title: An Erotic Compendium
author: Sutherland, John K.
description: Each of the first three Novellas begins with the same circumstance; a young man being dropped off at a deserted guesthouse for the weekend as a forecasted nor’easter begins to roll through. He goes for a long walk, and gets caught in a downpour which soaks him through to the skin. He gets rid of all of his clothing into the washer and dryer. That is when the power goes off. He can do nothing but retire for the night. Another visitor, a young woman, arrives after walking from where her car ran out of gas. In the walk up to the dark house she becomes soaked. She is familiar with the property, which belongs for her family. However, she knows nothing of anyone being there before her, or the circumstance into which she will be walking. When she thinks to crawl into an empty bed in the dark and encounters a man already there, and finds him just as naked as she is, is when the fireworks begin to fly. The fourth story is set about 1820. Eugenia Hammond is now twenty-one and free of her controlling mother. She is now free to kick over the traces, and intends to do so with the man she has been in love with ever since she was about twelve.