Winner of a 2000 Lambda Literary Award

“Kamikaze Lust puts a snappy spin on a traditional theme—young woman in search of herself—and stands it on its head. In a crackling, rapid-fire voice studded with deadpan one-liners and evocative descriptions, Rachel Silver takes us to such far-flung places as a pompous charity benefit, the set of an ‘art porn’ movie, her best friend’s body, Las Vegas casinos, and the psyche of her own porn-star alter ego, Silver Ray, all knit together by the unspoken question: who am I, anyway? And as Rachel tells it, asking the question is more fun than knowing for sure could ever be.”
—Kate Christensen, author of In the Drink

“Great courage must account for such complete disregard of political correctness, and great sensitivity for such sadness.”
—Amanda Filipacchi, author of Nude Men

“Like an official conducting an all-out strip search, first-time novelist Lauren Sanders plucks and probes her characters’ minds and bodies to reveal their hidden lusts, and when all is said and done, nary a body cavity is spared.”
—Time Out New York

“This sexy little novel isn’t afraid to be steamy—but it isn’t too jaded for romance either.”
—The Advocate

“Lauren Sanders is a writer of extraordinary skill.”
—Bay Area Reporter

“Without wit or heart, this much sex would be unsexy, particularly if the author were using the titillation factor as mere bait for jacket blurbs. Instead, it serves a broader purpose, illustrating that the boundaries we use to demarcate civilized society are largely an illusion, and that labels like ‘porn star,’ ‘cancer patient,’ and ‘lesbian’ are meant to signify—falsely—’people nothing like us.’ Here sex bleeds so naturally into life, and life into sex, that books that shy from this human realm begin to seem prissy and suspect.”
—City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul)

“Sanders zips and zooms through Rachel’s overturned life with prose as sharp, quick, and deadly as any suicide mission.”
—Out Magazine

“The fact that Sanders can so overtly take on sex and death, write almost exclusively of their relationship to each other and their effects on a developing personality, and not sound clichéd, is a monumental achievement in itself.”
—Toronto Star

“Kamikaze Lust is a whirl of New York neurotic fast-quipping with a line or two courtesy of Miss Sandra Bernhardt, but who better to borrow from than the Princess of Pith?”
—Time Out London