Promotional Links:
Please check out my book trailer, I am incredibly proud of this (read my blog and you'll know why!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sPEubwqAlk
The launch party was held at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The virtual launch post with links to videos of me reading and the dancers who performed: http://blog.mywildskies.com/2012/09/24/virtual-book-launch-for-sex-and-death-in-the-american-novel.aspx
Promotional Pricing:
Sex and Death in the American Novel will be free on Amazon from Tuesday March 19 through Thursday March 21, 2013
It will be 99 cents from Friday March 22 through Tuesday March 26th.
On March Wednesday March 27th the book will go back to its regular price of 3.99
Thoughts on Writing:
Sex and Death in the American Novel is about grief, obsession, literature, sex, life, dance, reading, lust, writers and love.
This book is also my attempt at bravery. In writing it I had to work past all the self-censoring I was doing and moved into trying to be as honest and true to what I was afraid of but really wanted to say. In doing this I opened up so many more aspects of my work. I could say I was pissed at my father and even hated him at times, because I let that barrier down. Knocking down the walls that kept me from writing honestly about sex also opened up the ability to talk about other aspects of my emotional life. This, of course, found its way into my character's experience.
Official Summary:
Using quotes and references to classic erotic and literary icons, Sex and Death in the American Novel is on one level an unconventional romance and on another a discussion of the merits of erotic literature.
Vivianna Post is the family anomaly. Daughter of a Pulitzer Prize winner and an academic, she has never quite fit her parents' expectations as a free-spirited erotica writer. When Vivianna encounters the award-winning author Jasper Caldwell at a nightclub, all she wants is to blame him for blowing off her brother at a writers' conference the year before and possibly causing his suicide. But as the night—and then the weeks—wear on, Vivianna finds herself drawn to Jasper in ways she cannot understand. When their differences—literary and sexual—threaten to pull Vivianna and Jasper apart, Jasper rediscovers Alejandro, an old friend who just might have the power to complete them both in every way. Using quotes and references to classic erotic and literary icons, Sex and Death in the American Novel is on one level an unconventional romance and on another a discussion of the merits of erotic literature.
Reviews:
"Sex, in Sex and Death in the American Novel by Sarah Martinez, is a long, slow, highly spiced meal, a dance, a quest, a search for a lost father in the shape of the lover, a trespass of conventional boundaries, a seeking after freedom and after art."
--Priscilla Long, Author of The Writer's Portable Mentor
"A worthwhile read for anyone interested in notions of the body, particularly the female body, and its implications on life, love and acceptance without fear."
--Jessica Karbowiak, Author of These Things I Know
"In Sarah Martinez's novel, Sex and Death in the American Novel--yes, there's homage to Leslie Fiedler in that title--the writer takes risks built on the platform that Jong, Miller, Rice, Acker, de Sade, Bataille laid down, and it is a risk-taking centered in relationships and gender."
--Jack Remick, Author of Gabriella and the Widow, Blood, Terminal Weird and others
"Sex and Death in the American Novel" is a sometimes irreverent, but completely honest look at grief and sexuality from a woman's perspective (men will appreciate it for the understanding that it can bring)."
--Michael J. Mccormack, Reviewer
"Steamy feminist fiction with a literary twist…"
--Lisa Beliveau, Reviewer