Rhyming Life and Death

The novel centres around 8 hours in the life of the Author (unnamed), a man in his forties, a literary celebrity, who is in Tel Aviv on a stifling hot night to give a reading. Bored, he looks for distraction - and finds copy. On the way he stops at a cafe where he 'bumps into' some of his own characters. In his head he conjures up the life stories of the people he meets, not least Ricky, an equally bored but seductive waitress. Later, even as the reading from his new book is underway, and the obligatory inane questions ("Why do you write? What is it like to be famous? Do you write with a pen or on a computer?) have come and gone - he weaves stories round the audience and the panel. Afterwards, the Author invites the professional reader for a drink before walking her home. it turns out she lives just opposite, so she goes home and he wanders off into the night. But he returns, climbs the many flights of stairs to the flat, where she lives alone with her cat - and they have a brief but steamy sexual skirmish.