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Mirrorstage
A raw and profound novel in verse about mental health, addiction, queerness and shame that explores ideas of hybridity and identity.
Following their discharge from hospital, Mirrorstage follows its narrator on a road trip through the grey, liminal landscapes of modern Britain. As they pass graffitied bus shelters, construction sites and flooded motorways, factories and high-rises, the narrator’s internal and external journeys begin to converge, leading them down paths they have been trying to avoid: the mental illness and substance use that led them to the inpatient ward, the uneasy balance of their own gender identity, their troubled relationship with their estranged father, the perils and pleasures of the queer scene, and the shame that has haunted them throughout their life.
Woven around the psychoanalytic concept of its title, Mirrorstage is an experimental fable exploring the boundaries of selfhood and literary forms, told in fragments of prose and verse that are equal parts heartbreaking, sexy, and witty.
Following their discharge from hospital, Mirrorstage follows its narrator on a road trip through the grey, liminal landscapes of modern Britain. As they pass graffitied bus shelters, construction sites and flooded motorways, factories and high-rises, the narrator’s internal and external journeys begin to converge, leading them down paths they have been trying to avoid: the mental illness and substance use that led them to the inpatient ward, the uneasy balance of their own gender identity, their troubled relationship with their estranged father, the perils and pleasures of the queer scene, and the shame that has haunted them throughout their life.
Woven around the psychoanalytic concept of its title, Mirrorstage is an experimental fable exploring the boundaries of selfhood and literary forms, told in fragments of prose and verse that are equal parts heartbreaking, sexy, and witty.
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 29, 2026
The hybridity of a person has long been used to brutalise them, yet variance is the truest human tone. I'm drawn to phrase myself in a way which is uncategorisable, to be genrequeer. Call it obfuscation, or a disempowered disinterest for rules-to proceed in spite of formality.
Mirrorstage is a novel in verse and prose from queer poet and sexual health psychotherapist Peter Scapello.
This is the June 2026 book from the highly recommended Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club, which raises funds that support the UKs most exciting annual book prize, the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, as well as showcasing a collection of books from the vibrant small independent press scene. This book is published by Cipher Press - see below.
The novel's title comes from Lacan's concept, and one of the poems included is constructed from words erased chronologically from the The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience in Bruce Fink's translation.
The book is striking for how the hybridity of the form echoes the hybridity of selfhood - see the opening quote (I love the term 'genrequeer') and below, a concept also explored in the anthology Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature:
I was due to be writing a novel; everyone I admired was doing it. I made a start by typing down I am fascinated by hybridity, and returned my senses to real life, pressed to notice myself in the pluriverse of the city street.
A cohesive narration cannot be manufactured of life, as life is not cohesive, whereas arc arises regardless of wilful plotting; time is a loop, equator to our work-in-progress of being-the evolving bounds of your compound form.
Cipher Press
Cipher Press is an independent publisher of queer fiction and non-fiction. Our aim is to amplify queer voices and to champion LGBTQIA+ writers in the UK and beyond.
We want to publish authors who are creating a new literary canon by disrupting existing narratives and retelling them in new ways. We want to publish the many different stories that make up our community, and we want to make those stories accessible to everyone.
We’re entirely queer owned and run because we want the publishing industry to be more inclusive at every level. We have over a decade’s worth of bookselling, publishing, and editorial experience under our belts. We still don’t often see the kind of books we want to see on shelves, and we’d like to change that by finding authors who excite us and by publishing books that we love.
We’re especially keen to publish those who are further marginalised within our own community: people of colour, working class, trans and gender non-conforming authors.
Mirrorstage is a novel in verse and prose from queer poet and sexual health psychotherapist Peter Scapello.
This is the June 2026 book from the highly recommended Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club, which raises funds that support the UKs most exciting annual book prize, the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, as well as showcasing a collection of books from the vibrant small independent press scene. This book is published by Cipher Press - see below.
The novel's title comes from Lacan's concept, and one of the poems included is constructed from words erased chronologically from the The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience in Bruce Fink's translation.
The book is striking for how the hybridity of the form echoes the hybridity of selfhood - see the opening quote (I love the term 'genrequeer') and below, a concept also explored in the anthology Liberating the Canon: An Anthology of Innovative Literature:
I was due to be writing a novel; everyone I admired was doing it. I made a start by typing down I am fascinated by hybridity, and returned my senses to real life, pressed to notice myself in the pluriverse of the city street.
