"Paul Di Filippo - Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Text" - читать интересную книгу автора (Di Filippo Paul)

Plumage From Pegasus:
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Text
by Paul Di Filippo

“In an attempt to give readers some real-life romance, mass market fiction
house Dorchester is partnering with the on-line dating service Cupid.com to
co-host ‘speed dating’ events in five cities starting next month. Attendees
will get copies of Dorchester books, dating tips from Dorchester
authors—and, in an ideal situation, a mate, too.”

—”Readers Find Love,” by Lynn Andriani, PW Daily, April 13, 2006.

****

It just wasn’t working out between Sheila and me. After three years of
marriage punctuated by endlessly recurring arguments, accusations and
tearful reconciliations, I was finally ready to call it quits.

Speaking firmly but with no hostility, I brought up the subject of
divorce one morning at the breakfast table.

Sheila took it well. After all, this particular outcome to our turbulent
relationship could hardly have come as a surprise to her.

Staring soberly at her coffee as she tinkled a spoon around the inside
of her cup, Sheila said, “Sure, Stan. We could break up. That would be
easy enough. But there’s one last thing we could try—if you’re willing.”

“What’s that?” I said, my curiosity piqued.

Sheila looked up at me with a tentatively hopeful expression. “We
could call the publisher.”

“Publisher?”

Sheila grabbed a paperback from an adjacent counter. The
butter-stained, crumb-sprinkled cover depicted a man and a woman torridly
grappling against a background of medieval warfare between peasants and
barbarians. The type on the cover announced Savage Vandal Kisses, by
Faustina Chambliss.

“Don’t you remember? Dorchester Publishing. They introduced us.”

Memories from four years ago flooded vividly back to me.
 Sheila and I had met through an on-line dating service, during a
special promotion they had been holding in conjunction with a publisher of
romance novels, Dorchester Books.

Sheila was a big fan of that genre, although I had no interest in such
sappy stuff. Her affection for such reading material had not waned over the