Akwesi Phillips
Akwesi Phillips began The Seduction Challenge, the first novel of the Sadomas series, amid the least conducive surroundings for love and seduction, (but perhaps not for sadomasochism) — a freezing cold bus in central Europe.
As a child in London, Akwesi was inspired by Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and wanted to re.... more
Akwesi Phillips began The Seduction Challenge, the first novel of the Sadomas series, amid the least conducive surroundings for love and seduction, (but perhaps not for sadomasochism) — a freezing cold bus in central Europe.
As a child in London, Akwesi was inspired by Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective and wanted to reflect its layers of genre and consciousness.
However, at first, the author went against all good advice. He aimed to jump on the 50 Shades bandwagon - maybe switch genders and try and get a bit hot and steamy. Of course, this didn’t go well.
So Akwesi went on to create a sort of grand mashup of his favourite writers.
BOOM! The world of Alexander Von Purzeus, the main character of the alternate universe of Sadomas, aims to convey Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in tone, as well as Franz Kafka’s Metamorphoses in its fascination with shapeshifting. But Sadomas is funny and reviewers have described The Seduction Challenge as absurdist and very humorous. Akwesi writes in a style he hopes is reminiscent of his favourite stylists — John le Carré and Joseph Conrad. Lastly, in this grand mashup, Sadomas attempts to include a hint of T.S. Elliot’s and Ralph Ellison’s nihilism. If he could have met either writer, he might have told them to cheer up.
So, granted, the mashup probably fails, although the fun, excitement and insight are definitely there.
The Sadomas world not only tries to ask what if?, but it also seeks to leapfrog and predict beyond the unreal; beyond our what ifs, as if they have already actually happened.