Alpha

Through the hilarious sexploits of a love-struck artist, struggling for perfection in a crass world ... author Randolph Nord examines the love/lust connection, and the tough job of claiming our full humanity. Efron Dawkins is the hero ... a young art student, in the fifth year of a four-year program. Too sensitive for his own good, Efron thinks of reality as more like a wonderland. A major goal is to capture this wonderland in paint. Thus, he dreams at work. And his bedroom (... which also functions as a studio) features over-sized mythic figures disporting themselves in erotic pursuit (... his homage to Picasso ). Love, however, presents a problem. It manifests itself as a force he calls ALPHA. That is, the disturbing power of certain females to churn one's soul like a pair of underpants twirling inside an over-active washing machine. A goddess may appear at any time, and Efron might suddenly find himself madly in love with a perfect stranger. Inevitably this leads to a merry chase. Tennis courts, health clinics, jewelry stores, pastry shops, arboretums filled with sunshine, supermarket parking lots, smoky taverns, musty apartments. No place is safe. But, they are never alone ... these ALPHAs. Some sort of interfering masculine presence is always near at hand: plump-lipped laughing boys who might wish to smash snowballs into his face; pain-in-the-ass professors; jealous karate-instructor husbands who might wish to kick Efron in the ribs; very tall basketball players (... lottery picks ) who think these girls belong to them; doctors who protect their nurses, and insist on testing his sphincter elasticity Hmmmmm? Can Efron work things out? Can he connect? It doesn't look good on the surface. But, with love ... anything is possible. A brilliant mating of wit and wisdom, ALPHA gets richer with each exposure.