Porn Again

Ethan Essig wakes up every morning disappointed to find he’s still himself—a bitter, burnt-out pornographer running a company on the brink of collapse with a soul teetering on the edge of immolation. Over the course of one surreal week, Ethan will gamble everything on salvation: paging through the Awesome Bible (the Bible, but awesomer), seeking redemption from a Baptist pastor, and trading insults with a foul-mouthed portrait of Jesus himself.

Meanwhile, his studio, Slippery Slope, is one film away from ruin. To save it, Ethan enlists a washed-up porn queen, a stunning transgender escort, and a male porn-star with Tourette’s for one last, ill-fated production. But the most beguiling wildcard is Nancy, an aspiring starlet who insists she’s a virgin—and who just might be his best friend’s daughter.

Consistently hilarious, occasionally cringe-inducing, and unexpectedly heart-wrenching, Porn Again is a darkly comic descent into the contradictions and similarities of pornography and religion—two forces bound by shame, spectacle, and the promise of ecstasy. In the tradition of Chuck Palahniuk, it’s a novel that shocks, unsettles, and ultimately redeems.