Neurotica by Elva Maxine Beach


	Neurotica By. Elva Maxine Beach

		"Beach has written a book that will have readers wanting to take their clothes off one minute, squirming with discomfort the next, then being struck by the sadness of humanity. Then wanting to strip again. She covers the many shades of sex, not just the obvious." -Teresa Bergen, author of "Killing the President": "Maxine Beach's narrator is a regular, American girl with humble roots on the edge of middle age, with what the talk shows would call low self-esteem and no personal boundaries; she just can't stop loving the wrong men, but no tearful, talk-show contrition follows these confessions. Beach soaks in that abandoned ecstasy Bukowski wrote of, beginning each chapter with a poem as if to remove her lyricism from the path of the unblinking prose that follows. Neurotica delivers the uneasy kick of a one night stand or the off-balance excitement of an amateur porno, yet Beach's descriptive passages radiate such warmth and detail that they seem to cry out in the vernacular of one's own memory. The humanity of this writing eats most writers for breakfast and compares Beach favorably to Bukowski and Anais Nin." - Rex Rose, author of "Toast"
	BIOGRAPHY Elva Maxine Beach's first erotic kiss occurred at her neighborhood swimming pool when she was barely five years old. This innocent kiss transformed into an insatiable taste for boys and men, a craving she began chronicling in journals at the age of ten. She has been writing about her sexcapades ever since, and her first book of short stories and poems, Neurotica, is a result of this obsessive-compulsive need to fictionalize her most intimate experiences. To fund her habit of seductive storytelling, Beach has worked as a car hop, waitress, usher, maid, janitor, dishwasher, secretary, scriptwriter, copywriter, technical writer, critic, videographer, producer, editor, tutor, proctor, teacher and professor. Beach pursued her Mistress of Fine Arts, Creative Writing at Louisiana State University where her mentor and party buddy, Andrei Codrescu told her to "Stop working so hard and write some erotica." "My work isn't necessarily erotica," Beach says. "It's raw, yes, and there's lots of fucking and sucking, but my work delves into the psyche. It's psyche-sexual drama" Originally from bebop groovy Kansas City, Beach has lived and loved in cool jazz town St. Louis, and Cajun crazy Baton Rouge. She now resides in the Music Capital of the World, Austin, Texas where she teaches writing, professes pleasure, and encourages mindful hedonism. Link to Maxine's personal site: http://www.elvamaxinebeach.com


	AUTHORS

	F.K. Needles

	Elva Maxine Beach