Reviews
14 Dec
Krakow Melt
Daniel Allen Cox has created what will surely become a classic … A book not to miss, as it is full of philosophical quips as well as being a great read.
—Liberty Press (Kansas)
“Krakow Melt is, like Radek, brash, wild, and inventive. Daniel Allen Cox’s real accomplishment, however, is his ability to use these elements – his sledgehammer side – not for shock value alone but to enhance a book that, at its core, possesses a lingering significance. In every revolution there are casualties, those who never taste the triumph they contributed to. When you want to destroy something, you run the risk of destroying yourself. The fire, however, is beautiful while it burns.”
—Rover Arts
“The interwoven political realities and the impact that the death of Poland’s native Pope has on the people allows for a great sense of social import to the period…I was captured by the post-postmodern feel of the novel, and by the resolution which is sad but, in a way, victorious.”
—Roof Beam Reader
The most interesting fires are quick and intense, leaving ashen memories, and that’s the way Krakow Melt burns…. Drop what you’re reading right now, turn your face towards the white hot Krakow Melt and let Cox crackle your flesh.
—Out in Print
Krakow Melt can be seen as Cox’s realization, on paper, of a community talking to itself, or at least, a call for the queer community to talk activism.
—You Fight Like Anne Rice
Look out, Canada. A new literary enfant terrible has arrived on the scene, a fast-talking, funny, outrageous iconoclast who writes scathing things about the Catholic Church, parries his prose like a champion fencer, and describes the sights, smells and taste of sex as only a former gay film actor and stripper could…. [Krakow Melt] is a cheeky, bawdy, irreverent and splendid little book that is almost certain to infuriate somebody.
—Edmonton Journal
Homophobia and intolerance consume in this intense and tantalizing novel by Daniel Allen Cox…. Beautiful and captivating, Krakow Melt is a book you’ll want to read twice.
—Sacramento News & Review
Cox is definitely versed in the art of telling a good story. I read the first half of Krakow Melt without taking as much as a breath. The relationship that develops between its too main characters Radek and Dorota reads like a love story for the queer at heart.
—Cuntlove.com
[Daniel Allen Cox] has done it again. Written a brilliant f–ing novel with a character that grabs you by the throat and won’t let go until he’s shown you his world, at breakneck speed.
—Blackheart Magazine
Cox erases taboo and delineation at every turn…. The result is a volatile book that, while mostly contained and controlled, spills over the edges to create a meta-literary experience. Like fire, Cox’s novel illuminates—and singes.
—EDGE Publications
Author Cox employs terse, effective prose to reveal the consciousness of his characters and the time in which they live. His ability to create an entire world view and a sense of place – in few pages – is exceptional. In this respect, his style recalls that of another talented gay writer, Jeanette Winterson.
—Bay Area Reporter
Cox has an off-kilter and erotic way with words; Krakow Melt is a strangely wonderful book, an incendiary tribute to outlawed desires.
—Montreal Mirror
Cox’s fiery mix of activist anger, sexual heat and transgressive humor is a tonic for a tired reader’s eyes.
—Book Marks
Here is a look at the struggle for freedom in a place where we would not think that it would occur. I have no doubt that this book will end up on list of bests this year. I can only hope that Cox is already working on something else because I have a strong feeling that he is destined to be a major voice of gay literature.
—Eureka Pride (Arkansas)
“In punchy and engaged prose that has become his signature, the author takes the pulse of a city that still feels the shadow of communism…In the style of Burgess who speaks of devotchkas and moloko, Cox uses po polsku words in his recipe, without anglicizing them.”
—Nightlife
Cox’s splintered narrative, polished to an incisive gloss, bristles with both mischief and menace, and any of its short, titled chapters could stand alone. References to Pink Floyd, Polish pope John Paul II, and an unquenchable anger course from the first page to the last—a pointillistic poisoned pill.
—Publishers Weekly
You know how when you group your books in your bookcase by genre and there’s always a few of them that defy easy cataloguing? Krakow Melt is such a book … Gender roles, sexual orientation, socio-political commitment and materialism are given valentines or bull’s-eyes in the galvanizing prose of Cox. An author’s second book is usually his safest but Cox proves that his first book Shuck was no fluke … The characters are smarter, the dialogue is sharper and the words themselves seem to come straight from Cox’ unconscious.
—Facepuller
“Cox proves himself to be a master of rebellion, a troubadour of transgression.”
—Gay People’s Chronicle
“Strange, provocative, and daring: all adjectives that fit Daniel Allen Cox’s work. In Krakow Melt, the writer gets stranger, more provocative, and more daring. Best of all, he’s given us a novel that’s both thrilling and fun to read.”
—Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear
“Krakow Melt is Syd Barrett crossed with the Polish queer nation, a rollicking and heart-pounding urban jump through some grim realities and fine prose stylings.”
