Introduction
There is a popular children's story about a city mouse with a country cousin. Each made a short visit to the home of the other and found it impossible to survive there. like most children's stories, the message is deep, and the moral far more profound than would appear at first glance. For even in a civilization like ours, where instantaneous mass communication via the electronic marvels of radio and television is possible, the city and the country still represent two completely different lifestyles.
Yet, as our society becomes more and more mobile, clashes between them are inevitable. Jets of steadily increasing size and carrying capacity now make it possible to cross the nation in less than five hours. And as a result, millions of Americans are finding ways and means to travel from their native environs to find out how "the other half" lives.
On any evening of the year, visitors to New York City, for example, can be seen standing on Broadway, Manhattan's gay white way, shaking their heads in wonderment and talking about what a nice place New York is to visit. But the phrase which finishes that observation is highly significant: "But I wouldn't want to live here."
The needs of a fluid society, however, make it increasingly necessary for great numbers of Americans to change their locations in search of better jobs and better circumstances. Often, they are forced to change their lifestyles as well. But these aren't as easily altered as a location or an occupation. And so every year, growing numbers of people find themselves lost and confused, forced to live in those sprawling concrete jungles which they characterize so glibly as nice places to visit. And for those who come straight from the country, the transition is usually a difficult one to make.
This book, the searing work of author Donna Paradise, is a penetrating study of the cultural shock which so often accompanies a forced change in lifestyle. It is a story of two couples. Ralph Bronson, the photographer who makes his living shooting pornography, and Marilyn, his attractive helpmate, are from the big city, having met in Los Angeles, where Marilyn worked as a model. Teddy Dale, the adolescent sailor who has been in the Navy only a short time, and Ellen, his bride of two months, are from the country, having grown up together in Davis, Wisconsin, a small farming community in America's fertile Midwest.
They meet in the suburban no man's land of hills and mountains just north of the Mexican border near the City of San Diego. And the meeting changes their lives. like a rabbit under the hypnotic spell of the fast and deadly coyote, Ellen is entranced by Marilyn and her city ways. like a wild beast of prey, Marilyn in turn is captivated by the purity and innocence of her new acquaintance.
The results of their meeting and its effects on the two pairs of protagonists are the basis for this gripping tale of action and suspense. The novel culminates in a shocking ending which brings the author's statement together dramatically and graphically. like the events in this story, life is sometimes violent and sometimes arousing. And although there is little that anyone can do to change the basic nature of human existence, it is our sincere hope that the readers of this book will gain something which makes life just a little easier to understand.
-The Publisher