Having seen the excellent results of John Raynes’ work for The New Joy of Sex, six years later the artist was commissioned to produce a new set of paintings for The Good Sex Book: The New Illustrated Guide by Paul Brown and Christine Kell. Brown was already an established writer in the field of practical sexual and emotional advice, having previously co-authored relationship and sex-instruction titles in the 1970s and 1980s. In The Good Sex Book, he and Kell present sexuality in a largely therapeutic and educational framework. Rather than a sensational or explicitly erotic work, it is structured as a comprehensive guide to understanding sexual response, intimacy, and communication between partners. The authors emphasise the differences often observed between male and female sexual arousal patterns, and argue that recognising those differences can improve confidence, satisfaction and mutual understanding in a relationship.

The guide covers anatomy, arousal, foreplay, intercourse, and common sexual difficulties, but it also treats psychological factors – embarrassment, anxiety, mismatched desire, and relationship tensions – as central to sexual fulfilment. Its approach reflects the 1990s shift in sex manuals away from purely mechanical instruction toward emotional communication and couple-centred intimacy. Health considerations such as safer sex and reassurance about normal variation in behaviour and response also form part of the guidance.

For The Good Sex Book John Raynes’ skilful and anatomically accurate illustrations were created in pencil and watercolour, giving a more realistic treatment than his drawings for The New Joy of Sex. Again many of the illustrations are broken across a double page spread, often in places central to the action.

The Good Sex Book was published by Courage Books, New York.