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Rye
Matt is dating Rye, a willfully free androgynous school teacher. Attracted to Matt’s kinkiness and groundedness, Rye develops a taste for his masculinity and her submission. At a weekend SexxCamp retreat, Matt meets Rain, a charming and snarky twenty-something GenderQueer woman with both an attraction and aversion to sex. An unconventional three-way relationship develops, expanding their understanding of polyamory, identity, love and connection.
- GenresErotica
250 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2012
2 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Sam Rosenthal
1Ìýbook14ÌýfollowersMy novel Rye is self-released and available for $9.99 in paperback [ ] or $4.99 for the Kindle [ ].
Hi. I've been the lyricist for ten albums with my band Black Tape For A Blue Girl. Creating my novel, Rye, was an amazing opportunity to spread out beyond the limitations of songwriting, where I only have 10 or 15 lines to tell a story. This was a chance to invent people and then spend months with them, learning who they are, what excites them, what they're afraid of, how they get off, and what they do when the pressure is on.
I began Rye after attending a reading of erotica; I figured, "What the heck! I'm a writer, why not give it a shot?" I'll admit I was looking for a new way to express myself. I love songwriting and working with my band, but it's kind of exciting doing something new: working alone at my dining room table, sipping coffee, petting the cat, watching the cars outside the window (I live in Brooklyn, there's always something passing outside the window!).
Matt and Rye and their dynamic came to me immediately, while Rain began as an incidental partner popping up a third of the way into the book. Rain entertained me and wouldn't let go of my imagination. Just like Rain! As I wrote, the three of them wanted to interact; I was taken on an adventure: learning the stories these people wanted me to tell.
Creativity works that way. You have an idea where you're headed, and you discover the route along the way. I like that.
Rye began as erotica, but something else happened. It became so much more: the novel talks about who we are, what we long for, our fears, and the labels we fight against yet live by. In these pages, I worked with themes I really care about: family, love, hopefulness, freedom, desire. Yeah, in erotica. Who woulda thunk!
I hope you enjoy reading Rye as much as I enjoyed discovering these characters and their story.
- Sam
And now a paragraph that reads all official-like:
The underground rock band Black Tape For A Blue Girl have ten self-released albums with over 100,000 sales worldwide. The band's fans include filmmaker David Lynch and actress Sasha Grey. Their 11th album, Tenderotics, is now available.
Hi. I've been the lyricist for ten albums with my band Black Tape For A Blue Girl. Creating my novel, Rye, was an amazing opportunity to spread out beyond the limitations of songwriting, where I only have 10 or 15 lines to tell a story. This was a chance to invent people and then spend months with them, learning who they are, what excites them, what they're afraid of, how they get off, and what they do when the pressure is on.
I began Rye after attending a reading of erotica; I figured, "What the heck! I'm a writer, why not give it a shot?" I'll admit I was looking for a new way to express myself. I love songwriting and working with my band, but it's kind of exciting doing something new: working alone at my dining room table, sipping coffee, petting the cat, watching the cars outside the window (I live in Brooklyn, there's always something passing outside the window!).
Matt and Rye and their dynamic came to me immediately, while Rain began as an incidental partner popping up a third of the way into the book. Rain entertained me and wouldn't let go of my imagination. Just like Rain! As I wrote, the three of them wanted to interact; I was taken on an adventure: learning the stories these people wanted me to tell.
Creativity works that way. You have an idea where you're headed, and you discover the route along the way. I like that.
Rye began as erotica, but something else happened. It became so much more: the novel talks about who we are, what we long for, our fears, and the labels we fight against yet live by. In these pages, I worked with themes I really care about: family, love, hopefulness, freedom, desire. Yeah, in erotica. Who woulda thunk!
I hope you enjoy reading Rye as much as I enjoyed discovering these characters and their story.
- Sam
And now a paragraph that reads all official-like:
The underground rock band Black Tape For A Blue Girl have ten self-released albums with over 100,000 sales worldwide. The band's fans include filmmaker David Lynch and actress Sasha Grey. Their 11th album, Tenderotics, is now available.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 4, 2014
"Society needs to reframe that idea of maleness."
