Forde Abroad Author:John Metcalf We first met Robert Forde in `Travelling Northward', the final story in Metcalf's 1986 collection Adult Entertainment: Forde the writer, Forde the aesthete, Forde the much-abused. Forde who loves his coffee but must have tea because it's `better for his health', as his wife Sheila reminds him. Forde Abroad takes Forde from Ottaw... more »a to Ljubljana, to attend a meeting of the Literary and Cultural Association of Slovenia - or, as Sheila puts it, to consort with Slovenians. There, he will meet Drago, his Serbian-language translator. He will meet Christopher, a gay British expatriate from Sweden who is `an expert on all things Yugoslavian'. Most importantly, he will meet Karla, his literary friend and correspondent - or, as Sheila puts it, his `Commie pen pal': `When the prick stands up,' says Sheila, `the brains sink into the ass.'« less