On the beautiful island of Saint Lucia, a member of the French Empire, Edenism, the new social fad, has taken hold. In a world only slightly different than our own, Anne-Marie stands on her balcony, nude, watching the servants as they move about the estate grounds cleaning the grounds or building structures. Suddenly, Nicholas appears.

Nicholas is the new gardener, hailing from British Virginia. Nicholas is full of strange and new ideas, which earned him a one way ticket out of his homeland. And while his unusual ideas interest and shock Anne-Marie’s complacent view of the world, it’s his unbelievably huge example of maleness that initially catches her eye.

And it is with this member that I take issue. Before you get all excited, no, I’m not taking issue with the mutant, freakish nature of it. Many authors seem to have a fixation with size, and I suspect Bradley is making a subtle point with the nature of the blessing. Rather, I must take issue with the depth of detail. While I suspect Bradley was making a literary point, I found the detailed descriptions of Nicholas’ schlong a little overboard to the point of tedium. While it may simply be my preferences, I suspect that had Bradley been describing a particularly deep vagina or endowed pair of breasts, I would remark in the same way.

As always, I enjoyed Bradley’s metaphorical comments on the state of the world. In this story, Bradley explores imperialism, caste, complacency, servitude and the status quo. Some might find this unusual, and even preachy, in a piece of erotica, but for me at least, I like that Bradley has something else to say than only that of sexual import. If anything, Bradley may have tackled a few too many issues with this story. While interesting, and Bradley does do most of the social commentary justice, it might be perceived by some as a lack of story focus.

Both Nicholas and Anne-Marie were delightfully human. I liked the characters immensely, and the story’s underlying Eros.

Rating: [10,10,10,10]

This story had me wondering, confused, and asking if you knew where you were when you wrote this. Everything seemed to be a reality, but all in different time periods. Satellite television, slaves, excellent use of words when speaking... However, after a bit more reading, the fictional story line dawned upon me. Very interesting story. Very good writing.

I was quite confused as well. You talked about it being the twentieth century and then went on about America's state of independence, or rather, its lack thereof and pornography on television. It was a lot to take in, politically and socially but I do believe I enjoyed it. I vouch for Nicholas, though. He seems to have more spirit, more zest in him than the Yves fellow. And the protagonist should be taken down from her high horse All in all, I'd say it’s a story well-written!

A remarkable piece of writing bringing together colonial--post colonial history with erotica. Very interesting story line and conclusion. The gardener’s tools seem to bring Hedonists down to earth---even in “Eden.” Suggests the garden and the snake.