GTA

Guide To Abuse is the second book published by Natural Basis of Order. (http://www.naturalbasisoforder.com)

For those who've never read the first book, A Commodity Called Sex, that was a compendium of largely anonymously written stories and essays about transgressive sexuality and taboo, occasionally written in the style of Peter Sotos. With a cover of a not-very-glamorous scantily-clad woman in a rather drab pose, only giving a tiny hint to its contents. Some of it was quite interesting, in particular a female serial rapist who hires an all-male squad to do the dirty-work on unsuspecting male dorks she picks up, and one piece on how sensationalist above-ground newspaper reports on sexual abuse are, done in an Alfred Hitchcock-Frenzy style...

Parts of Guide To Abuse appeared in the earlier book, which seemed -- in context -- the work of a petulant overgrown child. Apparantly that writer re-emerged under a name (assumed or not) so to have all his "guide to abuse" writings reprinted. There is alot of speculation on whether this man really exists. Looking at this style of writing, it seems typical of alot of transgressive porn-writing, with the kind of staccato prose that's reminiscent of Alan Vega or Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded).

The book's cover is another unassuming picture of a woman -- she seems to have that British "come hither" look -- in an empty swimming pool/hot tub, making the whole cover look blue. Flier inside has a woman with a wet face and the heading "toiletface"(!) and the assumed author's signature. Preface with an interview with the author which somewhat puts all the writings in its own context.

Thing is, there are moments when this stream-of-consciousness prose gets transcendant, almost poetic in a depraved way. Of course the primitive way this is written doesn't make it an easy read. And the last piece gets rather tedious -- mostly the publishers (I think) throwing news reports at him to get responses and he seems kinda strained. This isn't on the same level as Sotos (obviously) but it's an interesting anachronism -- from a much different subculture of writers. And there's alot more rage and hatred put into this book than anything Sotos ever wrote (well, just about.) There seems to be some real psychosis here which seems another kettle of fish next to the more established transgressive writers in today's literature...