I've long been a huge fan of author 's ethereal rock band Black Tape for a Blue Girl. It didn't surprise me to discover that he'd turned his talent for songcraft into prose. Black Tape has long been the soundtrack to which I dream and create. I savor the lushness of the music and the passion contained within the lyrics.
is not a safe, heteronormative read. Don't go into this with limited notions of sexuality. This is genderfucky both hot and thoughtful. Sam Rosenthal pulls out all the stops, all the while challenging the reader to question what society has been trying to convince us that gender is static--boys are boys, girls are girls and if you don't fit, there's no place for you. There are also ruminations on love, polyamory, happiness, children and marriage.
And yes, lots of sex. Not your standard romance-novel vanilla sex. The c-word is used quite often. It's a word when used in a consensual sexual setting, does not offend me.
The last genderqueer erotic novel I read was Carol Queen's amazing so was an interesting journey. I like when erotica challenges me to think outside the box. Erotica can be well-written and still make for great one-handed reading. They're not exclusive. Too many so-called "erotica" authors have never gotten that.
Genderqueer is a fascinating concept which fits with my beliefs of gender being more fluid. The title character Rye, is genderqueer--a woman who strongly identifies with being male. Yes, there is a lot of shifting pronouns in the narrative when Matt (the protagonist) speaks of Rye. No, these are not editing mistakes. Matt, himself genderqueer in a different way, navigates how and when to refer to Rye.
"When there is a label, there is a limitation."
Matt and Rye are on a journey of discovery and like all journeys there are bumps and missed cues as well as moments of tenderness and smokin' hot sex. There is also Rain, a snarky twenty-something genderqueer woman whom Rye and Matt make room for. The character I really loved was Ruth. Very seldom are middle-aged/older women included in erotica, but allowed to BE erotic. Ruth was a fifty-year old German gender theorist, the voice of common sense as well as wielding a pretty wicked strap-on.
I took away one-star for the lack of diversity. Setting a novel in Brooklyn means there's no excuse for whitewashing the cast. And no, one character of color does NOT diversity make. This was one area where Carol Queen's novel did a better job, being set in a San Francisco that was not only racially diverse, but cut across class lines as well. Still, was a great read. Polyamorous thoughtful genderqueer kink love story. Can't get any better than that.
I've long been a huge fan of author 's ethereal rock band Black Tape for a Blue Girl. It didn't surprise me to discover that he'd turned his talent for songcraft into prose. Black Tape has long been the soundtrack to which I dream and create. I savor the lushness of the music and the passion contained within the lyrics.
is not a safe, heteronormative read. Don't go into this with limited notions of sexuality. This is genderfucky both hot and thoughtful. Sam Rosenthal pulls out all the stops, all the while challenging the reader to question what society has been trying to convince us that gender is static--boys are boys, girls are girls and if you don't fit, there's no place for you. There are also ruminations on love, polyamory, happiness, children and marriage.
And yes, lots of sex. Not your standard romance-novel vanilla sex. The c-word is used quite often. It's a word when used in a consensual sexual setting, does not offend me.
The last genderqueer erotic novel I read was Carol Queen's amazing so was an interesting journey. I like when erotica challenges me to think outside the box. Erotica can be well-written and still make for great one-handed reading. They're not exclusive. Too many so-called "erotica" authors have never gotten that.
Genderqueer is a fascinating concept which fits with my beliefs of gender being more fluid. The title character Rye, is genderqueer--a woman who strongly identifies with being male. Yes, there is a lot of shifting pronouns in the narrative when Matt (the protagonist) speaks of Rye. No, these are not editing mistakes. Matt, himself genderqueer in a different way, navigates how and when to refer to Rye.
"When there is a label, there is a limitation."
