thunder's mouth press

Sex and death have always been connected. The French call the orgasm "la petite mort" (the little death). In Shakespearean England, "to die" also meant to have an orgasm. The Victorians believed a man's climax depleted his physical strength and moral resolve and brought him closer to death. Likewise, the sex act drained women of their vitality.

We are as keen to examine sex as we are death: put the two together and you have an explosive, daring literary venture into the taboo. DYING FOR IT: TALES OF SEX AND DEATH satisfies with an exciting and entertaining variety of expressions on the two most intimate human acts.

Contributors include novelists from across the literary spectrum: Kelley Armstrong, Lauren Henderson, Vicki Hendricks, Adreana Robbins, Tobsha Learner, Niall Griffiths, Ashley Lister, Clare Colvin, and the editor, Mitzi Szereto.