Flesh Hell audio book
A sensual adventure for the literary mind.
Tune in, turn on, drop out...this unabridged recording of Flesh Hell takes you on a mind-bending aural adventure. Features a cast of eleven with original music from Swans in Leather, Sour Woman and Squirm Rhymes w/Germ.
7 compact discs packaged in a handsome, black 2-ring binder box. More than 8 hours of listening pleasure!
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"Flesh Hell" teaser Sample audio clip
It took six months to write Flesh Hell during the winter and spring of 1998. The first draft was written in longhand as I sat at a rickety card table in front of a high window with a deep, stone ledge. I often wrote by candlelight--back then, my muse and I were still a bit skittish with one another. She required a bit of romancing before giving up the goods. After my daughter was put to bed, I'd turn to the table and my stack of paper. Snow fell against a peachy-purple sky--that peculiar brightness of a winter night in the city. Those were austere months. I knew that I'd have to cloister my imagination, steep it in the dark violence of Joely's world, to find her story. That meant no books, no movies, no TV. Work only. When it was done, oh glorious day, I bought myself a huge bouquet of pink peonies to celebrate my accomplishment. (I still buy myself a present whenever I finish a book.)
Revisions were made on a Canon Starwriter, an all-in-one word processor and printer that saved to floppy disk. FH was set aside for a while, sent out for publication and rejected--with what felt like malicious glee--by numerous publishers. FH burned like a lamp inside me, a small and steady flame. Lacking a vehicle for publication, I decided to record FH as an audio book.
Actors were recruited: friends, family members, co-workers and a couple of strangers gathered in my small apartment in the evenings. Beers and script copies were passed around. The microphone, a tiny freebie I'd taped to the bottom of an upended Starbucks travel mug, and my PC served as our recording studio. Once the initial bout of giggles and stage-fright were worked out of everyone's system, we got down to business. Despite the accidental hilarity of the recording (my husband and I howling like hell hounds, choppily edited fits of laughter, more than a few mortified screams of artificial pleasure) the truly hilarious out-takes (the last track on the last disc) are the very best part.
After all the dialog was done, I recorded my narration and cut and pasted the files into chapters. Ambient, industrial and vocal music (begged, borrowed and written expressly for the project by SwansinLeather) was layered in, along with sound effects and background noise. Lacking the specific effects I wanted, I went to San Francisco, where FH is set, to record cable cars and night sounds.
My wonderful, talented and ever-supportive bff Sideshow Melody, photographed me and my shoe collection posing for gyno exams, climbing out of trashcans and splayed out in crime scene outlines chalked onto the street. My husband further indulged me, photographing my legs for the cover art. I designed labels and inserts and had everything printed up. News flash, NOBODY reviews self-produced audio books. This was in the days before CD Baby made indie distribution easy. The CDs gathered dust.
I'd mostly forgotten about them until I found a box full of CD sets in the garage. That little flame still flickers. Joely and Twilight, Mo and Abbot still want to be heard. My obsession with identity, the shadow side and alternate personalities still demands indulgence. The FH experience is best with headphones and a glass of red wine (or your favorite libation).
I hope you'll enjoy it.
For more audio tales of horrotica, check out Rhapsody in Snakeskin.
- Length: 26:33 minutes (30.38 MB)
- Format: Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)
Flesh Hell (summary)
Plunge into a gritty underworld populated by hallucinatory dancers, deceitful lovers, back-stabbing best friends and menacing doctors. An astonishing sensual adventure for the literary mind, Flesh Hell is a compelling exploration of the sex industry's effects on the women whose labor sustain it.
Humanity’s defining characteristic is not our opposable thumbs but our voyeurism. It’s the licentious, spying urge, which prompts us to peer through parted curtains and cracked doors, eager for a glimpse of skin or sin. Peep shows were born of that vice and thrived. Peep shows are the absinthe of the sex trades—alluring, misleading and deliciously, delightfully toxic.
