House of Harlot boss and chief designer Robin Archer recently surprised a lot of us by publishing his first novel, a dystopian ghost story available for download on Kindle.

This is actually Robin’s fifth novel, but the first he has apparently deemed worthy of publication. And since the author is one of fetish’s key innovators, it seems only right to bring it to the attention of The Fetishistas’ audience.

It is also fair to wonder if A Flame in the Water is a kinky tale. It isn’t — but don’t let that deter you.

While reading it, I searched for hints of a fetishistic nature, but found little evidence of any, apart from a heroic mother who in better times might have made an ideal House of Harlot customer!

So while this story is a departure from anything to do with latex or kink, it is also, like Archer’s other creations, imaginative and fresh, and an interesting insight into what else goes on in the mind of this prominent perv.

The novel is part one in a planned series featuring protagonist Bobby Wells.

It takes place largely in a post-apocalyptic England, but starts in an abandoned boutique hotel in France where the grown-up Wells now lives, several decades after being orphaned at the age of 17 by The Catastrophe, or Strike.

Bobby is an Aquatech or Well-Seeker, a skill passed on by his father when he was a youngster.

Clean uncontaminated water is a treasured resource in this post-apocalyptic world since the consequences of drinking infected water are fatal — or worse.