Introduction
"Women can adjust to anything," Petronius wrote in his Satyricon almost two thousand years ago, "so long as there is a man and a healthy penis involved." Petronius was referring to Roman women of his era, but he undoubtedly included all women of all times in his statement. He could not be unaware of the legendary history of Romulus and his soldiers who raped the Sabine virgins and carried them away as wives, for when the time came for the liberation of the females they refused to leave their virile captors. They had adjusted.
It is on this theme of adjustment that Dansk Blue Books's Rod Waleman has based his new novel, The Stepdaughters. Although it is, in essence, the story of the love-starved, widowed Valerie, we cannot ignore the presence of her two beautiful teenage daughters, Ethel and Penny, both of whom are in heated competition with mother for the attentions of Valerie's new husband, Mark.
Mr. Waleman's deft characterizations of the three passionate females, and of the smoothly functioning Mark, places his book far above the ordinary novel. His characters speak and move with authenticity and realism, and the action is so fast-paced that it is difficult to lay the book down once one has begun reading it. When we first meet Valerie Walker, we cannot help but feel her love, her trust, and a little of her incredulity that such a wonderfully virile man as Mark would be attracted to a widow with two daughters. We watch as she succumbs completely to his forceful personality and his animal vitality in bed. Then, coldly, Mark puts into operation his plan for complete domination of the household. The willowy, headstrong Ethel-at first teasingly and then with deadly seriousness-plays with Mark's proffered forbidden fire; instead of being burnt, she discovers she has received new and frighteningly potent powers. The trusting, affectionate Penny is the next to find herself caught in Mark's web of sensual intrigue, and it is not until her childlike body is joyfully screaming out its ecstatic defiance to morality that she discovers she has become a woman.
When Mark's son by his first marriage, Neal, is brought to live in the household, Valerie realizes what is happening. It almost immediately becomes evident that Neal has some of his father's characteristics and attributes. Valerie, herself, fighting valiantly against her own hot, dark desires, is one of the first victims of Neal's strength and charm.
In time, Valerie is forced to adjust to this communal love setup. She must adjust ... or lose forever her husband and her happiness. It is at that moment she realizes, with horror, that this will be only the first of many adjustments she must make in the future. But can she adjust? Will she adjust to this immoral situation?
It would not be fair to the reader to reveal any more of this exciting story, for the ending itself is a classic, with the final sentence in the book being, "That was really the only thing that mattered." It is a denouement worthy of Balzac, Flaubert, Tolstoi, or Hemingway.
It is possible that the graphic scenes, explicit language, and sexual candor of the characters will offend some readers. But people like the Walker family do exist, and to deny them their day in this Dansk Blue Book court of public judgment is merely turning one's back on reality.
This is the story of survival-a survival of the species on one level, the survival of the fittest on a deeper level, and on the deepest level of all ... the survival of the need of physical love which was common to Adam and Eve and thus transcends all other hungers and needs.
We are grateful to Mr. Waleman for writing this novel. If you like The Stepdaughters, we know you will also enjoy his first novel for Dansk Blue Books, The Young Librarian.
The Publishers