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Accidental Prostitute
My mind is cracking; slithers of the past covering my reality like graffiti…
I am no one, yet one of so many.
I had very strong memories of the rescue, thinking fondly of you, my saviour, but something was not quite right. Entering into a new relationship with Someone, new memories began to surface. All is not as it appears.
This is my story.
Accidental Prostitute is literary fiction inspired by the noir genre, revolving around the victim, a false hero and a real hero, all of whom are genderless (allowing you, as the reader, to assign what gender you choose). PTSD (characterized by a fractured timeline) flavours the victim's journey through the new relationship with the real hero, learning what it is to be free - and debt-free.
Should content or trigger warnings apply to any of Jac Buchanan's literature, these are stated on the copyright page at the start of the book.
I am no one, yet one of so many.
I had very strong memories of the rescue, thinking fondly of you, my saviour, but something was not quite right. Entering into a new relationship with Someone, new memories began to surface. All is not as it appears.
This is my story.
Accidental Prostitute is literary fiction inspired by the noir genre, revolving around the victim, a false hero and a real hero, all of whom are genderless (allowing you, as the reader, to assign what gender you choose). PTSD (characterized by a fractured timeline) flavours the victim's journey through the new relationship with the real hero, learning what it is to be free - and debt-free.
Should content or trigger warnings apply to any of Jac Buchanan's literature, these are stated on the copyright page at the start of the book.
19 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 29, 2021
5 people want to read
About the author
Jac Buchanan
3 books78 followersI grew up what can be described as "a big country town", surrounded by pets; dogs, cats, birds, fish, rabbits, chooks, guinea pigs and even a horse and some goats at one point. Oh, and a duck named Spike that we renamed to Spikette when she started laying eggs.
An Australian culture peppers my work, as does my colourful imagination and insatiable curiosity. There is not a literary genre or style that will be left unexplored in my stories, which are slowly making their way to publication. Hit me up with requests for my experiments anytime!
Join my journey. I hope your palette finds delight within the covers.
All my books are available as audiobooks or in a dyslexic-friendly font (OpenDyslexia) for accessibility purposes - please contact me should you have difficulty locating these.
Should content or trigger warnings apply to any of my literature, these will be disclosed on the copyright page at the start of the book.
An Australian culture peppers my work, as does my colourful imagination and insatiable curiosity. There is not a literary genre or style that will be left unexplored in my stories, which are slowly making their way to publication. Hit me up with requests for my experiments anytime!
Join my journey. I hope your palette finds delight within the covers.
All my books are available as audiobooks or in a dyslexic-friendly font (OpenDyslexia) for accessibility purposes - please contact me should you have difficulty locating these.
Should content or trigger warnings apply to any of my literature, these will be disclosed on the copyright page at the start of the book.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 24, 2022
Jac Buchanan offers an alternative and open-ended short story to make readers think outside the boundaries.
Jac Buchanan's 'Accidental Prostitute' is a drama story - and a literary experiment. Excluding Him, a dark offensive male from the past, the narrator and her/his current love interest Someone have no gender-specific attributes. The author turns the familiar Damsel in Distress and a Knight in the Shining Armor into vague figurines. Readers are encouraged to label heroes male/female according to their liking. Inner thoughts of the narrator (from the 1st person perspective) draw a disturbing picture of abuse (sexual and psychological), fear, and diffidence. Hence the world to the narrator is dangerous to the point that he/she can't decide where he/she is more protected, at home or the pub. Fear of being abused again pushes his/her into the new relationship too quickly after the split-up. Is Someone the one and only, or is it an ostensible safety?
The author intently constructs the story as intricate as possible, playing with time and space. Tightly intertwined, the past and present do not allow the narrator to think about the rationality of his/her decisions. The narrator is rather dragged through life than makes clear-cut choices.
However, purposeful vagueness and complication have their downsides. The perfunctory nature of the main hero's/heroine's and her lover's gender, plus Him in the background, sometimes makes guessing who the story is talking about at the moment difficult. The sudden love twist (no spoilers) seems a bit far-fetched: there are preliminary hints but not enough, for my taste. The value of the twist lies in itself, meaning it isn't motivated by the personality of a hero/heroine. Instead, it serves as the last link in the chain, merging two characters into one.
I recommend 'Accidental Prostitute' to writers who want to learn the construction of multi-dimensional time and space. The author crafted an engaging and fairly entertaining story (if the last word could describe a story about abuse).
Jac Buchanan's 'Accidental Prostitute' is a drama story - and a literary experiment. Excluding Him, a dark offensive male from the past, the narrator and her/his current love interest Someone have no gender-specific attributes. The author turns the familiar Damsel in Distress and a Knight in the Shining Armor into vague figurines. Readers are encouraged to label heroes male/female according to their liking. Inner thoughts of the narrator (from the 1st person perspective) draw a disturbing picture of abuse (sexual and psychological), fear, and diffidence. Hence the world to the narrator is dangerous to the point that he/she can't decide where he/she is more protected, at home or the pub. Fear of being abused again pushes his/her into the new relationship too quickly after the split-up. Is Someone the one and only, or is it an ostensible safety?
