← Back to search
Cover of Spider Kiss

Spider Kiss

Harlan Ellison (1975)

SubgenreSpace Opera
Age groupAdult 18+
Content ratingPG-13
Pages ()
Setting
Goodreads3.78

Content levels

ViolenceNot rated
Sexual contentNot rated
LanguageNot rated

Trigger warnings

Not yet tagged

Positive tags

Not yet tagged

Tropes

Not yet tagged

Themes

Not yet tagged

Synopsis

He claims he's not a fan of rock-and-roll, but somehow Harlan Ellison's seminal novel based on the career of Jerry Lee Lewis ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of the first - and still one of the best - dissections of the wildly destructive rock-and-roll lifestyle, Spider Kiss isn't about giant cockroaches that attack Detroit or space invaders that smell like chicken soup. Instead, it's the story of Luther Sellers, a poor kid from Louisville with a voice like an angel who's renamed Stag Preston by a ruthless promoter. Preston's meteoric rise on the music scene is matched only by the rise in his enormous appetites - and not just for home cooking - and soon the invisible monkey named Success is riding him straight to hell. This raucous early novel reinforces Ellison's reputation as one of America's most dynamic writers.