Medusa of the Roses

Anjir and Zal have been together ever since they first knew what love was. But living in Iran, the two men must keep their relationship hidden, potentially on pain of death.


When Zal gets attacked after being caught with another man in public, Anjir is heartbroken by the betrayal but chooses to forgive as the pair formulate a plan for the future. The Iranian government will partially pay for a trans person's gender-confirming surgeries and Anjir, who's always identified with the mythical gender-changing Tiresias, will become a woman. Together they can move away from Tehran for a fresh start as husband and wife.


Then Zal vanishes, leaving only a cryptic note behind. Anjir embarks on a quest through the queer underground of Tehran in search for the other man, hoping he will lead him to Zal. But someone is tailing Anjir too and the further into Zal's secrets he delves, the more he suspects that further violence may soon be necessary.A queer noir-infused love story of violence, vengeance and desire, Medusa of the Roses is a provocative, propulsive novel with the wild intensity of a fever dream.

'Very rarely does a book come along that you feel might save lives, including your own. In giving voice to the ultimate voiceless in Iran, Sinaki has written a witty and wild tale truly for the best of our beloved angels and devils. He has taken our shared cultures and done something none of us Iranian writers have managed: he gets to the heart of the damaged and damaging politics of our homeland by turning despair into art that's so invigorating and thrilling, we quite nearly have a new genre. Medusa of the Roses is the most dynamic literary debut, certainly of the Iranian queer canon, I have ever read!' - Porochista Khakpour, author Sons & Other Flammable Objects and Tehrangeles

'Navid Sinaki's writing is really, really something. Reading Medusa of the Roses not only pleasures through its chaseable story and meticulously tuned characters, it offers the non-stop bedazzlement of some of the most intoxicating and yet exacting prose I've read in ages. It's a rush of a novel, and honestly kind of perfect.' - Dennis Cooper, author of I Wished

'Navid Sinaki flips noir on its head in this propulsive, twisting novel about creating identity against formative love in an oppressive society. Sexy, raw, and perfectly paced, Medusa of the Roses will get under your skin.' - Julia Fine, author of Maddalena and the Dark

'Medusa of the Roses is a beautiful, fast-paced melodrama, a campy, queer reimagining of mid-century noir set in Iran, bloody and poetic in equal measure.' - Kyle Dillon Hertz, author of The Lookback Window

'Feverish and atmospheric, Sinaki's writing captures with great precision the visceral torment of love and all the havoc it wrecks. Anjir is a brooding, rueful narrator-cum-protagonist whose haunting, and at times knowingly camp, plight bursts forth from the page with cinematic bite.' - Andres N. Ordorica, author of How We Named the Stars

Navid Sinaki is an artist, filmmaker and poet. He was born in Tehran and currently lives in Los Angeles. His works have screened at museums and art houses around the world, including Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Lincoln Center, British Film Institute, REDCAT, and Cineteca Nacional in Mexico. His writing has most recently appeared in BOMB Magazine. He is a professor at UCLA Extension and a film programmer, most notably at the Echo Park Film Center

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.