Page 26 of Forever is Now

BESTSELLING “ROMANCE” NOVELIST HAS NEVER HAD SEX!

By Adelaide James

In recent years, bestsellingauthor Summer Taylor-Braddon has made quite the headlines. Her biggest publicity efforts of course have been the scripted disappearance of her husband Ruari Braddon on their honeymoon in Lombok. Taylor-Braddon alleges that her beloved went missing during the catastrophic tsunami that hit Indonesia’s islands in July 2017, but the wool isn’t as easy to pull over all our eyes.

Summer Taylor-Braddon has pulled off quite the remarkable feat. She has managed to stay out of prison, despite her criminal activities. She has even managed to write another shelf of bestsellers—all now firmly in the romance genre.

ReadingThe Saga of Me and Him—which, let’s face it, is an awful name—one might think that Taylor-Braddon herself must have had the best lived love story ever. Yet a source close to the author has just revealed exclusively to me that Summer Taylor-Braddon is asexual.

This, more than anything, proves that Taylor-Braddon is a fraud and a liar. Not just in terms of what really happened to Ruari Braddon, but in her whole career as a writer. How can someone as cold and unfeeling as Taylor-Braddon write romance? Yet she had us all hooked in by her books.

A startling discovery, many of you will agree—but it has made me think more critically about Ruari Braddon’s role in all of this. Previously, I wasn’t too sure whether Ruari was part of Taylor-Braddon’s plans willingly or not. Was he a cunning man willing to hide out for years or was he a victim, his body discarded in the ocean by Taylor-Braddon?

Now, however, I feel most sorry for Ruari Braddon, as I am sure many of you also will. With this revelation about Summer Taylor-Braddon’s sexuality, we now find that Ruari Braddon was definitely a victim. A poor man trapped in a sexless and loveless marriage, where even his most basic needs were not being met.

Yet it also brings a new angle to Taylor-Braddon’s story. This woman is clearly very unwell and needs psychiatric help. Not just with her compulsive lying and criminality, but she needs to see someone about her lack of sex drive. After all, that really can’t be healthy, can it? And maybe this lack of sex drive is the root of all her problems.

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Summer Taylor-Braddon: That was the article that really hurt me the most. The blatant acephobia in it.

Adelaide James: As a journalist, I have a duty of care to the public. I have to expose the lies and corruption in society.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: You got hate mail, after publishing that article, if I understand it rightly?

Adelaide James: I did. Many LGBTQIA+ people and activists weren’t too happy with me.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: You know, that actually cheered me up a bit. Knowing that the queer community could see what a horrid person you were.

Adelaide James: I hold my hands up freely now, that publishing that article, in that way, was wrong. I admit my mistakes, unlike some people. But at the time, I did not understand asexuality. I thought it was an unnatural thing.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: And you thought I’d trapped Ruari in a sexless marriage.

Adelaide James: You had. I still stand by that now. I don’t believe any of what you’ve said about him being asexual as well.

Summer Taylor-Braddon: Why?

Adelaide James: It’s too convenient. Why not tell the world this several years ago, when your asexuality made headlines?

Summer Taylor-Braddon: Because unlike you, I have a problem with outing people. And that article you wrote, outing me, this was just a convenient way for you to try and stay relevant—attacking me and circulating a third theory about why I was the villain. Saying he’d staged his own disappearance to get away from me.

And, of course Mum found out I was ace because of you. She sat me down and asked if it was true. Her voice was so soft, and she seemed really worried.

I said, “It doesn’t matter.”

She said, “Did you not feel able to tell me?”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal,” I said, only that was a lie. All along, my asexuality had been my secret because itwasa big deal. I was scared of ignorant and hateful reactions from people like you, Adelaide.

But Mum was supportive. She didn’t understand it, but she was supportive. There for me, like always.

Adelaide James: So, I understand you never dated anyone else during this time Ruari was... away?

Summer Taylor-Braddon: No, I didn’t.

A couple of times, over the next few years, Mum asked me if I wanted to talk to people online. I thought she meant more therapists, but turned out she meant dating sites.

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