Matt and Rye are on a journey of discovery and like all journeys there are bumps and missed cues as well as moments of tenderness and smokin' hot sex. There is also Rain, a snarky twenty-something genderqueer woman whom Rye and Matt make room for. The character I really loved was Ruth. Very seldom are middle-aged/older women included in erotica, but allowed to BE erotic. Ruth was a fifty-year old German gender theorist, the voice of common sense as well as wielding a pretty wicked strap-on.
I took away one-star for the lack of diversity. Setting a novel in Brooklyn means there's no excuse for whitewashing the cast. And no, one character of color does NOT diversity make. This was one area where Carol Queen's novel did a better job, being set in a San Francisco that was not only racially diverse, but cut across class lines as well. Still, was a great read. Polyamorous thoughtful genderqueer kink love story. Can't get any better than that.
May 31, 2013
I read this for for my May review.
Without a doubt, Rye was the most fascinating erotica I’ve read since I started reading for Erotica Revealed. That may sound condescending, and I don’t intend it that way in the slightest � from the first page, I was captivated by the characters in Rye.
Though not my first brush with genderqueer, gender fluid, or trans stories � here I should shout out to D.C. Juris and Rachel Kramer Bussel � Rosenthal’s novella is the first full-length tale I’ve read. As such, there’s a lot more time to give to genderqueer and trans discussions, and Rosenthal does so with relish.
The voice of the tale, Matt, is a father, biologically male, poly, and identifies as genderqueer � and much of the discussions Matt has with other characters revolve around one or more of these facets of himself. His preferences for androgynous looking biological women � he likes bois, and is sometimes unsure of his own state when he finds himself with biological males who otherwise fit his preferences � is the source from which most of the narrative flows.
Matt’s relationship with the titular Rye � the boi in question � is more or less a love story, without the traditional trappings of gender and singular traditional relationships, and the road is all the more rich for the detours from the typical. Matt’s son Mischa, and a second boi � Rain � offer the other two pivot points for Matt. While Matt wants to be with Rye, Rye is in another city, and Matt doesn’t want to move away from Mischa, or move Mischa away from his mother. As Rye and Matt grow closer, there’s a hesitation on Rye’s part to relocate. Rain offers different complexities, and the revelations occur with a gentle sort of pacing.
Matt’s desires run a wide range beyond his predilection for androgynous bois, as a top, as a role-player, as a lover of “scenes,� and this is where the erotic content generally comes to the forefront. Here the writing can effectively descend into the near guttural, and where Matt’s discussions and thoughts about gender fluidity, gender roles, societal norms, and his desires are scholarly and literary in style, the sex is sweaty, sticky, and real. It’s effective, as I said, though it did smack me a bit out of the narrative now and then shifting from these two styles throughout Rye.
Sensually speaking, most of Rye delivers. I had to skip a few scenes with Rain � I’m not sure I have it in me to ever find role-play scenes where someone is in the role of an adolescent successfully erotic, rather than cringe-worthy � but the play of voyeur and exhibitionist, verbal play (often over the phone or computer) and Matt’s visits to SexxCamp were well written and dirty in the right ways. At the same time, I struggled with my own limitations while reading � I fumbled over the imperfect world of pronouns, struggling to recall which character was being referred to a few times � and found that Rye was so far removed from my own personal tastes that it was sometimes hard to connect with the boi as wholly as Matt did.
Rye is hard to pin down, and I can’t help but feel that’s purposeful. The discussions Matt has with others about genderqueer, identity, fluidity and polyamory are thought-provoking and interesting in a way that captivated. Rye is a wonderful foil for many of Matt’s points of view, and their discussions crack on the page. Mischa, and Matt’s relationship with his son, is another delight among the telling of the tale, and it was refreshing to find a character in an erotic novel who had a child � and all the mundane and life-affecting issues that come with a child � that wasn’t a walk-on/walk-off character. Rain, similarly, was an intriguing character, who begins as a mild mystery that is unveiled in pieces, but soon became my favourite piece of the overall puzzle that was Rye.
