When I think about stories I would recommend for perverts, I think they could be about anything at their core. i.e. they don’t do it to pass Being sexual or aggressive, however often they occur.
To me, they have to be courageous and fearless; They have to be confident and big-hearted. They don’t care what you think. They are fearless in their pursuit of emotional truths, an energy that is, admittedly, highly sensual.
The New Narrative movement embodies a kind of distortion of which I am fond. In the introduction to the collection Writers Who Love Too Much: New Narrative 1977-1997 Edited by Dodie Bellamy and Kevin Killian, the editors wrote about the movement:
“This will be a writing driven neither by mandate, nor by consensus, nor by the blanket suggestions of the MFA ‘program era’, but by community; it will be unafraid of experimentation, unafraid of kitsch, unafraid of sex and gossip and political debate.”
That’s the energy I’m bringing to this recommendation list.
“Agatha’s Letter” By Camille Roy: As a key member of the New Narrative Movement, Roy is a must-read. “Agatha Letters,” the first story of his latest story, honey mineStarts with the question: “Is it all perspective? Happiness, I mean – wonder in the dark. I think it’s different for everyone.” And then it switches to third-person POV: “Camille found it empty and refreshing, because she was.” The story, which is experimental in nature, is sensual and practical, tragic and fearless. And I’m troubled by POV shifts as they relate to distortion, truth, and how we craft stories about ourselves.
“On the Boardwalk” by Robert Glueck
“Boyfriend #666 / Satanist” and “This Day and Many More” by Brontë Purnell.
“Moon Over Denny-Blaine” by Max Delsohn
👉 Get all of Mac Crane’s recommendations on Book Riot.
