The Center of the Universe: Volume 1, Chapters 1-5 - The Center of the Universe, #1

When the protagonist of this long series of erotic stories, is in his forties, he settles in a nondescript town in Central Vietnam to work as a teacher. Soon, Douglas madly falls in love with his younger colleague Nguyet, who resists his romantic advances, though, until she leaves the school to join the largest real-estate company in the country. Ironically, she then feels freer to start an affair with him, as she is still single but tired of waiting for the proverbial Mister Right.
Although Douglas has gotten married in the meantime, when Nguyet asks him to meet her at a café, near her parents' home, he can't resist. It wasn't an easy decision for Nguyet, but when her parents are out of town for three days, she takes her courage into her elegant hands. This, however, sets a dynamic in motion that neither of the two could have predicted: Soon, Nguyet not only emancipates herself from her mother but also the restrictive sexual and cultural norms of her society.
Together with Douglas, Nguyet wants to make up for all the time lost during her youth and begins her quest for a new identity and sexual enjoyment. She discovers the mystifying elements of sexual desire, love, and lust along the way and fans out her sensual repertoire further and further. These five chapters here are only the very beginning of a much longer series, which spans over six years, from 2018 to today.
Almost all stories are set in small-town Vietnam and are the product of three interlocking factors: the repressive 'official' sexual norms, the paradoxical nonchalance of many Southeast Asians in sensual matters, and the fact that Douglas was the only foreigner in said place for a long time. As varied as the episodes are, they all have one theme in common: Ultimately, they tell captivating tales of liberation from rigid, confining moral norms.
All chapters are meant to entertain, amuse, and - in the best case - stimulate, without slipping into crudity, however. All light-hearted stories are told in a very revealing, tongue-in-cheek manner and, in passing, offer insights into Vietnamese culture. Without taboos, all episodes explore the sources and dynamic of erotic desire and lure the reader under the spell of an exotic world. The author of this extensive series of erotic stories has been enjoying Southeast Asia for ten years now.
After living in Germany and the U. S. for most of his life, Douglas ventured in the opposite direction in 2010: first, he taught at a community college in the South Seas for three years, before settling in Vietnam. Naturally, all novellas reflect his undying love for young Southeast Asian women.