A new novel by Marilyn Jaye Lewis, multimedia artist and author of the award-winning collection of novellas Neptune and Surf, is something to celebrate. Freak Parade is an accomplishment by an erotic novelist at the height of her powers.

This book is so multi-faceted that it is (to quote Shakespeare) “a very opal.” It's an exploration of the sexual culture of New York City, from upscale apartments facing Central Park to the street life of Lower Manhattan to funky nightclubs occupied by dope dealers and Mafiosi. It's a meditation on the influence of social class and upbringing on sexual inclinations. It's a kunstlerroman, a story about the coming-of-age of an artist, a documentary about the contrast between music as food for the soul and music as a commodity for sale, and a portrait of the bitch-goddess called fame. It’s a grittier version of Rent (the 1980s New York City musical based on the nineteenth-century Paris opera La Boheme). It's a cautionary tale about intoxicating substances. It's a bisexual BDSM epic and an interracial romance...