Pandora

Why did I choose a sex club set in Canada’s largest city - Toronto - to be the backdrop and common thread linking my three books? It is, after all just an adult playground, totally fictitious. Don’t visit Toronto and try to find it in the yellow pages. When I wrote the books, I had in mind a setting like Eyes Wide Shut for the elegance of the setting but without the dark, underlying theme.

I’ve done a little research and now I know that Eyes Wide Shut is based on a novella written by Arthur Schnitzler - Dream Story - in 1926. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157409.Dream_Story?auto_login_attempted=true

Of course, I have placed this book on my reading list. According to the description, It is the story of a married male doctor’s dream, part of which involves visiting a secret sex club and making hard choices. The fact that Arthur Schnitzler was a close friend of Sigmund Freud’s adds to the appeal. I was a Psych major in university.

And then there’s the Greek legend of Pandora. She was the first woman created by the gods, endowed with beauty and wisdom. She was given a box and forbidden to open it. Of course she was curious. Who wouldn't be? Just one peek? She opens it and all manner of evil fly out to plague mankind. She despairs at what she has done but there was one item in the box she discovers hadn't escaped. HOPE. Hope for mankind in dealing with the evil and hardship.

And this is where my three books come in. Hope for love when it seems to have passed by my main characters. And hope wins out. At the risk of getting schmaltzy, this mirrors my own life. Not that I’m going to orgies with Tom Cruise. He’s never asked. But that I didn't give up hope, found the love of my life in Desmond and am now living my dream life, writing and creating.

So what about you, fellow writer? Is there a movie which has inspired your writing, or a book? And readers, is there a book you would like to see made into a movie? As a reader myself, how about Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series of books made into a movie.  There’s always hope, right?