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transgressive fiction

My New Novel Released Today!

My new novel, Resurrect the Dead, just released today!

As with most of my fiction, this one is dark. And psychological. And dancing right on the edge of transgressive.

Here’s the description from the back cover if you’re interested in checking it out:

Roger is the only father Alex has ever known, although he’s not much of a father. Years after coming back from Vietnam, Roger is severely disabled, and dependent on Alex just to get by every day. A loner by nature, Alex hardly notices that he doesn’t lead a normal teenage life. Dealing with Roger’s mental breakdowns is a routine part of his existence. Heavy metal is one of his only escapes, as well as the clearing in the woods behind his trailer park. The clearing is a space that feels like his own private world, and it’s also his special place with Alyssa, his best and only friend.

With every day that passes, Roger’s health fails a little more, and Alex begins to fixate on the big questions that Roger has always avoided: Where is Alex’s mother? Why can he barely remember her? And why did she abandon her young son so long ago? When Alex and Alyssa finally get the chance to run away together, Alex decides to investigate his mother’s past and he finds something he never expected. The truth shatters him to the core, and triggers a chain of events that has explosive consequences for everyone, setting Alex on a fated path that changes him forever.

You can get it from Amazon in paperback:

RESURRECT THE DEAD PAPERBACK

Or Kindle:

RESURRECT THE DEAD KINDLE

Happy reading! 🙂

11 October, 2024 by

New Anthology of Transgressive Fiction from Outcast Press!

Transgressive fiction is getting to be quite the buzz word for writers and lit nerds these days, and nobody does it better than Outcast Press. The description of their newest anthology, In Filth It Can Be Found, promises the best of the best:

In this volume, you’ll find 20 stories that explore the shadow side of humanity. These stories might disquiet, upset, or even enrage certain readers. Outcast Press doesn’t cater to such cries for censorship because we believe the best art isn’t comfortable or comforting. Reading isn’t a spectator sport. And since life doesn’t come with a trigger warning, neither should literature.

I’m honored that my story, The Harpy, is featured in this collection alongside other transgressive fiction greats like G.C. McKay and Greg Levin. According to one reviewer:

Regardless of your taste in genres, they’re all covered here. From horror to science-fiction to drama; the surreal, the gross out, the hilarious…There are nods to Edgar Allan Poe (the story from Stephen J. Golds) as well as Chuck Palahniuk (Sebastian Vice’s insane ode to pyromania). It’s good to see a large number of female writers also included, in fact they make up almost half of the stories here. Though it waves its transgressive flag high, the collection is accessible, entertaining and always maintains interest.

Whether you’re already an established transgressive fiction fan, or you’re just curious about how to get started reading in the genre, this anthology is a hidden gem you won’t want to miss. You can buy it on Amazon here:

IN FILTH IT SHALL BE FOUND

And if you want to learn more about transgressive fiction in all its various forms, you can check out the Outcast Press website here:

OUTCAST PRESS

I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as we enjoyed writing them!

Lauren Sapala is the author of The INFJ Writer, The INFJ Revolution, and the creator of Intuitive Writing, a six-step online video course for INFJ and INFP writers who struggle with writing. She is also currently offering a free copy of her book on creative marketing for INFJ and INFP writers to anyone who signs up for her newsletter. SIGN UP HERE to get your free copy of Firefly Magic: Heart Powered Marketing for Highly Sensitive Writers.

5 November, 2021 by

In Support of Transgressive Fiction

I’m one of the authors contributing to a new anthology of transgressive fiction from Outcast Press coming out later this year called “In Filth It Shall Be Found.” For those of you who know my work, you know that transgressive fiction is a genre that’s near and dear to my heart.

There’s a small, but marginal market for transgressive fiction novels. However, for short story writers, the market is almost nonexistent. Outcast Press hopes to change that. They strive to always pay writers a fair price for their pieces, but the biggest challenge is cash flow.

For the new anthology, Outcast Press has put together a Kickstarter campaign to ensure every writer is paid fairly for their work. If you’re interested in donating, even putting $5 toward this campaign gets you an ebook of the published anthology + your name in the dedication section.

You can find more info here:

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

And if you’re reading this and asking yourself, “What the heck is transgressive fiction?” you can check out a couple of articles I’ve written on it to get a better idea:

The Big Lie About Transgressive Fiction

On Writing Transgressive Fiction: A Feminine Perspective

Thanks so much everyone, for your curiosity about this topic, and your support.

Lauren Sapala is the author of  Between the Shadow and Lo, a transgressive novel based on her experiences as an alcoholic battling her alter ego in Seattle in the early 2000’s, and its sequel,  West Is San Francisco. You can SIGN UP HERE to join her newsletter and get your free copy of the e-book  Firefly Magic: Heart Powered Marketing for Highly Sensitive Writers.

26 April, 2021 by

The Big Lie About Transgressive Fiction

Most writers in the mainstream writing scene today don’t know what transgressive fiction is, have never heard of it, or immediately think of it as something disgusting, twisted, or perverse. Even the writers who write transgressive fiction oftentimes don’t know what they’re writing, or that other people are writing it too, or that readers exist out there who would be interested in reading it.

Being a writer who writes transgressive fiction, or is even interested in exploring this kind of creative territory, can be a lonely road to travel. Because if you only scratch the surface of transgressive fiction it’s easy to get the idea that it’s filthy, or obscene or lewd, or that people just write it for shock value alone. It’s easy to see all the reviews on Goodreads from people who call it “trash” or “not even worthy of one star” and believe that it’s not worthy at all.

But that’s a big lie. Continue Reading

4 March, 2021 by

On Writing Transgressive Fiction: a Feminine Perspective

One of the most distinctive identifying characteristics of transgressive fiction has to do with how it treats descriptions of the human body, specifically the processes and functions that are not often discussed in polite society. Sometimes this treatment is exaggerated and hilarious, as is the case with much of Chuck Palahniuk’s work, and sometimes it’s chillingly precise and realistic, as with Bret Easton Ellis. Either way, it’s almost always just plain gross. The willingness of the author to test the reader’s limits by being what I would call “exquisitely disgusting” is how you can tell that the writer is purposefully exploring the territory of the transgressive. In other words, it doesn’t happen by accident.

Different strains of transgressive fiction experiment with how to ignite the greatest level of recoil in the reader in different ways. Transgressive fiction that falls into the genre of crime/thriller/suspense will most often detail the gory reality of what it takes to dismember and dispose of a human body, while transgressive fiction that is more fantastical or experimental might describe murder or massacre with vivid beauty, painting it as an artistic scene. What I have noticed though, is that most transgressive fiction explores the theme of violence when the author begins to experiment with the power of repulsion and what it can do to a brave reader.

Most transgressive fiction, it should also be noted, is written by men. Continue Reading

9 November, 2020 by

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