—Zoe Whittall, author of Bottle Rocket Hearts and Holding Still For As Long As Possible
“Krakow Melt goes beyond gay fiction into the realm of queer narrative. After a glut of “feel-good” books about twinks and their summer crushes, it’s a relief to sit down with a book that has a larger agenda. Its tragic vignettes about homophobia in Eastern Europe, and the sly and rage-fueled humor that such oppression provokes are beautifully written; stamped upon the reader’s memory. The description of a gay pride march ought to be prescribed reading for anybody who thinks activism is passe. Let your sense of foreboding guide you through Krakow Melt until you smell gasoline and realize you are gripping your own box of matches.”
—Patrick Califia, author of Public Sex and Macho Sluts
“Dying Popes and gays with matches—two of my favorite subjects. Daniel Allen Cox reminds us that queers and their allies from Krakow to California won’t stand for institutions getting between them and an orgasm. I say burn it all down, especially if it has stained glass. And buy this book!”
—Michael Musto, Village Voice columnist, author of Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back
“I’ve been a fan of Daniel Allen Cox’s writing for some time, and in Krakow Melt the wit, punch and sexual heat of Shuck return, revved up even more. As we read we slip into a free zone of writing, almost as if the boundaries of the page had themselves slipped away and we were free to wander through Eastern Europe like natives, with the haunted and nomadic gaze of those on whom history has given up. Cox brings us a story of struggle, defeat, liberation and love that I will never forget.”
—Kevin Killian, author of Spreadeagle
Shuck
Shuck is fantastic fun to read. Assured and accomplished, Shuck is also chock-full of anarchic delights: loopy lists, acerbic asides, bursts of poetic description. And sex! It’s so exciting to come across such a sensational book.
―Derek McCormack, author of The Haunted Hillbilly
In his novel Shuck, Daniel Allen Cox gives us Jaeven Marshall, the bastard love-child of Dennis Cooper and Jim Carroll. He’s a hustler, self-abuser, wannabe diarist, and aspirant to the dubious title of ‘Boy New York’. You’ll regret getting to know him, but you’ll wish he were in your bed.
―Hal Niedzviecki, author of The Program and Hello, I’m Special
Daniel Allen Cox writes truthfully and elegantly about a New York that I knew very well and that I miss very much. Set in the late 1990s, his novel Shuck describes with great clarity and verve the last gasp of a gritty Manhattan just before the war with the Eskimos, a bygone era that existed before wealth and privilege strangled the sweet life out of street life.
—Bruce LaBruce, director of Otto; or, Up with Dead People
It’s an exhilarating read; Cox has managed to make the seediness and occasional brutality of this world downright glamorous, recreating the New York of this time with eerie precision.
—Montreal Mirror
A startling debut novel…. A distinctive coming-of-age story that poses thoughtful questions about the relationship between sex work and the creative process. A novel worth reading – for writers, whores, and everyone in between.
—Quill and Quire
The character Jaeven is shrewd, calculating, and utterly captivating. Like a male Holly Golightly, he manages to twist everyone around his little finger with a wink and a smile—or maybe a smirk and a pout…. Shuck is definitely a page-turner, which will surely make it a popular hit.
— Black Heart Magazine
In Shuck, these supposedly diametric opposites [of writer and whore] have met, made out and created a gay porn lovechild that references Dennis Cooper, JT LeRoy and the Marquis de Sade.
—Hour Magazine (Montreal)
Shuck is a novel that you think you’re listening to with earbuds on a semi-long, semi-hard bus ride. You like to hear about dirty sex, especially from a stranger because deep down you like to think that we are all hilarious dirty strangers…. It is suddenly something you can’t live without.
—Broken Pencil
Cox deftly renders his non-traditional subject matter aesthetic and meaningful: porn shoots are predicated on relationships of power, bruises are beautiful, and discarded objects are emblems of cultural experience…. Shuck is a meditation on art and eroticism and commodity, and a document of sexual and psychological awakening.
—Montreal Review of Books
An invigorating first novel….Cox’s New York City has an off-hand, vibrant authenticity. It glitters and fumes.
—The Globe and Mail
Hustler novels aren’t as ubiquitous as coming out novels in the canon of young queer writers, but they are often just as indistinguishable one from another. Not so with Cox’s compact and bracingly original depiction of Jaeven Marshall, a charismatic boy for hire who can pirouette on a dime, or preferably a few hundred dollars, from pretty naif with a pout to jaded, do-it-all sex toy.
—Book Marks
Cox’s tone, style and blunt depictions are similar to [Chuck] Palahniuk’s. This does not suggest Cox’s writing is derivative. Palahniuk – love him or hate him – is a contemporary force when it comes to brawling, bare-knuckled fiction these days. Cox, though, is a more compassionate writer – maybe it’s the Canadian in him.
