It has always been my personal policy to try and answer any legitimate questions about my story, and while the following email didn't actually ask a question, it did seem to beg for an explanation.
They wrote:
"Every time my fingers touched her dehiscent pussy's anthesis, it made me wonder if she would even make it through her trim without climaxing."
(from Second Time Through - Book II - Chapter 22: Six Flags Over Georgia)
Dear Phil,
I consider myself well read. But you have me chasing professional words that are outside the literary norm. Dehiscent? Anthesis?
Good job. Please keep it up even though it is ignored by most readers.
(Name omitted)
And here is my reply:
Dear (Name),
You're correct, most readers probably stumbled over both words and just went on, however, a few readers did notice and took the time to drop me a note.
Some actually had a botanical background and either laughed at me or applauded my inventive use of the terms.
Several more were teachers or professors of English. They mostly thought I was taking too much liberty in my usage.
Others were professional wordsmiths (authors) and they all laughed at the usage.
And many more were simply readers who were too curious to let such distinctive and unusual words go by without stopping and looking them up. They almost all were laughing at my (very) liberal and somewhat tongue-in-cheek use of the botanical terminology.
However, as in many cases, there is actually a story behind that particular scene.
It was the result of a challenge from one of the guys on the construction crew I worked on at the time.
Every day, I would carry my laptop with my lunch pail, and while the other guys ate their lunch and relaxed, I was busy typing with one hand and holding my sandwich in the other. They started out teasing me a lot at first, but then several of them began to want to know what I was writing every day.
One thing lead to another and finally, I started printing out each chapter as I finished it and they would pass it around. They were a tough audience and I figured if it passed muster with them, it might be readable for others.
One day, one of the guys bet me that I couldn't come up with an original way of writing a sex scene. The rest of the crew were the judges, so I went to work.
A few days later, I passed out written copies of the chapter. While not a single one of them could probably pronounce either word, I was prepared and had a print-out of both words and their botanical meanings.
It was a lively lunch break that day, as they all sat around and debated. I wish you could have been there, listening to seven tough and dirty rednecks, sitting in the mud while discussing the literary significance of "...her dehiscent pussy's anthesis,"
Anyway, they finally decided and we all enjoyed a few beers that night at my crew-mate's expense.
I decided to leave it in the posted version simply because it was so much fun.
So... (with apologies to Mr. Harvey)... Now you know the rest of the story.
Thank you for reading my story and for taking the time to write,
Phil