Unwinding, believe it or not, started as a much racier story. Marion actually did have sex with Hillary both as a woman and a man, and Kristoph, having stumbled upon them in bed, left a message telling her he understands and forgives her and asks her to come home when she’s ready. It worked in its way. But it was just too extreme. I tried it out on a couple of friends who previewed the stories. One of them was my friend Prue in Australia who died about a year after this story was written. She, in particular, liked the idea as a stand alone story, but not as part of the Marion and Kristoph saga. She didn’t feel that Marion would betray Kristoph so completely, or that Hillary would take advantage of her grief in that way. And reading it again, I think she was right. So the story got a major rewrite. The racier version has got lost in the course of several computer hard drive failures and transfers to new machines, so I can’t let anyone see it. Besides, it would spoil your vision of Marion as a pure, sweet, faithful wife to Kristoph.

The story is quite racy, even so. Most of it takes place in Hillary’s boudoir with the flower shaped bed where she brings her lovers, male and female. There is, I think, a sense that anything might happen, and after all, Gendermorphs are very sensual people who enjoy sex without guilt.

But on the whole I think I was right, this time, to take note of the reactions of previewers and curb the passion quite a bit.

Some readers pointed to the contrast between Marion’s reaction to her first miscarriage, when she went to see Renita in her ‘convent’ and had a sort of religious healing, and this time when she went to see Hillary in her love nest and had a sensual healing. Yes, there is a huge difference. There’s no special reason. It just happened differently this time. Watch out for an interesting development for Marion in a few weeks time, though.