Brandon Mead

Very excited that this anthology from () will be coming out soon and includes my story “Toppings”! I don’t want to give a lot about this one away, but I will tell you that all Feenix wants is a slice of pizza and he’ll do whatever he has to at work in order to get it.

“Toppings” is one of the more transgressive stories I’ve ever submitted for publication. And it feels right because I grew up on transgressive fiction. While kids my age were talking about Harry Potter, I was reading Chuck Palahniuk and Craig Clevenger. At summer camp, I walked around with a copy of My Secret Life under my arm. It was thicker than David Copperfield, non-linear, and contradictory, but I read every page.

When I was finding my writing voice, I knew I wanted to tell q***r stories with grit. Honest words and situations that stuck in the mind like thick brown glue behind deteriorating floral wallpaper. What I noticed as I wrote though is that I wanted my characters to have a happy ending. To find a silver lining in whatever terrible circumstance they’d found themself in. To have them look at the audience and just laugh. To make sure readers knew, it would be ok. As ok as it can be, at least.

That’s what I’m aiming for with the collection I’m working on now. Transgressive tales with a glimmer of hope. Grit with sparkle.

Until I can share more details about that, if you’re into the kind of fiction that makes your insides churn and want to take a deep dive into the adult industry, pop over to Outcast Press and keep an eye out for the publication date. I’ll definitely let you know when I have this beautiful book with this incredible cover in my hands!