Louis Peddicord

Cynthia in Thrall Louis Peddicord

"Cynthia in Thrall" is the story of Horton, a 68-year-old butler who, time and again, drops in on the life of 38-year-old heiress Cynthia Dupont. Caught in a variable time loop that gives him a different backstory each time he arrives, Horton is not entirely at ease with his dilemma. He realizes that he is a cog that could be lifted out of life's wheel at any moment. Cynthia, too, is acutely uneasy at her seemingly mandated liaison with an aging manservant. There are compensations, however. For Cynthia, there is the power she seems to have over the butler-and the lascivious thrill of acting out some of her most fervid fantasies. For Horton, there is the fact that Cynthia Dupont is one very oversexed woman and that every one of Horton's passages into her life is an interlude of shameless, wanton sex in every imaginable scenario. Horton encounters much the same with Cynthia's twin daughters, 20-year-old beauties who are even more predatory when it comes to sex. "Cynthia in Thrall" is thus a uniquely original exploration of time travel but with something of a bawdy-though ultimately logical and satisfying-twist on reality.