A collection of Mr. Lemme’s most exciting, thought provoking, and entertaining short stories and essays from the last two decades. These stories run the gamut from the eponymous sci-fi tale of Ignatius Lowdermilk to the thrill ride and deep dive into the esoteric world of electronic trading in the era of George W. Bush in the adventure ‘Too Many Options’. Mr. Lemme’s style is honest and enlightening while exploring themes as wide ranging as love and breakups, to medieval fantasy, to the nature of writing itself, all delivered with a captivating charm and wit that is both humorous and provocative.

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Henry is a frustrated author writing his first novel about a frustrated writer named Jake. Jake’s partner, Carol, is a shrewd and stunningly beautiful heroine who keeps him guessing at every turn. But who are Jake and Carol? Our perception of them changes every time Henry starts his story over at Chapter One. Our evolution in understanding Jake and Carol, and ultimately Henry, is only one of the many reflections in the hall of mirrors that is this story.

Halfway through the novel, Henry gets his novel published and eventually sells the movie rights. His meteoric rise from obscurity to fame consumes the last half of the novel. However, we, the reader, are treated to the unfolding story that has made Henry famous, interleaved with his story of new-found fame.

Henry’s plot settles into a love triangle, murder-suicide between Carol, her husband and Jake. Or does it? Henry leaves his readers guessing all the way to his last page, which is also the last page of Chapter One. The mind-binding reflections of reading a story about an author writing a similar story reverberates throughout.

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Isaiah Hoffman is brilliant, charismatic, and hides many secrets behind a handsome façade. He is also fabulously wealthy. His creation, the Gardens of Eden, is a back-to-earth organic wonderland example of what you can do with unlimited funds. Tyler Caldwell hates his life. On a whim, he convinces his magazine publisher to let him investigate the Gardens of Eden. Hoffman prophesies the collapse of modern society from the ravages of climate change and has created a self-sustaining oasis, an ark in a flooding world. After a two-day visit, Tyler is so taken by his experience that after writing his article, he quits his job and joins the cult. Only then does he discover the real truth hiding in the desert. A dark and suspenseful thrill ride on the cutting edge of environmental disaster, The Gardens of Eden will keep you guessing until the last page.

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What does a man with an unusually large member, a schizophrenic, and a transvestite have in common? They are three of the twenty-one narrators of this sprawling portrayal of Americana during the past two decades. Told in the first-person, each chapter is a snapshot into the very different lives of the characters, represented by each of the Tarot archetypes identified by the twenty-one cards in the major arcana. The thread that binds them together is Santorini, a tarot card reader living in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. Follow him and his clients through the twenty odd years from the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the election of President Trump and all the events in between. At times hilarious, sometimes tragic, but always entertaining, The Seekers is an illuminating story reminding us that collectively we have the power to change our destiny.

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John Roberts is a sex therapist and sexual surrogate. That’s right, he has sex with his clients. He’d be the first to tell you that he doesn’t have sex with all of his clients. And that although his clients pay him money, sexual surrogacy is different than prostitution. And also that he’s good at it. Very good.

But John’s career, his life actually, is in a rut. He has no relationship of his own, yet at any given time can be having sex with five or six different women. Not such a bad situation, but not very fulfilling either. Until one day Samantha walks through his door. He immediately realizes she is different. Quirky, independent, challenging. He falls for her, hard.

Samantha’s problem is not your typical sexual dysfunction. She can’t seem to make a deep emotional connection with her partners, making sex an empty and meaningless experience for her. It is exploring this issue with John, forcing him out of the safety and normal role of therapist, that is both dangerous and exhilarating for him.

Realizing he can’t navigate this exciting new relationship with Samantha within the bounds of traditional therapy, John decides to take it to the next level, with disastrous consequences.

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