Joely is a peep show dancer plagued by revenge fantasies about her clients. She's desperate to feel normal and win the heart of her handsome neighbor. But when she meets Twilight, a dancer with a penchant for brutality, Joely's facade begins to crack, revealing her darker nature.
As two jealous lovers vie for Joely's attention, she must confront her shadow self, a black leather virago with a taste for blood.She hopes that a psychic surgery will cure her but it backfires, resulting in assault, murder and the breakdown of all Joely's careful constructs.
Humanity’s defining characteristic is not our opposable thumbs but our voyeurism. It’s the licentious, spying urge, which prompts us to peer through parted curtains and cracked doors, eager for a glimpse of skin or sin. Peep shows were born of that vice and thrived. Peep shows are the absinthe of the sex trades—alluring, misleading and deliciously, delightfully toxic.
Joely is a peep show dancer plagued by revenge fantasies about her clients. She's desperate to feel normal and win the heart of her handsome neighbor. But when she meets Twilight, a dancer with a penchant for brutality, Joely's facade begins to crack, revealing her darker nature.
As two jealous lovers vie for Joely's attention, she must confront her shadow self, a black leather virago with a taste for blood.She hopes that a psychic surgery will cure her but it backfires, resulting in assault, murder and the breakdown of all Joely's careful constructs.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review from Bookpleasures.com
The very first chapter of Flesh Hell has us titillated, wanting to know what happens next as the protagonist, Joely, is about to have an operation of some kind. The rest of the story could be described as a slow seduction as the reader wants to know more about Joely, a stripper, and what will happen to her next and what she will decide to do. Fitting perhaps for a book about the sex industry.
The author's note in the beginning of the book states that Flesh Hell is "not representative of the typical sex-worker's experiences....it attempts to portray the profound emotional and psychological changes...on the women whose labor" sustain the sex industry.
Joely, once a wide-eyed college student, is now a jaded dancer who feels homicidal urges towards men in general. She is desperate to get rid of the `monster' in her and she turns to rather alternative methods to exorcise these demons. Along her journey, as this story is very much that of a journey, she meets Twilight/Audrey, a fellow dancer who soon makes the switch from colleague to lover.
The highlight of the book is its descriptions of the sex industry. The minute details of the working conditions, the politics, the realities of the occupation and the blow-by-blow accounts of the routines are riveting. Some of the sex scenes may offend or shock readers not used to anything except `vanilla' sex. Stemming perhaps from any excitement readers may experience by the more sensual scenes that mix pain and pleasure rather than the actual acts themselves.
A lot of books that are packaged as `gritty' or `raw' soon begin to grate on the nerves as you wish there might have been a little more polish on the writing. Luckily Flesh Hell does not suffer from this, as Ms. Kasai ably proves that she is a writer. Whether at a party, inside a lover's bedroom or working a booth we see and feel things with Joely. The emotions and atmosphere are almost palpable.
Ms. Kasai has succeeded in creating a truly believable character, human and flawed, just like every one of us. It is because we can identify with Joely and empathise with her that Flesh Hell works. Hopefully there will be more from this author.
--Deborah Augustin, August 5, 2006
Review from Bookpleasures.com
The very first chapter of Flesh Hell has us titillated, wanting to know what happens next as the protagonist, Joely, is about to have an operation of some kind. The rest of the story could be described as a slow seduction as the reader wants to know more about Joely, a stripper, and what will happen to her next and what she will decide to do. Fitting perhaps for a book about the sex industry.
The author's note in the beginning of the book states that Flesh Hell is "not representative of the typical sex-worker's experiences....it attempts to portray the profound emotional and psychological changes...on the women whose labor" sustain the sex industry.
Joely, once a wide-eyed college student, is now a jaded dancer who feels homicidal urges towards men in general. She is desperate to get rid of the `monster' in her and she turns to rather alternative methods to exorcise these demons. Along her journey, as this story is very much that of a journey, she meets Twilight/Audrey, a fellow dancer who soon makes the switch from colleague to lover.
