Tiffany M. Davis

I read my books over and over again, so I tend to revisit books that came out years ago simply because I enjoyed them. It’s interesting to read such books years later, as I am in a different place in my life (sometimes literally LOL) than I was when I first read the book. One such book is sexlife by a.a. clifford (the author formerly known as Gary Hardwick). I first purchased this book at a signing in San Francisco, back in 2003 or thereabouts. The venue was Alexander Book Company, right off Market Street.  Alas, years later, a boyfriend borrowed the book and did not return it after a particularly nasty breakup. However, in my former life as a magazine editor, clifford was kind enough to re-send me an autographed copy. 😀

Okay, now on to the book.

sexlife is about the future (2268 AD, to be exact), when humans have to copulate in order to survive a genetic disease called CMB. Seriously, they have to have sex or literally die. The downside of CMB is that humans no longer feel the pleasure of orgasm, or the sexual act, and haven’t in decades. Joe is getting his life-saving sexual fix with Vella when they both realize something extraordinary: sex is pleasurable, but only with each other. This is complicated by the fact that Vella’s man is a physically imposing mountain of a man with a lot of money and power (and a bad temper), and who could squish Joe like a grape. An additional wrinkle is that Joe’s next-door neighbor and regular sex partner, Abby, is a hard-core, single-minded scientist who wants Joe to disclose his pleasurable experience for the sake of science. Needless to say, things get thick real quick when Joe and Vella try to meet again to rediscover the pleasure of sex.

Good science fiction/speculative fiction/fantasy is all about the suspension of disbelief, and I could see the scenarios in this book happening in the future. clifford was very far-reaching in his vision, as this book was written almost ten years ago, before the dominance of smartphones and the deep integration of technology into every aspect of our lives (life imitating art imitating life). Given the current social climate regarding the casualness of the sexual act, evolution could very well stamp out any pleasurable sexual feelings some generations down the road.

It’s an interesting read (and the e-book is only 99 cents), and worth a try.

Thanks for stopping by.