The more is known about a Shandong woman, the more unknowable she becomes.
The catch. A short story
Isham Cook
American essayist and novelist based in China since 1994. Writing philosophy: downmarket, big concept, provocative, discriminating, outrageous. Ballard, Beckett, Borges, Dick, Kafka, Hesse, Melville, Mishima, Sade are influences.
Jia (Home). A short story
A visit to a Chinese home boggles the imagination.
Let the sunshine in. A short story
A foreigner turns a Chinese girl on, a bit hastily, to LSD.
The hickey. A play in one act
An orally induced tattoo has consequences for the woman administering it.
Reset. A play in two acts
A sexbot needs returning to the shop for recalibration.
Injaculation. A short story.
A hermaphrodite explains the Tao.
Lust & Philosophy. A novel (ch. 1)
“I first saw her one spring day on my way to afternoon coffee near People’s University.”
Lust & Philosophy. A novel (ch. 2)
“To seize the event, lock its meat and bones in my jaws and relax into the thing.”
Lust & Philosophy. A novel (ch. 3)
“Success is never haphazard but only ever proceeds from comprehensive and systematic attack.”
Lust & Philosophy. A novel (ch. 4)
“Kind of like Hot Wheels and tits and the Day of Judgment all rolled into one.”
Lust & Philosophy. A novel (ch. 5)
“Each new walk down the stretch was charged with expectation, at once a cornucopia and a minefield of possibilities.”
Lust & Philosophy. A novel (ch. 6)
“In the town center lawn is a crazy quilt of motley freaks smoking pot and playing guitar.”
ISHAM COOK 