Duo-One in the "Duos of Reversal" collection contains two tales of fantasy female-led reversals ? one of them entirely believable while the other might be far-fetched but is certainly written in a way that lends its story credulity.
Read on, as a past his prime lothario with gambling debts to the wrong people and a once gullible wife about to divorce him sees his life going into freefall. Cue the arrival of the Japanese widow living across from the home his wife is about to have him evicted from. A younger but fleshy Kyoto-born neighbour who sees a certain... "Potential" in the still handsome middle-aged waster as well as being the perfect project to banish the crushing boredom she has felt of late... A project, with the help of a powerful older lover back in Kyoto, that will ensure the former lothario will have a home and a position in it with her... For life!
A smug, haughty and cynical professor, scornful of superstition and the occult, is brought to his knees ? both figuratively and literally - before a conjure woman from the Indies... An island woman who is visiting London at the invitation of the professor's wealthier - and far more credulous ? friend who invites both the professor and the fiancé he is soon to wed... A conjure woman with occult abilities who will not only come to command his senses but see that his beautiful English-Rose fiancé comes to take a delight in doing the same... All this before the island woman insists he accompany her back to Haiti to be with her as a...????
Duo-One contains:
"Ms Hasekura" by Spencer Haskell; and "A Woman of Haiti" from Vera Carlisle.
2-Unlikely but believable fictional tales, one of fantasy in the real world, the other a tale of horror and occult possession; both written in the psychological and female-led style for the reader with a preference for exercising the darker side of the imagination with the help of credible and character-driven plotlines.
