We are very excited that theatre maker and writer Ray Filar is coming to Juno Books to talk to us about Choke: a dyke hooker revenge fantasy novella, in which two sex workers fall in love and go on a ruthless murder spree.
When Leila meets Silvia during a booking with Silvia's longtime client, the infatuation is instant. Silvia is older, glamorous, charming, and has been working for a lot longer than Leila, who is still new to sex work. Later that evening the two run into each other at a hotel bar, and after a messy night of drugs and sex, begin a romantic relationship that takes a turn when they start murdering clients together.
Traversing the spaces of queer East London and the corporate city, Choke is a propulsive and sexy revenge fantasy mash up of black comedy, psychological (un)realism and literary essay that bends tropes and explores the essence of fantasy, from BDSM and kink to wealth and class to bodies and transness. A wild, fun, smart, and pulpy novella that transforms literary traditions and elevates queer writing.
Ray Filar is a writer, theatre-maker and live artist based in London. They write fiction, plays, and creative non-fiction about work, sex, drugs and violence. Choke is their first novella. Their writing has appeared in We Want It All: An Anthology of Trans Poetics (Nightboat Books, 2020), The Guardian, Verso Online, the New Humanist, openDemocracy and Tummyache Magazine. They hosted the left-wing feminist podcast Killjoy FM on Resonance FM (2016-2017), and edited the political essay collection Resist! Against a Precarious Future (Lawrence & Wishart, 2015). They were co-creative director of Homos and Houmous, a queer, Jewish, anti-Zionist theatre company. They have created work for stages including the Royal Court Theatre, Tate Britain and Modern, Glastonbury Festival, and The Yard Theatre, and starred as ‘The Daughter’ in Bruce LaBruce’s feature film The Visitor.
Ray will be in conversation with our very own Jake Hall. Jake Hall is a freelance journalist, public speaker, and the author of two books: The Art of Drag, published by NoBrow Press in 2020, and Shoulder to Shoulder, published by Trapeze in 2024, and shortlisted for the 2025 Bread and Roses Prize. Jake has written extensively on queer culture, drag history and pop culture, and they’re also a qualified youth worker with experience working with marginalised young people. They live in Sheffield with their partner and their charismatic cat, Big Liz.