A cohesive narration cannot be manufactured of life, as life is not cohesive, whereas arc arises regardless of wilful plotting; time is a loop, equator to our work-in-progress of being-the evolving bounds of your compound form.
Cipher Press
Cipher Press is an independent publisher of queer fiction and non-fiction. Our aim is to amplify queer voices and to champion LGBTQIA+ writers in the UK and beyond.
We want to publish authors who are creating a new literary canon by disrupting existing narratives and retelling them in new ways. We want to publish the many different stories that make up our community, and we want to make those stories accessible to everyone.
We’re entirely queer owned and run because we want the publishing industry to be more inclusive at every level. We have over a decade’s worth of bookselling, publishing, and editorial experience under our belts. We still don’t often see the kind of books we want to see on shelves, and we’d like to change that by finding authors who excite us and by publishing books that we love.
We’re especially keen to publish those who are further marginalised within our own community: people of colour, working class, trans and gender non-conforming authors.
July 6, 2026
This is the Republic of Consciousness book of June. Its contents are as lovely as its cover is hideous. This book makes me wonder if maybe I do like poetry, but only when it's very well done. Two quotes I especially loved:
My shame and I in transit receive aroused messages from a silhouette
Their username is God
You have the bodypart I love
so I love you
To expose one's fantasies without a known form
then
is to be divine
How strange that the days of a month, minutes
and seconds of the day repeat themselves
yet none are ever equal
My shame and I in transit receive aroused messages from a silhouette
Their username is God
You have the bodypart I love
so I love you
To expose one's fantasies without a known form
then
is to be divine
How strange that the days of a month, minutes
and seconds of the day repeat themselves
yet none are ever equal
April 6, 2026
extremely beautiful, incredibly moving
May 22, 2026
What album did I listen to?
Boy from Michigan by John Grant
Boy from Michigan by John Grant
July 17, 2026
Not really a novel as such but a series of poems written from the perspective of the same narrator.
Poetry isn't my thing, I often don't get it so my rating reflects my bias in this area
Poetry isn't my thing, I often don't get it so my rating reflects my bias in this area
Review of advance copy
This is so achingly beautiful.
Please read this. I am begging and pleading and besmirching you all to read this.
The prose feels so raw and honest, but so precisely crafted. Every sentence is considered and created to tell a wonderful story, not one word in here is surplus.
I am simply in awe.
"I take a cutting
of my consciousness &
let it propagate
on its own
into
poems"
note/edit: Goodreads is saying I got a review copy, and just want to clarify that is not the case. The bookshop I picked it up in must have put it out early and I am very blessed that they did because I might not have found this masterpiece otherwise
Please read this. I am begging and pleading and besmirching you all to read this.
The prose feels so raw and honest, but so precisely crafted. Every sentence is considered and created to tell a wonderful story, not one word in here is surplus.
I am simply in awe.
"I take a cutting
of my consciousness &
let it propagate
on its own
into
poems"
note/edit: Goodreads is saying I got a review copy, and just want to clarify that is not the case. The bookshop I picked it up in must have put it out early and I am very blessed that they did because I might not have found this masterpiece otherwise
April 7, 2026
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Diversity: depictions of mental health , body dysmorthia
Queerness: Queer Mcs
Associated Song: Falling Infinite by black math
This book was an interesting , but in all honesty im not sure if i understood it. This is definitely the type of book that youll need to read multiple times to understand it ( or i may just be dumb) Read on my commute so maybe ill try and read it all in one go next time
There are some really striking quotes in this short book and im glad I picked it up from gays the word ! I look forward to reading it for the second time
Diversity: depictions of mental health , body dysmorthia
Queerness: Queer Mcs
Associated Song: Falling Infinite by black math
This book was an interesting , but in all honesty im not sure if i understood it. This is definitely the type of book that youll need to read multiple times to understand it ( or i may just be dumb) Read on my commute so maybe ill try and read it all in one go next time
There are some really striking quotes in this short book and im glad I picked it up from gays the word ! I look forward to reading it for the second time
August 22, 2026
from New Opportunities
To be irreversibly altered at a molecular level with every breath: it was poetry all along. (25)
To be irreversibly altered at a molecular level with every breath: it was poetry all along. (25)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews