Book excerpt: The Lady with the Sting is sequel to The Lady with a Beard. In the two novels Alobwed'Epie compares and contrasts the masculinity and femininity of the two heroines Emade, and her daughter Ntube. In the first novel, Emade shuns her sex and clinks to a false masculine mask. In spite of her achievements she fails to debunk the old system. In The Lady with the Sting, her daughter Ntube, a less charismatic heroine, allows nature take its course and in the end she seizes the opportunity the erring old system gives her and destroys it. Alobwed'Epie, author of The Death Certificate, The Lady with a Beard, The Day God Blinked, and The Bad Samaritan was born at Ngomboku in Kupe-Muanenguba Division, South-West Region, Cameroon. He studied at the Universities of Yaound and Leeds, and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Yaound 1, Cameroon.