The author intently constructs the story as intricate as possible, playing with time and space. Tightly intertwined, the past and present do not allow the narrator to think about the rationality of his/her decisions. The narrator is rather dragged through life than makes clear-cut choices.
However, purposeful vagueness and complication have their downsides. The perfunctory nature of the main hero's/heroine's and her lover's gender, plus Him in the background, sometimes makes guessing who the story is talking about at the moment difficult. The sudden love twist (no spoilers) seems a bit far-fetched: there are preliminary hints but not enough, for my taste. The value of the twist lies in itself, meaning it isn't motivated by the personality of a hero/heroine. Instead, it serves as the last link in the chain, merging two characters into one.
I recommend 'Accidental Prostitute' to writers who want to learn the construction of multi-dimensional time and space. The author crafted an engaging and fairly entertaining story (if the last word could describe a story about abuse).
January 1, 2025
I liked the protagonist in this story and her dilemma, introduced early on. She was in a long-term abusive relationship, but was in the process of being rescued by a man having an affair with her. The story is largely an exploration of her feelings about her "rescue." At least, that's how I read what was going on. I liked the reality, subtlety, and complexity of her feelings about her situation and the way she expressed these at various points.
The part of the story that didn't really work for me was the author's intentional vagueness. I don't mean the let's-hide-the-genders game the author wanted to play; I just ignored that. I mean the decision not to write any concrete scenes between actual, spelled-out characters, scenes that would normally be told through the use of described conflict and dialogue. I have the feeling that there was an actual story that contained scenes like this in the author's mind, one that could have been written in conventional terms as a sequential narrative, but that the author suppressed this so that she could write about the protagonist's feelings instead. The result reads like a journal entry of a woman in psychotherapy writing to work things out for herself than it does a conventional short story. I would like to know the events of the story too.
Nevertheless, what is written, however much it hints at the story rather than tells it, was an interesting experiment that worked to an extent. I'm glad the author wrote this and that I had an opportunity to read it. The technique gets me thinking. What if one is writing a novel, but uses a technique like this for one of the characters? Or, if for more than one character, for a group of similar or related characters? This character (or group) might be an alien, not the protagonist, probably an antagonist whose actions we know through the protagonist's perspective. But we don't know why the antagonist acts as it does. Rather than have some omniscient narrator come in to say why--too unsophisticated--this approach could be used to reveal that antagonist's feelings and motivation. Maybe it could be an actual journal entry, or report to superiors. It could have a narrative voice much like this one.
Recommended for writers looking for experimental writing and maybe women who have undergone a similar experience, that of being rescued or having someone try to rescue one, from an abusive relationship.
The part of the story that didn't really work for me was the author's intentional vagueness. I don't mean the let's-hide-the-genders game the author wanted to play; I just ignored that. I mean the decision not to write any concrete scenes between actual, spelled-out characters, scenes that would normally be told through the use of described conflict and dialogue. I have the feeling that there was an actual story that contained scenes like this in the author's mind, one that could have been written in conventional terms as a sequential narrative, but that the author suppressed this so that she could write about the protagonist's feelings instead. The result reads like a journal entry of a woman in psychotherapy writing to work things out for herself than it does a conventional short story. I would like to know the events of the story too.
Nevertheless, what is written, however much it hints at the story rather than tells it, was an interesting experiment that worked to an extent. I'm glad the author wrote this and that I had an opportunity to read it. The technique gets me thinking. What if one is writing a novel, but uses a technique like this for one of the characters? Or, if for more than one character, for a group of similar or related characters? This character (or group) might be an alien, not the protagonist, probably an antagonist whose actions we know through the protagonist's perspective. But we don't know why the antagonist acts as it does. Rather than have some omniscient narrator come in to say why--too unsophisticated--this approach could be used to reveal that antagonist's feelings and motivation. Maybe it could be an actual journal entry, or report to superiors. It could have a narrative voice much like this one.
Recommended for writers looking for experimental writing and maybe women who have undergone a similar experience, that of being rescued or having someone try to rescue one, from an abusive relationship.
October 1, 2021
Incredible
There are moments of this that spoke to me in deep, personal ways. Beautifully written, and underpinned by an incredible cadence, that paints very real and painful memories of the narrator in a way that can only be described as 'real.' While not the typical style or genre I would read, this deserves more attention!
There are moments of this that spoke to me in deep, personal ways. Beautifully written, and underpinned by an incredible cadence, that paints very real and painful memories of the narrator in a way that can only be described as 'real.' While not the typical style or genre I would read, this deserves more attention!
October 1, 2021
Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
The easy flow of Buchanan's prose mixes with a good hard look at the journey of healing. Almost a letter to the one who broke the main character.
My first taste of her work, and I'm hooked.
The easy flow of Buchanan's prose mixes with a good hard look at the journey of healing. Almost a letter to the one who broke the main character.
My first taste of her work, and I'm hooked.
June 4, 2022
Intrigue and Options
An intriguing and thought provoking short story written in a style that leaves the characters open for the reader to imagine.
Highly enjoyable
An intriguing and thought provoking short story written in a style that leaves the characters open for the reader to imagine.
Highly enjoyable
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews