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This collection of personal essays by sex workers and their clients vacillates    wildly from hilarious to depressing but never strays from being utterly captivating. Among the more amusing stories are a client with a “sweater fetish”, a woman who paid for her family’s Christmas presents by stepping on a man’s testicles in a pornographic film, and the dominatrix who got fired because she could not remove a client’s tooth. The phone sex operator asked to do cartoon animal voices for a caller is also not to be missed. Candid essays cover everything from the anonymous “captain of industry” with an appreciation for transsexual prostitutes, to the human misery of a pimp who turned out his own girlfriend. Some pieces are more meditative: Fiona Helmsey recalls meeting a kind client at a bachelor party who later died on 9/11, while Dr. Annie Sprinkle discusses her 40 years in the sex industry and her wish for “a more compassionate sex-positive society” in which “prostitutes and johns would be government-subsidized”. Though obviously not for the faint of heart, this book contains some courageous, raw, and intelligent writing that breaks taboos and smashes misconceptions. (Apr.)

http://v2.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59376-507-1

to buy the book: http://amzn.to/Yg0Lp8

book trailer: Who Really Buys & Sells Sex

Sex Worker Literati

To celebrate the release of Johns Marks Tricks & Chickenhawks

May 8, 7:30 PM, BOOKSMITH, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, with Kitty Stryker, Madison Young, Alvin Orloff, Dr. Carol Queen, Sherril Jaffe, Sam Benjamin, Chris Moore, dhamiboo, Richard Martin, Dylan Ryan

The Art of the Novel

To celebrate the release of Mort Morte, with illustrations by Alain Pilon

May 3, 2 PM, KEPLER’s, Menlo Park, California  David Henry Sterry, Alice LaPlante, and Sherril Jaffe: The Art of the Novel: Novelists Discuss Writing & Selling

May 9, 7 PM, BOOKS INC

Art of the Novel: DAVID HENRY STERRY, TAMIM ANSARY, SHERRIL JAFFE, & ANNA GHOSH at Books Inc Opera Plaza

May 11, 3 PM, BOOK PASSAGE – Art of the Novel: Sherril Jaffe, Danielle Svetcov – All writers get to pitch! Class limited to 20 people

Bonus Content: A stick figure demonstrates how to NOT pitch a book.  My first foray into the world of cartoons:

Huffington Post interview: http://huff.to/Xqfxc6

The Book Doctors have helped dozens and dozens of amateur writers become professionally published authors. They edit and develop books, help writers develop a platform, and connect them with agents and publishers. Their book is The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published. Anyone who reads this article and buys the print version of this book gets a FREE 20 MINUTE CONSULTATION with proof of purchase (email: david@thebookdoctors.com).

How to build your social network/platform without getting lost in the time suck.

http://bit.ly/10jygVk

http://huff.to/15WLjzQ

My first piece on Salon.  Thanks to Arielle Eckstut.

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/14/i_wrote_my_way_to_true_love/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-henry-sterry/agent-extraordinaire-mollie-glick_b_2862632.html

2. Where did the idea come from for your book?

Illustrated coming of age black comedy: Diary of a Wimpy Kid as told by Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver

It’s a story of a boy keeps killing his dads to protect his mom: it’s a story of a boy who really loves his mother.

Two weeks. But it took me 20 years to find a publisher.

Alice in Wonderland. The Tin Drum. Oedipus.

My hypnotherapist.

Vagabondage Press.

It’s got spectacular illustrations by award winning artist Alain Pilon. It’s very short.

http://carolineleavittville.blogspot.com/2013/03/david-henry-sterry-and-ariel-eckstut.html?showComment=1362542429676

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-henry-sterry/powells-bookseller-author_b_2808798.html

Very proud of this audio book, it’s more like a movie soundtrack with music & ambient sounds by my man Michael Jackson (no relation) from Austin TX

http://bit.ly/ZsPGTj

I’m proud to announce that the first book I ever wrote, which I started 20 years ago, is finally coming out.  I’m very proud of this book, and the sublime illustrations by one of my favorite artists, Alain Pilon.  But perhaps more importantly, this is the book that led me to the love of my life.  To read the story behind that, click here it’s my first story on the wonderful website Salon.  To see the video trailer, click here.  To buy the book, click here.

On my third birthday, my father, in an attempt to get me to stop sucking my thumb, gave me a gun. “Today son, you are a man,” he said, snatching the little blue binky from my little pink hand. So I shot him.

So begins MORT MORTE a macabre coming-of-age story full of butchered butchers, badly used Boy Scouts, blown-up Englishman, virginity-plucking cheerleaders, and many nice cups of tea.

Poignantly poetic, hypnotically hysterical, sweetly surreal, and chock full of the blackest comedy, MORT MORTE is like Lewis Carrol having brunch with the kid from The Tin Drum and Oedipus, just before he plucks his eyes out.

In the end though, MORT MORTE is a story about a boy who really loves his mother.

This is my Huffington Post piece that’s been around the world many times.  Certain idiots in mainstream media actually quote this as being factual.

My new book Mort Morte with beautiful pictures by Alain Pilon.

From publisher  Barnes & Noble  Amazon   Bookadda (India’s favorite on-line bookstore) Books for less

On my third birthday, my father, in an attempt to get me to stop sucking my thumb, gave me a gun. “Today son, you are a man,” he said, snatching the little blue binky from my little pink hand. So I shot him.

So begins MORT MORTE a macabre coming-of-age story full of butchered butchers, badly used Boy Scouts, blown-up Englishman, virginity-plucking cheerleaders, and many nice cups of tea.

Poignantly poetic, hypnotically hysterical, sweetly surreal, and chock full of the blackest comedy, MORT MORTE is like Lewis Carrol having brunch with the kid from The Tin Drum and Oedipus, just before he plucks his eyes out. Or Diary of a Wimpy Kid as told by Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver

In the end though, MORT MORTE is a story about a boy who really loves his mother.

Here’s the story of how writing this book led me to the love of my life, my first piece on Salon.

A new review:

“Who do you think of when someone says black humor? Johnathan Swift? Joseph Heller? Kurt Vonnegut? Perhaps Roald Dahl?

Well, add David Sterry to your list. His newest book, Mort Morte is as black as sin and twice as fun. It all starts innocently enough. Our three-year-old protagonist, vengeful over his father’s depriving him of his binky, seeks revenge by shooting dear-old-dad with the very gun he had given Mort as a birthday present. Be forewarned, though. After that, things take a violent turn. This pithy little book with its delightfully cheeky artwork escorts us through murder after murder, each more hilariously executed than the last, before our hero is figuratively ridden out of town on a Texas-sized rail. Where does Mort go from there? Surely, you jest! Where else but Harvard? Buy a ticket on this one. You’ll enjoy the ride.”

Trailer:

How to get people to read your book. http://bit.ly/XG6uAW

Richard Nash, publishing savant, on how to get love from independents and the future of the book business with The Book Doctors on Huffington Post

Interview about how to get published, reading, writing, sex and life on Dawn Smith Books. Buy the printed version of my new novella Confessions of a Sex Maniac for $4.99 & get a free 20 minute consultation for your writing worth $100 from The Book Doctors. (with proof of purchase)

sweet review of pitchapalooza from randa’s fans, by a total cynic skeptic

Blogs, writing, publishing. Mama plus!

georgetown patch on pitchapalooza @ politics & prose http://georgetown.patch.com/blog_posts/country-mouse-review-of-pitchapalooza-part-1-introduction

Some small advice about how to get published & whatnot on Gotham Writer’s Wokrshop website! http://www.writingclasses.com/WritersResources/AuthorAdviceDetail.php/author_id/195073

Washington Post with a lovely piece about David Henry Sterry, Arielle Eckstut, P0litics & Prose, The Book Doctors & Pitchapalooza