Sex and Death
stories by Ben Tanzer

BLURBS
“With artful guilelessness and an ability to never look away from the world’s miseries and ecstasies, Tanzer has done it again: populated his fictions with people and places and situations so vivid that the pages shimmer and pulse with vitality and purpose.”
—Tom Williams, author of Among the Wild Mulattos and Other Tales

“In Sex and Death, Ben Tanzer deftly illustrates the struggle between fidelity and desire in a uniquely sympathetic manner. His stories display an honest exploration of the governance of our sexual thoughts and deeds, as determined by natural urges and behaviors modeled to us in childhood.”
—Lauren Becker, author of If I Would Leave Myself Behind

REVIEWS
“The comic element is certainly present in Sex and Death, but there is a ringing poignancy in this nine-story collection that allows Tanzer’s breadth and depth as a cultural commentator to shine in ways that I hadn’t seen before.”
Small Press Book Review

“Tanzer’s stories are rich and relevant. His storytelling style is also what makes the stories so engrossing; intimate and urgent, slyly slipping between past and present, and sometimes conflating the two.”
Newcity

“These short stories are populated with memorable characters who often go unnamed but whose feelings are so deeply felt that they practically vibrate with every page. ... But taken together, the collection is even more formidable, like a series of rolling waves crashing upon the shore again and again and again, soaking the reader in emotion.”
Chicago Book Review