Lust & Philosophy

“Lust & Philosophy‘s experimental prose and non-linear narrative spans continents, decades, and states of mind, calling to mind William S. Burroughs’ equally bizarre Naked Lunch, while fans of Henry Miller will empathize with—but may not always like—the libertine expat Cook.”—Shanghai Talk

“[A]n erotic mind-bending story.”—Lloyd Lofthouse, author of My Splendid Concubine

“A visceral novel that explores many different lusts and cultures.”—Kirkus Reviews

Expat Isham Cook lives a highly ordered life of the mind and is not one to be swayed by circumstance, until his dispassionate existence is tripped up by Cookie, an elusive woman glimpsed around his gritty Beijing neighborhood. He then becomes captivated by the flamboyant eroticism of a woman on the subway, Luna, who radically overhauls his most basic preconceptions. A third beauty of ambiguous Asiatic ethnicity, Adalat, is as unknowable as the others and incites a new obsession. Finally, a fourth character appears, one capable of pulling apart the very coordinates of Isham’s reality.

A hypnotic journey of a novel, with idea bombs going off along the way, Lust & Philosophy is mind-rape as literature, a fairytale on acid, and a holographic Rorschach test all in one, and will appeal to fans of Hermann Hesse, Philip K. Dick, J. G. Ballard and other novelists of the uncanny.