Drew Nellins Smith's essays, reviews, and interviews have appeared in many places, including The Los Angeles Times, The Believer, Tin House, Paste Magazine, The Millions, and The Daily Beast. He lives in Austin, TX.
One of Time Out New York's Best Books of the Summer "If you're a
fan of conflicted characters who struggle with identity and desire,
then this novel is for you. The story begins with a breakup and
escalates with the discovery of a peep show that, from the outside,
appears to be just a cruising hot spot but is eventually revealed
as an embodiment of desire and self-image." --Emy Rodriguez, Time
Out New York One of Out Traveler's Recommended Beach Reads "A sexy,
amusing, and thoroughly engrossing slice of gay fiction that is
impressively accomplished for a debut. It's also a highly
auspicious beginning for a Texas writer with certain promise."
--The Bay Area Reporter "In his debut novel Arcade, Smith explores
the underground world of an adult video store where gay men cruise
for casual sex and enjoy XXX peepshows. Here Smith examines the
power cruising has in making us rethink our identities and to help
us reconcile with our sometimes troubled pasts." --Out Magazine
"The novel is funny and chilling by turns, and because of its
subject matter, necessarily dark." --Michael Schaub, The Los
Angeles Times "A book that is both incredibly American and
incredibly gay... The sex in the novel is nothing short of
splendiferous-- deserving of the word in that it is varied,
fascinatingly intimate at times and completely detached at others."
--Ilana Masad, Electric Literature "Smith has created a narrative
that entrances its readers, constantly giving us excitement and
depicting with audacity the rawness of sexuality... a daring and
compelling debut that sheds light on a rather unusual lifestyle. A
sexy and poignant novel." --Kirkus Reviews "Drew Nellins Smith
guides us through this world of secret transactions and unwritten
rules with skill and precision... With pitch-perfect tone and a
voice that is simultaneously dark, erotic, and wry, Drew Nellins
Smith offers us a protagonist who is neither hopeless nor hopeful,
but somebody trying to forge lasting connections in a world that is
all about moving away from -- rather than moving toward -- the
things we value and cherish." --Alex Espinoza, Los Angeles Review
of Books "A narrator so real and naked, you won't be able to stop
reading...A novel about sexuality, paranoia, loneliness, and
finding who you really are. It's a bildungsroman for those in their
late 20s who haven't quite found themselves yet...an essential
read." --Max Booth III, Lit Reactor "It's almost impossible to
write directly and well about sex. It's almost impossible to be
simultaneously deadly serious and extremely funny. It's almost
impossible to be extraordinarily precise while giving off the
effect and affect of slacker casual. In Arcade, Drew Nellins Smith
manages to do all these things. A minor miracle." --David Shields,
author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto "Sharp and funny...Smith
gives us a book-long vivid voyeuristic thrill." --Karen Schechner,
Lambda Literary "It's difficult to imagine a book as vivid,
sexually frank, unflinching, and poignant as Arcade." --Matthew
Patin, Kirkus Reviews "What Smith accomplishes with his debut novel
is what masters of literature spend their entire lives doing."
--Randall S. Frederick, Sexuality and the City "A thoughtful and
beautifully written meditation on the bleach scented and neon lit
world of anonymous sex in an adult video store. Drew leads us
behind closed doors with a firm but gentle grip." --Paul
Kwiatkowski, author of And Every Day was Overcast "A dark valentine
to American men, mailed from a booth in a gay video store. Think
Holden Caulfield, trapped in The Last Picture Show. Sardonic, sad,
and laugh-out-loud funny." --Andrew Holleran "Smith has one of the
most honest and original voices of any of our young novelists. He's
willing to tear his guts out for us--like the greats do--and remind
us that, terrified and confused though we are, we're not alone.
He's also hilariously funny and a beautiful stylist. Read this
book! You will love it--and its author." --Clancy Martin, author of
Bad Sex "This is exactly the kind of anxious, obsessed literary
filth that I've always wanted without knowing it. I loved reading
Arcade." --Karl Taro Greenfeld, author of The Subprimes "Obsessive,
dark, and tender, Arcade investigates longing and modern loneliness
with care, invention, and a complete lack of fear." --Michelle
Orange, author of This Is Running for Your Life "I entered Arcade
expecting to be shocked and was--by the beauty and humor with which
Drew Nellins Smith captures a place that most often remains hidden.
Peel off the metaphoric brown paper wrapper of Arcade and allow
yourself to be titillated by his gorgeous prose." --Lori Ostlund,
author of After the Parade "Intent, fearless, and funny, Arcade
captures a prism of human sexuality, its bliss and its ugliness and
its ridiculousness--all at once." --Michelle Wildgen author of
Bread and Butter "Arcade is a novel that reads with the
authenticity and honesty of a memoir. Drew Smith has written a
compelling tell-all about a man coming to terms with his sexuality
in an unlikely place, a peepshow arcade. I couldn't stop reading
it. It's a remarkable debut novel." --Michael Kimball, author of
Big Ray, Us and Dear Everybody "A keenly-observed meditation on the
ins and outs of an adult video store, Arcade is a heartfelt love
letter to a very unlikely place." --Amy Fusselman, author of The
Pharmacist's Mate "Though some may shy away or be offended by the
frankness in which Sam recounts his time at the arcade, it is this
very honesty that kept luring me to turn the page. Smith does not
hold back in this novel: he patiently and carefully walks us down
the lobby, through the aisles, and into the booths... novels like
Smith's are important to read." --Gabby Almendarez, Angel City
Review
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