Cipher Press | October 2026 | 9781917008297 | Paperback
A dyke hooker revenge fantasy novel, 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."
Praise for Choke
"Ruthless as a hyena's laugh." - Morgan M. Page
"Choke is gloriously obedient to the revenge fantasy genre at the same time as completely reinventing it. It expands its possibilities to deliver something that is all at once hilarious, outrageous and deadly serious." - Rebecca Perry, author of May We Feed the King
"I love this inspirational tale of hooker bloodlust in all its rage-filled, cum-splattered glory. Choke is a whirlwind escapade in which faux fancy hookers leave mouldy London houseshares for glittering hotel rooms and quick money. Rain falls across midnight cityscapes. The queer protagonists hook up. Then the killing begins: a spluttering, bleeding, head-crushing symphony of client deaths that is at once a wry nod to genre fiction and the murderous feelgood read of the season. Smart, well-written and ridiculously fun, you will read it in one gasping breath. Choke is a triumph!" - Frankie Miren, author of Whores of Babylon and The Service
"Choke is gripping, fresh , incredibly smart but never pretentious. I never knew where it was going, I just knew I wanted to stay along for the ride. Hope it’s the first of many." - Travis Alabanza
"Having had the pleasure of directing Ray Filar as The Daughter in my film The Visitor, I already knew they had a wickedly subversive sensibility. Choke confirms it. Sexy, savage, mordantly funny and fiercely intelligent, it’s a deliciously filthy revenge fantasy that turns the tables on patriarchy, respectability and the eternal punishment of the whore. Ray takes on sex work, class, transness, violence and desire with wit, rage and exhilarating perversity. Hookers, queers and trans people behave badly — and refuse to be punished for it. The hookers inherit the earth — and, even better, the money!" — Bruce LaBruce
"Step out onto the smoky, highrise hotel balcony of Choke & into Ray Filar's hypernarrative, glam-noir of sex & violence. Scissoring, sizzling story-spinning depict the ultimate power perversion: queers scaling class lines with red latex gloves. Choke is a masterclass in the erotics of revenge." – Andrea Abi-Karam
"Choke took me on an outrageous ride - murder shouldn’t be this fun, sexy or erudite!" – Amy Key, author of Arrangements in Blue
Events
Coast Is Queer Literary Festival. Obsess, Obsesses, Obsessed, Obsessing panel, alongside Sophie Robinson, Lauren J. Joseph, Kirsty Logan, and Ayse Huseyin – 17 October 2026. Tickets here.
Launch: Burley Fisher, London – 29 October 2026. Hosted by Morgan M. Page. Tickets here.
Launch: Juno Books, Sheffield – 10 November 2026. Hosted by Jake Hall. Tickets here.
Launch: The Folkestone Bookshop, Folkestone – 12 November 2026. Tickets here.