Each tale introduces a bizarre set of circumstances in which sex features prominently. All the clichés of romantic lore are employed and thrown into the fray: the sexual naïf and trembling virgin, the lascivious predator, the scorned lover, the damsel-in-distress, the frustrated housewife, the cocky chauvinist. Learner’s book is subtitled Sensual Fables of the Mystical and Sinister; an alternative title could have been Erotic Tales of the Outlandish and Risible. In ‘The Root’, for instance, a living, detachable penis ‘waddles’ along with its ‘shiny, heavy testicles’ and is treated as a pet and later as a dildo by the dowdy heroine, who had despaired of following her ancestors into spinsterhood. This opening story sets the tone for the rest of the book. If the thought of a free-ranging, six-and-a-half-inch appendage isn’t enough to stimulate your interest, what about a rainmaker who, in exchange for bringing salvation to a drought-stricken farming community, requests sex with at least one woman in the town, someone who is ‘willing to moisten the very air with her sighs’?

There are sighs aplenty in ‘Custodian’ where an earnest archaeologist named, of all things, Alistair Sizzlehorn is hired by a femme fatale to catalogue a collection of erotic artefacts rescued from Pompeii. He ends up being a willing participant in the recreation of an orgiastic, Bacchanalian ritual. Meanwhile, through the transgressive touch of a holy relic (the withered nipple of a saint) a virgin finds herself with child. Elsewhere, there is sexual congress with a mermaid and a man’s hair is woven into a magic shirt to facilitate the desires of a vengeful lover.

Absurd as these stories are, you do keep reading, if only to find out how it all ends – Leamer certainly does not lack imagination. Tremble is a mixed-genre effort with fairytale, horror and magic realism elements framing a risqué centre. Unfortunately, suspension of disbelief is difficult because the set pieces can elicit raised eyebrows or unintentional laughter when they should be arousing other emotions. In ‘Echo’, for example, a woman’s genitalia are described as ‘like the mouth of Mother Earth herself’. So the property developer poised to plumb their depths is, of course, entering ‘a great moist cavern’. Very corny.

Tremble tries to seduce the reader with an array of sexual predilections: heterosexual and homosexual couplings, orgies and even carnal delight with mythical creatures. It offers opportunities for the desperate and the rapacious to hold hands. However, by virtue of the limited mechanics of copulation, the sex act becomes tedious to read, and the narratives suffer from Learner’s predictable practice of inserting rude bits in every story. Whether her work should be classified as erotica or pornography is best left to the reader’s discretion, but the ‘white-hot pleasure’ and ‘shuddering ecstasy’ within the tales are always embedded within the context of some imaginary or fantastical setting. There is also a sting and a twist in each of the nine short stories.

Learner’s previous book, The Witch of Cologne (2003), an historical novel set in the seventeenth century, was about a Jewish midwife’s relationship with a Catholic cleric. Tremble continues her interest in exploring sex, death and religion. Several characters die soon after vigorous bouts of lovemaking, while others experience psychic connections, and aural and visual hallucinations. There are disaffected nuns, religious extremists, gothic talismans and black magic, as well as ghosts and spirits hovering about demanding satisfaction. Aside from being a racy read, Tremble can also be seen as a collection of parables, with justice meted out (not always fairly) and comeuppances for bad behaviour. Some of the lessons gleaned from the pages include: don’t commit infidelity; don’t ravage the environment; beware of touching the forbidden; honour the dead; and don’t fraternise with the enemy. However, these short stories are not meant to be taken too seriously. Tremble is primarily a titillating read with sex dressed up in fancy costume and paraded in different locations. Readers who enjoyed Quiver will appreciate Learner’s latest collection; others are advised to seek their pleasures elsewhere.