—The Danforth Review
From violent johns to literary rejection letters, Shuck is unwavering in its portrayal of getting eaten slowly, but surely, by New York City’s Big Apple…. The diary entries are reminiscent of Jim Carroll’s Basketball Diaries. It explores addiction, sexuality, and the part of New York City that isn’t advertised.
—EDGE Publications (Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, et al)
Cox is a brilliant storyteller. He’s able to reduce human emotion into hot shots of truth that singe the guts and set heads to shaking. Dirty and glorious, Shuck is definitely a fun read.
—NewPages.com
The author himself is a former porn star who lets us peer deeply into a bizarre world–not through a clear lens, but through a kaleidoscope…. [Shuck] never fails to entertain.
—Instinct magazine
Its sex-worker authorship yields a work that is as exceptional as it is sensational. Shuck’s read is simple, yet compelling and provocative.
— Pink (Chicago)
Cox is a very detailed writer, adding the most interesting nuances into his writing…. Shuck is a fantastic, quick-paced book that will have you laughing, cringing and hoping that something will happen for [main character] Jaeven.
—Book Flapper blog
Alternately brutal and witty, Shuck is an episodic book, en exhilarating ride in which the protagonist performs a kind of wistful eulogy for the seediness of the pre-Giuliani Manhattan…. As Shuck draws to a close, the author subtly points to a rethinking of our culture’s larger attitudes towards sex workers. That Cox manages to convey these larger ideas without heavy-handedness makes Shuck one of those rare books that has both ample brains and raunchy sex appeal.
—Gay and Lesbian Review
Jaeven may prove a capricious, unreliable narrator, but he’s also a one-man tour de force…. Cox has opted to give his hustler a heart beneath his gruff exterior; the cocky man becomes a quivering, broken boy in the space of a page…. Already shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, Cox’s novel is an astute examination of New York City’s urban underbelly, as seen through the eyes of a fallen, wounded, but not flightless young bird of prey.
—Bay Area Reporter
Cox takes narrative structure, smacks it around … hogties it, pulls its pants down and spanks its tuchus until it’s as red as Rudolph’s nose…. Perhaps the only thing that can really be said about Shuck is, one can only hope Daniel Allen Cox ends up being a very prolific writer.
—Gay People’s Chronicle
This is Breakfast at Tiffany’s if Chuck Palahniuk had written it…. Pornographers, players, artists, Duran Duran, Fiorucci, fuckups, and degenerates fill Shuck with a kinetic energy that tastes like sugar but burns like battery acid.
— Nexus
Shuck was deservingly nominated for a 2009 Lambda Literary Award and will transport you back to the peep show that used to be glorious New York.
—Richard Burnett, Hour (Montreal) and Current (Toronto)
Readers’ experiences of the book will match Jaeven’s experience of the world: fragmented, funny, harrowing, and humbling, with bursts of found poetry that transform the mundane world into a place of fleeting beauty.
—Passport Magazine
A great new voice to add to gay literature.
— InsightOut Book Club
Explores the disconnect between love and sex through the eyes of a young hustler… Shuck is sexy and sad, a fast read with a lingering aftertaste.
—Uptown (Winnipeg)
At once a love letter to chaos and a revelation of trauma − in short, resilience through language. I highly recommend.
—Big Other (Chicago)
Tattoo This Madness In
Tattoo This Madness In is smart, weird, speedy, subversive, and intense. It’s filled with surprising images and sharp, economical sentences. I was almost mad when it ended, so I immediately read it again
−Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin, now a major motion picture.
If William Burroughs and Clive Barker had a love child and fed it only BooBerry cereal, its literary output might be as highly charged and frenetic as the sexy bloodbath that is Tattoo This Madness In.
−Reed Massengill, author of Portrait of a Racist
Daniel Allen Cox has achieved a minor cult following for his book, Tattoo This Madness In.
−Laura Roberts, The Link
A zippy novel of punk mayhem, sexual transgression, bloody epiphanies, and artfully outrageous subversion . . . impressively irresistible.
−Richard Labonte, Books To Watch Out For
Daniel Allen Cox unravels the twisted truth in the heroic rebel yell of queer youth.
−Richard Burnett, Hour
We haven’t seen a book like this for a long, long time.
−Expozine Alternative Press Awards jury
Daniel Allen Cox’s short novel Tattoo This Madness In helps restore my faith in Canada’s young writers.
−Matthew Firth, Ottawa Express
I loved the book, I sucked it up, Cox is a talented son of a gun.
−Derek McCormack, author of The Haunted Hillbilly and Grab Bag
Tattoo This Madness In is a smartly penned slice of punk drama, a middle finger held high to mainstream society and writing. I can’t wait to see what Cox comes up with next.
−Sandra Alland, Xtra
A powerful novella, Tattoo This Madness In unravels like a speed trip on Neptune.
−MJ Stone, Hour
Cox writes in the same manner that the needle-man at the core of his drama sins: outrageously, calculatingly, urgently. He kicked my ass all over the place.
−Brian Ames, author of Eighty-Sixed