My Coffee Time Treat

There's no treat I like better than a real man. A short while ago I sat down with my coffee and the audio track of  Stephen Woodfin's short story "The Promiscuity Defense". It was like being a girl again when my mother told us all to SHUT UP when the morning short story came on the radio. And what a treat it was!


Stories happen somewhere. People have accents and attitudes in their voices. These days there are writers who are writing about their real lives in real places. It is truly a joy to me. When I first read a story by Bert Carson about helicopter action in Vietnam I knew that this was a real new wave of literature. After years of life and making a living in the jingle jangle world, writers are now telling you what it was like out there, down there, in there and in their heads. Stephen Woodfin is an attorney. His is the inside story.


"The Promiscuity Defense" is an account of an allegation of sexual misconduct. I will not say more than that because you are going to read it for yourselves. The audio is spoken by the author. The voice is calm - unsurprised by human foibles. The accent (for a Franco-Brit) nails the story to Texas USA. The style conveys a certain world weariness of the law professional who has seen it all before and is letting you see his cynicism and doubts. This is the beauty of the audio - you know what the guy is saying. Somewhere in an office with a pile of legal files, there is a cigarette burning in an ashtray and a cold black coffee on a window ledge. At one point the lawyer makes an aside about "Ex alcoholic judges". In that one little phrase you see a hidden world. The slurry of untruth and legal manipulation seep into the pure stream of justice. You get this in the writing and you get it in the audio. It's so God damn real.


I am yet to read the whole collection, but I'm on the case. If you want a great coffee time story, here are the links:


Amazon USA


Amazon UK 




Emma thinx: Listen to your imagination.