2002, US, 245pages (Harrington Park Press)

Order SEX TERROR from Amazon: US or UK

PRAISE FOR SEX TERROR:

"MAGNIFICENT.... Open Simpson's book at any point, as many times as you want, and you'll find the sort of gem-like sentences that Zadie Smith would give her white teeth for."
- Suzi Feay, Independent on Sunday

"BRILLIANT. . . . This book is certain to provoke and likely to offend; we would expect nothing less from one of the most important voyeurs of contemporary man-sex-life. Exhaustive and exhilarating . . . a must-read for those who long, for those who belong, and for those who like it wrong."
- Bob Mould, Musician, Songwriter (Hüsker Dü, Sugar)

"This compilation of essays from British writer lambastes pop icons with a distinct meanness, but he's so right on that readers have to laugh"
- JS Hall, Washington Blade

"The trouble with Mark Simpson is his enormous knob. A veritable penis dentatum going right up to his Adam’s Apple. What he does with this chainsaw-cock of wit and curiosity and clarity is cut very close to the bone of what masculinity is supposed to be. But, far from delivering a massacre of sacred bulls, Simpson uses his tool to carve elegant ice sculptures with his words, rendering transparent the personalities he discovers behind the masks."
- Dermod Moore, Hot Press, Dublin

“One of those books that bounces up and down on your knee yelling ‘read me, read me…. Brutal honesty and razor wit - a perfect feast. Quotable genius.”
- RainbowNetwork.com

"Simpson's essays produce rancour and hilarious laughter, disbelief and delight. Some call him wonderful, and some call him outrageous, but I call him a true original. Don't miss this book!"
- Bruce Benderson, author of Pretending to Say No and User

"Mark Simpson is a skinhead Oscar Wilde, his bon mots are both alarming and amusing, getting up people's noses and inside their trousers with equal aplomb." - Philip Hensher, Independent

"When the culture of sex finally breathes its last Simpson will be there to deliver the eulogy with great zeal. And what a gloriously sardonic and insightful farewell it will be!" - Glenn Belverio, Dutch magazine

“I approached this book with great reluctance. I don’t like Mark Simpson or his work (okay, I’ve never met him, never met anyone who has and I’ve never bothered to read him but what the hell has that to do with prejudice?). [In fact it's] bloody good. Sometimes his audacity and directness can seem flippant but that’s quite wrong: every outrageous insight is just that – an insight into the modern condition that often makes you laugh out loud and, if you are not entirely beyond hope, think. It’s simply some of the best writing on modern culture around. Anyone who writes this well is likely to be scary – but Mark, if you can forgive my silly prejudice, I’ll stand you a pint anytime.”
- Brian Dempsey Gay Scotland

"In his previous collection of essays, "It's a Queer World," Mark Simpson established himself as one of England's most eloquent and sardonic commentators on the states of homosexuality and queerness -- and how they no longer are necessarily the same. In "Sex Terror," he again casts a bored, cynical gaze upon the world's tatty, pop-culture-dominated society and finds it wanting.

All the essays in "Sex Terror" have appeared in other (chiefly British) publications between 1996 and 2001, and Simpson takes a gamble with this approach. What appeared fresh four or five years ago could easily seem old news today. Thankfully, this is not the case. Most of Simpson's subjects are timeless and universal -- particularly sex, desire and related human failings...The barbs are delivered with such precision that one can't help but admire his pluck. Mark Simpson won't be every reader's cup of tea (pardon the cliche), but those who enjoy a bitter blend of dark humor and keen social observation will want to drink deeply." - J.S. Hall, Washington Blade

'Meet the metrosexual' - Sex Terror serialised on Salon.com (22 July 2002)
"...The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis — because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference."

'Surprised in Sodom': Another eye-watering excerpt from Sex Terror in The Seattle Stranger

'The World According to Mark Simpson review of Sex Terror and It's a Queer World by The Hanging Judge in INCHES magazine (Feb 2003): "In the past decade, British columnist Mark Simpson has made a name for himself as a smooth but thuggish homo provocateur...."

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Photo by Michele Martinoli
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