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A sure-handed fiction debut takes a darkly
comic and unsettling look at the quest for adventure in exotic
lands
In a last-ditch effort to save their
marriage, Conrad and Lucy Shermer embark on a second honeymoon
in the fashionably
exotic--and politically volatile--Southeast Asian nation
of Tambralinga. They soon separate, Lucy (guidebook in hand)
in quest of authentic cultural experience on the mainland
while Conrad searches a tourist island for an infamous brothel.
From the outset, both expeditions are in danger of devolving
into farce. Conrad, torn between his staid, paternal nature
and his desire to play the libertine in this tropical setting,
finds himself caught in a strange vortex of sexual and power
politics, stumbling upon "authentic" experiences
he'd sought to avoid. At the same time, Lucy's internal compass
sends her on adventures quite beyond the parameters of her
carefully plotted itinerary, forcing her to confront realities
at odds with the romantic portrait promoted by her guidebook.
In this utterly unpredictable first novel,
Scott Landers exposes with wry wit our cherished illusions
about journeys
of self-discovery and explores the changes that really
do happen when we venture into the unknown.
Scott Landers's short
stories have appeared in numerous literary journals. An extensive
traveler, he lives in
northern California.
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