The highlight of the book is its descriptions of the sex industry. The minute details of the working conditions, the politics, the realities of the occupation and the blow-by-blow accounts of the routines are riveting. Some of the sex scenes may offend or shock readers not used to anything except `vanilla' sex. Stemming perhaps from any excitement readers may experience by the more sensual scenes that mix pain and pleasure rather than the actual acts themselves.
A lot of books that are packaged as `gritty' or `raw' soon begin to grate on the nerves as you wish there might have been a little more polish on the writing. Luckily Flesh Hell does not suffer from this, as Ms. Kasai ably proves that she is a writer. Whether at a party, inside a lover's bedroom or working a booth we see and feel things with Joely. The emotions and atmosphere are almost palpable.
Ms. Kasai has succeeded in creating a truly believable character, human and flawed, just like every one of us. It is because we can identify with Joely and empathise with her that Flesh Hell works. Hopefully there will be more from this author.
--Deborah Augustin, August 5, 2006
5 out of 5 stars
Juicy and Raw
Gritty, sexy, raw...this book is not for the faint of heart! But it is juicy and worth the adventure. It dives into the world of strippers and other sex workers, those who indulge our most primal urges. We slide with Joely into this experience, into her mind as she struggles to define herself. I found myself at turns titillated, horrified, angry, sad and amused. The writing is rich and complex...sometimes I felt an urge to lift my feet up, as if my shoes would stick to the floor in some dark room, a quarter clutched in my hand to lift the window. Other times, I rode on Joely's shoulder, vicariously struggling with all the issues of self definition, rage, lust, yearning and confusion. Flesh Hell is definitely a unique and intriguing read!
--J. Medrick, April 2, 2006
4 out of 5 stars
Images Play like a Movie
This fleshy world sucks you in and spits you out, page after voyeuristic page. Don't rush through; take this blushing tour one savage morsel at a time. Pain and pleasure in high doses- dizzying, at times. Kasai's full-bodied images play like a movie.
--Jesse Balena, June 14, 2006
3.0 out of 5 stars
Outside the Box
Be forewarned...Flesh Hell is definitely not a coffee table book! It gives you a peek into the erotic world of peep show performers, as well as takes you on a psychological roller coaster. The outstanding imagery is presented so vividly...like watching a movie unfold. The author has definitely taken me outside of my nice little box and introduced me to a world that I never knew existed! Hats off (or should I say clothes off) to Ms. Kasai!
--SC, June 8, 2006
Juicy and Raw
Gritty, sexy, raw...this book is not for the faint of heart! But it is juicy and worth the adventure. It dives into the world of strippers and other sex workers, those who indulge our most primal urges. We slide with Joely into this experience, into her mind as she struggles to define herself. I found myself at turns titillated, horrified, angry, sad and amused. The writing is rich and complex...sometimes I felt an urge to lift my feet up, as if my shoes would stick to the floor in some dark room, a quarter clutched in my hand to lift the window. Other times, I rode on Joely's shoulder, vicariously struggling with all the issues of self definition, rage, lust, yearning and confusion. Flesh Hell is definitely a unique and intriguing read!
--J. Medrick, April 2, 2006
4 out of 5 stars
Images Play like a Movie
This fleshy world sucks you in and spits you out, page after voyeuristic page. Don't rush through; take this blushing tour one savage morsel at a time. Pain and pleasure in high doses- dizzying, at times. Kasai's full-bodied images play like a movie.
--Jesse Balena, June 14, 2006
3.0 out of 5 stars
Outside the Box
Be forewarned...Flesh Hell is definitely not a coffee table book! It gives you a peek into the erotic world of peep show performers, as well as takes you on a psychological roller coaster. The outstanding imagery is presented so vividly...like watching a movie unfold. The author has definitely taken me outside of my nice little box and introduced me to a world that I never knew existed! Hats off (or should I say clothes off) to Ms. Kasai!
--SC, June 8, 2006