I’m glad I read this, which is likely the best thing I can say. I think there’s so much in this novella that made me stop and ponder and rethink some of my own points of view that I came out of it with a few new ways of looking at the world � which can never be a bad thing. If some of the scenes didn’t quite connect to me from an erotica point of view, that’s okay. For someone else, this might be just the right thing. In many ways, that’s something Matt exemplified: he knew what was right and what worked for him, and wasn’t too keen on labels or words to thereafter sweepingly identify what that was for everyone else. We should all be so willing to live outside the lines.
Without a doubt, Rye was the most fascinating erotica I’ve read since I started reading for Erotica Revealed. That may sound condescending, and I don’t intend it that way in the slightest � from the first page, I was captivated by the characters in Rye.
Though not my first brush with genderqueer, gender fluid, or trans stories � here I should shout out to D.C. Juris and Rachel Kramer Bussel � Rosenthal’s novella is the first full-length tale I’ve read. As such, there’s a lot more time to give to genderqueer and trans discussions, and Rosenthal does so with relish.
The voice of the tale, Matt, is a father, biologically male, poly, and identifies as genderqueer � and much of the discussions Matt has with other characters revolve around one or more of these facets of himself. His preferences for androgynous looking biological women � he likes bois, and is sometimes unsure of his own state when he finds himself with biological males who otherwise fit his preferences � is the source from which most of the narrative flows.
Matt’s relationship with the titular Rye � the boi in question � is more or less a love story, without the traditional trappings of gender and singular traditional relationships, and the road is all the more rich for the detours from the typical. Matt’s son Mischa, and a second boi � Rain � offer the other two pivot points for Matt. While Matt wants to be with Rye, Rye is in another city, and Matt doesn’t want to move away from Mischa, or move Mischa away from his mother. As Rye and Matt grow closer, there’s a hesitation on Rye’s part to relocate. Rain offers different complexities, and the revelations occur with a gentle sort of pacing.
Matt’s desires run a wide range beyond his predilection for androgynous bois, as a top, as a role-player, as a lover of “scenes,� and this is where the erotic content generally comes to the forefront. Here the writing can effectively descend into the near guttural, and where Matt’s discussions and thoughts about gender fluidity, gender roles, societal norms, and his desires are scholarly and literary in style, the sex is sweaty, sticky, and real. It’s effective, as I said, though it did smack me a bit out of the narrative now and then shifting from these two styles throughout Rye.
Sensually speaking, most of Rye delivers. I had to skip a few scenes with Rain � I’m not sure I have it in me to ever find role-play scenes where someone is in the role of an adolescent successfully erotic, rather than cringe-worthy � but the play of voyeur and exhibitionist, verbal play (often over the phone or computer) and Matt’s visits to SexxCamp were well written and dirty in the right ways. At the same time, I struggled with my own limitations while reading � I fumbled over the imperfect world of pronouns, struggling to recall which character was being referred to a few times � and found that Rye was so far removed from my own personal tastes that it was sometimes hard to connect with the boi as wholly as Matt did.
Rye is hard to pin down, and I can’t help but feel that’s purposeful. The discussions Matt has with others about genderqueer, identity, fluidity and polyamory are thought-provoking and interesting in a way that captivated. Rye is a wonderful foil for many of Matt’s points of view, and their discussions crack on the page. Mischa, and Matt’s relationship with his son, is another delight among the telling of the tale, and it was refreshing to find a character in an erotic novel who had a child � and all the mundane and life-affecting issues that come with a child � that wasn’t a walk-on/walk-off character. Rain, similarly, was an intriguing character, who begins as a mild mystery that is unveiled in pieces, but soon became my favourite piece of the overall puzzle that was Rye.
I’m glad I read this, which is likely the best thing I can say. I think there’s so much in this novella that made me stop and ponder and rethink some of my own points of view that I came out of it with a few new ways of looking at the world � which can never be a bad thing. If some of the scenes didn’t quite connect to me from an erotica point of view, that’s okay. For someone else, this might be just the right thing. In many ways, that’s something Matt exemplified: he knew what was right and what worked for him, and wasn’t too keen on labels or words to thereafter sweepingly identify what that was for everyone else. We should all be so willing to live outside the lines.
August 29, 2014
I'd say this gets 2 stars for the plain, flat writing and the lack of intrigue, and 1 extra star for being relatable. The sex is ok, not super hot to me, possibly bc it's written from a perspective that's sort of different from my own, but also bc I'm not really into some of the stuff the characters enjoy. And there's a scene where one character wakes the other, who's a asleep, by having sex with them which is pretty icky consent-wise.
What I did like about it was that the characters and settings felt very real to me. Sort of like I know these people in real life, I've been to places like this, these are parts of my life that I rarely read about in ficiton. And that sense of deprivation probably made me enjoy/forgive this book more than I would have, had these been characters I read about "all the time" in more well-written books.
I would recommend reading it if you want to read about gender queer people having lots of kinky sex, mixed with very unrealistic conversations made up to explain things and convey specific points about gender and open relationships to the reader through dialogue.
What I did like about it was that the characters and settings felt very real to me. Sort of like I know these people in real life, I've been to places like this, these are parts of my life that I rarely read about in ficiton. And that sense of deprivation probably made me enjoy/forgive this book more than I would have, had these been characters I read about "all the time" in more well-written books.
I would recommend reading it if you want to read about gender queer people having lots of kinky sex, mixed with very unrealistic conversations made up to explain things and convey specific points about gender and open relationships to the reader through dialogue.
Read
January 29, 2013Sometimes, I receive email pitches for books that are a bit outside my regular scope, but I say, What the hell, send me a copy. Sometimes, these are self-published books. I'm not overly snobby about the self-publishing route, as some of the I've read were brought into the world this way. However, sometimes, I know these books would not have fared well in an attempt at going the more "traditional" route because they're just not ready. The books may have a decent premise, but they needed several more rounds of editing. Rye by Sam Rosenthal is one of those novels.
[...]
I never quite understood what was at stake at all, a third of the way into the book.
Rye is not believable as a story based in reality, nor is it believable as fantasy. If it were just there for the fucking like other erotica, fine. Some of the sex in this was quite good, yes, but there's far too much hand-wringing to make it a fantasy. I'm not in the habit of fretting that much in my fantasies; are you? And because the dialogue doesn't feel true to life, because I don't know why we're here as readers, and because nothing made me want to stay and see where the story headed nonetheless, I put down the book. . Despite any reader's guilt I have, I also have to know when to cut my losses.
(This is unstarred not as a reflection of "zero" stars, but because I didn't reach the end, I didn't want to rate it one way or the other. My full review appears on .)
[...]
I never quite understood what was at stake at all, a third of the way into the book.
Rye is not believable as a story based in reality, nor is it believable as fantasy. If it were just there for the fucking like other erotica, fine. Some of the sex in this was quite good, yes, but there's far too much hand-wringing to make it a fantasy. I'm not in the habit of fretting that much in my fantasies; are you? And because the dialogue doesn't feel true to life, because I don't know why we're here as readers, and because nothing made me want to stay and see where the story headed nonetheless, I put down the book. . Despite any reader's guilt I have, I also have to know when to cut my losses.
(This is unstarred not as a reflection of "zero" stars, but because I didn't reach the end, I didn't want to rate it one way or the other. My full review appears on .)
August 15, 2017
This book is not porn. This is an erotic novel. The humans in it have sex, as humans often do, and they enjoy it, but they are people first. There is a story here, and growth and hardship and fear and overcoming. And love. So much love.
Oh the good is exceedingly good. The characters are rounded, the prose is descriptive and often beautiful. The conversations are more often than not natural and realistic while informative. You can tell the author is a natural writer, even if this is his first novel (as he's been a song writer for some time now. Black Tape forever). The scenes which do contain sex are varied, mostly coherent, dynamic, and usually dang hot. The variety of genders and orientations is splendid!
It's not a perfect book. It does swoop into dangerously preachy or political territory at times. These instances are troublesome because it doesn't feel cohesive to me. One of the scenes is a considerable personal turnoff. While most of the dialogue feels natural and realistic, some of it seems artificial. There are bits of awkward here and there.
But overall, this is a lovely piece of writing. I grow to care about the characters and their relationships. It gives one hope in the possibility of polyamory working for those willing to work at it. It celebrates love and sensation and connection between people and nature. It's optimistic. You can learn a lot about queer while enjoying the read. And it's really really hot.
Oh the good is exceedingly good. The characters are rounded, the prose is descriptive and often beautiful. The conversations are more often than not natural and realistic while informative. You can tell the author is a natural writer, even if this is his first novel (as he's been a song writer for some time now. Black Tape forever). The scenes which do contain sex are varied, mostly coherent, dynamic, and usually dang hot. The variety of genders and orientations is splendid!
It's not a perfect book. It does swoop into dangerously preachy or political territory at times. These instances are troublesome because it doesn't feel cohesive to me. One of the scenes is a considerable personal turnoff. While most of the dialogue feels natural and realistic, some of it seems artificial. There are bits of awkward here and there.
But overall, this is a lovely piece of writing. I grow to care about the characters and their relationships. It gives one hope in the possibility of polyamory working for those willing to work at it. It celebrates love and sensation and connection between people and nature. It's optimistic. You can learn a lot about queer while enjoying the read. And it's really really hot.
November 27, 2016
This book does some things really well, and some things less so.
The writing style is simple, sometimes a bit bland, but the characters' relationship still captivate enough that you want to go on reading. As for the sex scenes, I found them good enough, though sometimes too short to really drag you in.
Interesting discussion of identity, though for a book that aims to talk about how limiting labels are, it does use a lot of them. (I personally found very awkward the fact that each secondary character was introduced with a full list of identities, listing their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. It just wasn't necessary and interrupted the narrative.) Kudos for the portrayal of how traditional masculinity is viewed negatively in queer communities, I thought that was really interesting.
A book that could have grown a little bit in terms of style, but still interesting and fun to read.
The writing style is simple, sometimes a bit bland, but the characters' relationship still captivate enough that you want to go on reading. As for the sex scenes, I found them good enough, though sometimes too short to really drag you in.
Interesting discussion of identity, though for a book that aims to talk about how limiting labels are, it does use a lot of them. (I personally found very awkward the fact that each secondary character was introduced with a full list of identities, listing their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. It just wasn't necessary and interrupted the narrative.) Kudos for the portrayal of how traditional masculinity is viewed negatively in queer communities, I thought that was really interesting.
A book that could have grown a little bit in terms of style, but still interesting and fun to read.
February 20, 2013
Rye is an ambitious and well-executed merging of novel with really interesting characters + lots of steamy alternative sex.
I was really surprised that a book about sex went to the lengths of developing the characters so well and found myself wondering what was going to happen next in between readings often. It's not just about the protagonist's sex adventures; it's also about his family, what happens in his brain as he grows and learns- and agonizes. There actually were a few major twists in the plot where I didn't know what was going to happen and I found myself rooting for Matt with every page turn.
There are so many ways to challenge yourself by reading this. Keep your mind and heart open and you might learn something along the way!
I was really surprised that a book about sex went to the lengths of developing the characters so well and found myself wondering what was going to happen next in between readings often. It's not just about the protagonist's sex adventures; it's also about his family, what happens in his brain as he grows and learns- and agonizes. There actually were a few major twists in the plot where I didn't know what was going to happen and I found myself rooting for Matt with every page turn.
There are so many ways to challenge yourself by reading this. Keep your mind and heart open and you might learn something along the way!
December 29, 2012
A different take on erotica - not all about the sex - there is a story of self-discovery behind it all. A change in perspective and challenging of expectations. Very engaging.
July 4, 2014
there was so much hype about this book on fetlife and amongst queer kinksters and i wanted to like it, but just couldn't connect with the characters or the story
September 8, 2015
Thoughtful and sexy exploration of gender, identity, eroticism. The characters felt real life and I appreciated the balance of humor, emotion, sexiness, and family here. Highly enjoyed this!
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