What's it about?
Ramona is a thrill-seeking young woman who is about to find out that being a real life queer bears little resemblance to the lesbians in the books she's been reading under the covers. Before long she's on a mission to become the queen of London's A-Dyke scene via a series of misadventures with a cast of freaks, creeps, lovers and assorted folks that you would never want to bring home to meet mother.

Part Please Kill Me part Rubyfruit Jungle with a touch of Rent Girl to boot, Cherry is funny and spirited, searing and modern - a topsy-turvy morality tale. It offers a radical, subversive, controversial trip through the grimy underbelly of the rainbow nation.

Why not read an extract?

How did you come to write it?
Cherry is my first novel. The commissioning editor at Millivres read and liked some of my zines and asked me if I'd like to write a novel. I'd never written fiction that length before and it seemed like a good idea to have a go, have some fun and get paid for it as well.

Wasn't it banned in Canada?
Kind of, read about how Canada Customs Endorses Fisting.

Didn't you win an award for it?
DIVA magazine readers voted it their favourite read in 2002, naming it Book of the Year, and beating out the competition from Sarah Waters and Sandi Toksvig. Alright!

What do you like about it?
It's really lightweight, fun and epic. It's quite camp and over the top. It's got serious and dramatic bits too, and although it's hardly high art, it has some lovely pieces of writing in it that I'm very proud of. It's packed to the gills with true-life dyke sex of the kind that I've always wanted to read about. The central character is a total anti-hero, she's such a badass! It's very rock 'n' roll and smart-mouthed, knowing, bitchy and real.

Are you a sex writer?
Cherry has explicit sex scenes in it, but I think it's more than a sex book and that, although I am good at writing about sex, and queers, I am more than a sex writer, more than a queer writer. I really hope that readers will enjoy the jokes and sauciness in Cherry as well as getting off on it.

What do your friends and family think of the fact that they have a pornographer in their midst?
My friends think it's funny, they like it. My family are alternately disinterested, hideously embarrassed, secretly proud or quietly amused, depending on the time of day.

Are you Ramona?
No. The book is obviously me talking in a way that I do, and some of the things are based on real life, but truth and fiction are very different things. None of the other characters are real people, they are just made-up. Sorry to disappoint.

Are Girlina's / Sisterette / Hell thinly disguised versions of the Oak Bar/ The Candy Bar / Due South / The Vespa Lounge etc?
No, I honestly made them all up. I tried to make the clubs and bars as generic as possible. The only exception is Hell, which is loosely based on the club Kitsch Bitch that ran at Madame JoJos for a while, but even that's 99% made up.

How do you pronounce Molex?
Mo (like Mo Mowlem)-Lex (like Lex Luthor). Molex, it sounds like Semtex. The name comes from a bit of graffiti I saw by the park. Lord knows what it means, probably some football or gang thing. I just like it. Once someone emailed me claiming to be Molex, but I think he was a bit confused.

Who are those two women on the cover?
I've no idea. Just some stock photo of two dykes that the designer thought might represent some of the characters. Nothing to do with me!

What's your favourite part?
I love the bit where Iris takes Ramona under the platform at the train station. It reminds me of the adventures my eldest brother used to have. I also like the part where Ramona meets Molex online for the first time because the writing was such a pleasure to do.

What did the press say about it?
Click and find out.

Did anyone say anything mean about it?
Yeah! Someone said this:

Anonymous user 16/09/2002 13:07:08 IP: 213.122.77.70 To all you lovely ladies out there who, like me, love a good read, do not waste your money buying Cherry. I recently bought the book to read on holiday and was extremely disappointed! I bought the book for the same reason as everyone else - juicy sex - well let me tell you it was BORING!! Anyone else out there agree?

Will you do a reading/ come to my party/ do a workshop/ talk dirty to me?
Why don't you email me and ask nicely? Dirty talk is extremely unlikely, I should add.

Where can I get a copy?
Cherry sold out its first print run, though second hand copies are available online.

NOTE: If you are a publisher interested in producing a new edition of this book, please get in touch.

Your question not featured?
Email me and ask it anyway.

Cherry
Published by: Millivres/Red Hot Diva (2002)
ISBN: 1 873741 73 1
Price: £8.99