds, their hearts, their groins, punctured
their inhibitions, free their breath. Ripples registered on both sides. Their
dark outfits made a spectral blend, poised to melt into each other. The
non-verbal was sustained, as they mentally undressed—first each other, then
themselves, down to their bathing suits, at the water’s edge, ready for the
plunge.
* * * *
“Well,” she giggled, “first
leading question, what do you do? You give the impression of having quite an
exciting occupation.”
“I’m a journalist, articles
about fashion and health products. And how about you?”
“The dreaded legal profession,
highly stimulating at times, but it does stress me.”
“You’re not alone; one does
need things to counteract the stresses.”
She gave him a sustained gaze.
“Hmm, hope I’m not being intrusive. I’ve been keeping an eye on you in the
swimming pool for some time. You’re looking really good now—got into swimming
well…must admit I was a bit worried about you before. You seemed a bit
head-heavy, imbalanced. But now you’ve accepted your body, toned it up and
relaxed the tensions. It’s the best exercise, you know involving all of you.”
“I guess I’ve conquered some
fears. I’m so glad to do it properly…” he grew a bit shy and hesitant. “It
started… when you bumped into me and gave me those tips on how to improve that
really clinched things for me, and…”
“Don’t be shy,” Janice patted
his knee to assuage his hesitation.
“I had seen you before! At that
party here… you did that beautiful dance; your skirt billowed.”
“And?”
“Then to see you in your bathing
costume.”
“And when you did, you took the
plunge, bless you.”
“I just had to come in the
water with you. And then, when I saw you at the art class, I was just dying to
pose for you. I was secretly longing for the model not to turn up so that I
would have my chance.”
Janice unbuttoned Cedric’s
jacket, felt his shoulders and his chest. “You’ve got your body in trim and you
can really carry yourself in trunks. Clothes look good on you, but your height
of fashion is around your loins.”
* * * *
The jacket dropped to the
floor. Elation welled up in them both. Chemistry and magnetism made their
chain-reaction. Slowly edging their heads towards one another, lips meeting
eyebrows, eyelids, cheeks, chins, each other. Two deep drawn breaths were held
for an ecstatic clinch with tongues. Her hand rose to his crown, massaged him
through that full, drawn-out embrace.
His left hand unbuttoned her
jacket, feeling her shoulder pressing from waist to hip. Breeze-like, his right
raised her skirt, to rest on her thigh as high as was aesthetic at that moment.
Her centre took the signal, hips pressing forward. The two of them had dived
and surfaced in love’s stream. What a catch for her—this controllable
gentleness combined with fathoms of passion—and for him, this beauty of
experience that he could now match. Aquiver, they drew back.
“You’re so lovely,” he panted,
“I want to see you undressed.”
Review:
This novelette tells a story of emerging or
perhaps re-emerging sexual vitality, as told from both male and female
perspectives. While it describes adults, it has the quality of being both a
projective look by adolescents, toward their sexual future, and retrospective
looks by adults, toward their earlier, and now re-awakened sexuality.
Much of the sexual energy is diffused in
the telling of the story, and the climax (which is both literal and figurative)
is really a plateau. The reader could stand on it, along with the protagonists,
feel satisfaction at having reached this place, and then gaze out and wonder,
"what new sexual adventures await these two sexual adventurers?" It's
certainly not "deep" as one commentator suggested, but the novelette
is introspective, and does build to a satisfying conclusion. It is work of
surface textures, well suited to the milieu of swimming. Definitely well worth
reading. The author also has poems and original artwork that build on this
motif of sex and swimming, at eroticpoems.org [Dreamers Reality] & [Valterra magazine - Bathing Girl]
~Paul Dolinsky
Further Explorations
Blurb:
Energised by their lovely liberating
experience, Janice and Cedric are determined to ‘spread their wings’ and take
the world by storm, a two-person conspiracy. They head off physically in
different directions, but remain in constant depth communication
electronically, ever comparing notes, monitoring each other’s minds and
experiences for a depth of mutual understanding. They may meet again fully
equipped with a great depth of self-knowledge, and a knowledge of each other’s
depth. They negotiate giddy peaks of high finance; Janice even does into ‘dreamscape’,
making a pact with the devil. Further delights of sensuality are explored by
both, with exotic partners; the depths and shallows of life are all embraced…
Excerpt:
They beamed at each other,
sizing up their physiques again, comparing their respective performances which
had led up to that climax. Then Janice breathily broke the silence. “You were
an astral rocket, surging, grounding, resurging.”
“And you the booster supreme.”
After a final hug, they wistfully shrugged, along with smiles and suspicions of
tears. “We’ve both got our planes to catch, darling…we’re all wired up.” They
turned their backs on each other going down their separate lanes.
Janice and Cedric’s bittersweet
parting, executed with watertight composure, froze that moment of perfection.
Their state-of-the-art arrangements, so efficient in sustaining long-term
contact were so effortlessly executed—miraculously, none of the hitches either
of them experienced with their other contacts—that they simply had to have been
exquisitely premeditated, but all the more because, regarding functioning in
the immediate present, they were both prone to fumble and stutter.
Yet, there was a sense of
permanence in that kaleidoscope world of fleeting acquaintances. Shattering
glasses always sharpens, enriches the vision. Closet pyromania fantasy makes
every dreamer dynamic—visions of the inferno, crashing of all solid
architecture, but with the stench of charred flesh blanked off. Such an
abundance of good looks and vibrant expressions passing by on the streets; it
felt that any one of them had destructive potential, mighty cataracts at close
quarters. The diffusion of that potential sustains the world’s equilibrium,
global spark potential
Review:
David Russell doesn't hold back in Further
Explorations. I enjoyed reading about Cedric and Janice. They share so many of
the same qualities, thoughts and experiences. Reading about characters with a
lot in common was a breath of fresh air, as most wo/man pairs are drawn
together by their differences, opposites attract and all. Cedric and Janice, on
the other hand, are drawn together as if they are one being no matter how much
physical distance is between them.
As Cedric and Janice take off to different
parts of the world, we get to experience the depth of their understanding of
each other, their wild experiences, and how they communicate with one another.
For example, Chapter 15 was especially memorable because their instinct told
them that their beings had fused, that they were in absolute synch wherever in
the world each of them was, whatever the physical distance between them.
Further Explorations is a great read
because David really focuses on getting into the character's mind. This novel
does a great job communicating the experiences of Janice and Cedric, and
pulling your mind into their connection. David's descriptive writing is rich
and any woman who loves a slow burning read will enjoy Further Explorations.
~Zee
Author Bio:
b.
1940. Resident in the UK. Writer of poetry, literary criticism, speculative
fiction and romance. Main poetry collection Prickling Counterpoints
(1998); poems published in online International Times. Main
speculative works High Wired On (2002); Rock Bottom (2005). Translation of
Spanish epic La Araucana, Amazon 2013. Romances: Self’s Blossom; Explorations;
Further Explorations; Therapy Rapture; Darlene, An Ecstatic Rendezvous
(all pub Extasy (Devine Destinies). Singer-songwriter/guitarist. Main CD albums:
Bacteria
Shrapnel and Kaleidoscope Concentrate. Many
tracks on You Tube, under ‘Dave Russell’
Find
David Here
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