A Prelude to Pleasure [Kindle Edition]

Quent Cordair (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2011

How does a man find the woman of his dreams?

"Before the five-year search there had been fifteen long years of watching and waiting to fall passionately in love the way he had always believed he would, the way he once thought he had. But on his fortieth birthday, he stood alone on a rock above a restless ocean and cried. There was no one with whom to share his world, and there seemed to be nothing he could do about it. In business he could do anything, achieve anything, he refused to accept failure--but he couldn't create a woman, and he couldn't fall in love with one who simply wasn't there. Lifting his head, he had angrily wiped away the tears: he had been more than patient with the world, and the world hadn't delivered on its promise. And if he couldn't have what he wanted--he swore he would get the best that could be had. . . ."

"A Prelude to Pleasure" is the tale of how a man of accomplishment and wealth goes about finding his true love--and what he discovers along the way, with the help of a boy who reminds him of who he once was. The short story by Quent Cordair was first published to acclaim by The Atlantean Press in 1991. 30 pages.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Quent Cordair was born in 1964 in southern Illinois. He was raised "under a church pew" in a fundamentalist Christian sect, an insular community in which the devout were forbidden the enjoyment of movies, pop music, television, school sports, alcohol, jewelry, makeup, skirts shorter than knee length and most other temporal pleasures worth mentioning. Today, Mr. Cordair resides and works in Napa, California, where with his wife, Linda, he enjoys some of the world's best wine and food and owns an art gallery brimming with lovely nudes and other sensuous delights. When not painting, he writes romantic, adventurous fiction that celebrates a markedly different perspective of life on earth than the one under which he was raised.
      While many things in his youth were proscribed, the reading of fiction was not, and it was amidst the library shelves that his eyes were opened to a marvelous and exciting world beyond the church's walls. He immersed himself in boys' mystery books and was captivated by the stories of Stevenson, Defoe, Wyss, and Doyle. In his mid-teens, he was discovering the dramatic tales of Fleming, Follet, Sienkiewicz and Hugo, and by his late teens was basking in the ingenuity of O. Henry and the genius of Ayn Rand.
      After serving four years in the United States Marine Corps, he launched his writing career. His first short story was published in 1991. To support himself while writing, he learned to paint and began taking commissions and selling his work at art fairs. The Quent Cordair Fine Art gallery was opened in 1996, and in 2008, the Cordairs moved the gallery to downtown Napa, where today they offer the finest selection of Romantic Realism in the world. Quent's present efforts are devoted to his writing. In addition to publishing short stories, he is completing a novel of grand scope inspired by his life's journey and passions.
      The Cordairs live in Napa with their two cats, Lexie and Sadie, and their adopted malamute-mix, Ruby.

Product Details

• File Size: 179 KB
• Print Length: 31 pages
• Publisher: Cordair, Inc. (August 20, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005IDQFCQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,343 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Quent Cordair was born in 1964 in southern Illinois. He was raised "under a church pew" in a fundamentalist Christian sect, and though his family moved regularly--the grass always being greener--it would nearly always be to a town with a church of their denomination close by. It was an insular community in which the devout were forbidden the enjoyment of movies, pop music, television, school sports, alcohol, jewelry, makeup, skirts shorter than knee length and most other temporal pleasures worth mentioning. It may not be a coincidence that the writer and artist now resides and works in Napa, California--the heart of the wine country--where with his wife, Linda, he enjoys some of the world's best wine and food, and owns an art gallery brimming with lovely nudes and other sensuous delights. When not painting for the gallery, he writes romantic, adventurous fiction that celebrates a markedly different perspective of life on earth than the one under which he was raised.

While many things in his youth were proscribed, the reading of fiction was not--an oversight, no doubt, by church authorities--for it was amidst the library shelves that the eyes of a young man were opened to a marvelous and exciting world beyond the church's walls. He immersed himself in boys' mystery books and was captivated by the stories of Stevenson, Defoe, Wyss, and Doyle. In his mid-teens, he was discovering the dramatic tales of Fleming, Follet, Sienkiewicz and Hugo, and would soon bask in the ingenuity of O. Henry and the genius of Ayn Rand.

At seventeen, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps with the goal of becoming a career fighter pilot, but by the time he was accepted to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, he recognized that the only work that could ever truly satisfy him was the creation of the kind of visions that had inspired him through his youth. After completing his four-year enlistment, he launched his writing career.

His first short story was published in 1991 by the Atlantean Press Review. To support himself while writing, he waited tables, took employment as a security guard, stocked groceries and worked the graveyard shift at a mail-processing center. While working a desk job in an auction firm, he began seeking paying work more in line with his artistic proclivities. After teaching himself how to paint, he began taking portrait commissions while working at his easel in a local park and would soon be exhibiting at art fairs.

The Quent Cordair Fine Art gallery was opened in 1996 in Burlingame, California, where the work of other painters and sculptors of like vision were offered in addition to Quent's own portraiture, figuratives, landscapes and still lifes, which are now collected by an international clientele. Linda assumed management of the business as it continued to grow, with the square footage doubling in 2006, yet even this space proved to be too small.
In 2008, the Cordairs moved the gallery to a 3000 square-foot location in downtown Napa, where today they offer the finest selection of Romantic Realism in the world. Quent's present efforts are devoted to his writing: in addition to publishing his short stories, he is completing a novel of grand scope inspired by his life's journey and passions.

The Cordairs live in Napa with their cats, Lexie and Sadie.