The Temple of Skanda

After a run-in with the law, Conor O'Malley is determined to turn his life around. But he desperately needs a job, and a place to live. He finds both when an accident results in his meeting Murray De Souza, who operates an import business out of his farmhouse and barn. Murray isn't bothered by Conor's background. He hires the young ex-con as his shipping clerk and live-in handyman. At first, all goes well. But Conor hadn't anticipated falling in love with his new boss. And his feelings for Murray seem hopeless, because Murray is still obsessed by his memories of Derek, the lover with whom he recently had a nasty breakup. Persistence pays when Conor succeeds in breaking down Murray's defenses, and winning him as a lover. Murray takes Conor along on a buying trip to the Tamil Nadu region of southern India, where the two men team up with Murray's Internet buddy, Spence. Spence is a lusty Australian anthropologist who wants to investigate rumors about a secret homosexual religious cult devoted to the god Skanda. The three men travel to an isolated village in rural Tamil Nadu. There, once a year, the male villagers gather in secret to give their homoerotic impulses full play. The three foreigners' lives are changed forever after they are initiated into the orgiastic mysteries celebrated in the temple of Skanda. This classic tale of romance and adventure is presented here in an edition newly revised by the author.