Venice Peach

by Jessamyn Violet

Welcome to the Dark Carnival of Futurism…

One dark, windy supermoon night in the near future, a woman's ill-timed tarot question rips open a portal between dimensions, unleashing cosmic chaos.

Step right up to Venice Peach, a flamboyantly freakish circus on the gritty Venice Beach boardwalk, where bizarre talents and mind-bending spectacles are just the beginning. Get lost in a funhouse maze of reality-shattering events and untamed, sex-fueled showdowns.

Featuring a cast of gonzo characters tee-tottering on the slippery slope of ambition, only to be thrown wildly off-course by creepy canal creatures, zombie seagulls, and a robot president—this is a fast, raunchy ride with enough twists to leave you twisted.

No glitches, no guts, no glory.

286 pages, Paperback

Published June 10, 2025

About the author

Jessamyn Violet is a writer and musician, born and raised in Massachusetts. She received her BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College, and her MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco's California College of the Arts. In Los Angeles, she has written for entertainment magazines, interviewing celebrities including John Green and Matt Groening, and worked in film production. Her poetry collection, Organ Thieves (Gauss PDF), was published in 2017. Her full-length screenplay “Exit Strategies” was a quarterfinalist in Scriptapalooza in 2018. Her short stories have been published in Ploughshares (forthcoming, Spring 2023), 805 Art + Lit Magazine, Adelaide and Little Break and Three Elements. Jessamyn plays drums for the band Movie Club. Secret Rules to being a Rockstar is her debut novel. She currently lives in Venice Beach, California.

Reviews

[Rebecca Gransden]

These actors are cracked. Out from under techno-creep overseers rise the rejects, the dropouts, and the freaks. A counterculture funhouse, home to strung out hedonists, underground musicians, magic practitioners, and those just looking for the next party. With Venice Peach, Jessamyn Violet creates an alternate reality that seems too wild a proposition and yet right around an interdimensional corner. Politics and show business intermingle in new and strange ways, as LA’s free spirits are put to the test.

Read my interview with the author at XRAY literary Magazine

[Tim Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rip roaring, laugh-out-loud, refreshingly unpredictable rager of a book. A hallucinatory hologram of the myriad personalities and idiosyncrasies of the artists, dreamers, and genius freaks that dwell over on the enthralling and elusive westside of Los Angeles. As a character study, it's astute, and vivid, and prismatic, and mercurial. I love all these wonky, sexy characters Jessamyn Violet writes here with love, curiosity, and even a little repulsion at times. As a story about how it feels to be an artist trying to make it, trying to matter, trying to understand the self, navigating the circus that is the near future and its inevitable technological pitfalls, it's a heartfelt fever dream: edgy, weird, wondrous, and sad. It reminded me of a mashup between the 90s flick Strange Days, a Dennis Cooper novel (subversive af), and a dark, twisted Dr. Seuss book for adults.

[Christy Hallberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jessamyn Violet’s 'Venice Peach' is a wild, sexy, psychedelic thrill ride that you won't want to get off of. From outrageous plane sex with robot flight attendants to reality-bending encounters at a Hollywood awards show, this novel dives headfirst into the bizarre. I listened to the audiobook, read by Jessamyn herself, and loved the extra touches—music between chapters performed by her husband, Vince Cuneo, who plays with Jessamyn in the fab psych rock band Movie Club. The title of the novel comes from a fictional underground speakeasy—Venice Peach Underground Freak Circus—where misfits and weirdos gather, setting the tone for this hallucinatory adventure. Along the way, you’ll meet zombies, robots, and even a canal creature. Bold, freaky, and unforgettable, 'Venice Peach' is one trip you don’t want to miss.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jessamyn Violet introduces us to the wild, delusionary world of Venice Peach, in which a cast of sex-charged characters pursue their dreams of pleasure, glory and fame amidst impending doom. Filled with zombie stars, telepathic canal creatures and undead seagulls, Venice Peach is a hilarious whirlwind through the descent into chaos and a character study of what drives us even when the world looks like it’s been turned upside down. A super-fun read I couldn’t put down.

[Jack Skelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uh-oh! A TikTok time bomb has burst the Superdoom Portal. A silicone president punishes all citizens, sex bots and celebs. Nothing, it seems, can stop the haywire L.A Hellscape seen by Jessamyn Violet – twisted visionary extraordinaire.

[Eavan Hooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to the zany world of Jessamyn Violet. There are witches, canal creatures, omens, and spells to be broken. The creatures live in Venice Beach, California where sex is the main bill of fare. The President is a robot and robocops keep the peace. It's a very colorful, crazy world. I especially enjoyed the canal creature and his antics.
Each chapter tells a story of the character. Each chapter building up the tension and revealing more of the story. The characters become intertwined and each reaching a conclusion about their life decision of life in Venice.

[Duncan Birmingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

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