A. W.

The author -- a stand-in for Adeline Walker herself -- lives for the days when "secret" London was in vogue, travel around the globe was possible, and wildly erotic pulp fiction could be morphed into fantasies of empowerment. Where women like the pin-up girls rendered so seductively by the prolific American illustrator and cover artist Paul Rader for the 1960 book, "The Blonde," could be placed in new, 21st century, contexts, that were less about stereotypes and more about female agency and sexuality. "Adeline" relishes the curves and edges of her various characters and situations, as she explores "queer" London as it used to be -- from Hazlitt's 1718, to the Mansion, and Lady Liquid Love.