Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The book we're covering today

goes deep on the queer BDSM scene. And not just like your usual vanilla ball gag type stuff,

but like the book opens in a dungeon with our main character getting consensually waterboarded.

The novel is called X by Davy Davis, and it's this

fascinating dystopian queer noir mystery book. And a few weeks ago, Davis talked to Anna Sail,

who was guest hosting the NPR podcast. It's Been a Minute. And we're just going to play you

a bit of that interview where, you know, they talk about the sexual politics of pain.

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You're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Anna Sale. This next conversation is with the author of a new novel. It's a noir quasi-mystery set in the Brooklyn BDSM scene. A warning, this conversation might not be suitable for all listeners. It contains a frank discussion about sex, including kink, domination, and sex acts that involve some violence.

We're talking about a book called X.

X is about a person named Lee who lives in New York.

They are a lifestyle sadist, so they're into SM.

And a chance encounter with a mysterious person named X kind of takes them on this treasure hunt.

That's Davy Davis, the author of X.

This treasure hunt isn't as fun as it sounds.

Lee has to find X before the government moves her out of the country.

In the world of the book, sex workers, trans people, and immigrants

in the scene all live under that threat.

They're trying to find them again before they are exported because the U.S. government

...