Sordid Truths: Selling My Innocence for a Taste of Stardom

Adult film superstar Aiden Shaw has been long admired for his physical attributes, but for anyone who hasn't discovered his literary endeavours, he's a splendid writer, as well. His recently published "Sordid Truths, Selling My Innocence for a Taste of Stardom" is a prequel to his 2006 autobiography ("My Undoing, Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution") which detailed his life in the adult film industry. "Sordid Truths" takes the reader from 1997 San Francisco, where the sex- and drug-addled author is besieged at a local "town meeting", back to his first job as a rentboy in 1980's Brighton, and then moves forward again through time, charting, with startling honesty, his ascendance as a well-paid sex worker in London, and culminating with his life-changing meeting with porn impresario, Chi Chi Larue. In between, Mr. Shaw falls in love, has lots and lots of sex, abuses various drugs, hobnobs with movers and shakers, suffers the betrayals of friends and the deaths of loved ones, and still manages to emerge with a certain sense of honor. In fact, it is through his interactions with many of his clients--the punters--that Mr. Shaw's humanity is best illuminated. His empathy with these men is conveyed in scenes of such wit, pain, and authenticity that his notoriety dissolves, and a certain generosity of spirit, elemental truth and unexpected kindness, emerges. As a sex worker, the young Shaw is engaging and eager to please but he's also empathetic, and I think that's largely a key to his success in the business.The book itself is simply and beautifully written, with attention to detail evoking such pleasures as Sticky Toffee Pudding and the velvety texture of downy flesh.Mr. Shaw has imbued his story with enough juicy details of his life in the sex industry to keep things interesting, and he's included personal anecdotes of his love life as well. I was touched by his insecurities regarding potential boyfriends--his uncertainty is refreshing, and anything but jaded--, and impressed by his refusal to portray himself as being anything more or less than the person he is. By the end of the book, I felt that this is a man who is as lovely on the inside as he is on the outside, and one who lives his life on his own terms.Highly recommended!

An interesting enough read, but a bit of a let down. I thought it would be more a memoir than it turned out to be of Aiden Shaw's time as a hustler and porn star. His experiences in the sex trade are the backdrop of the narrative. But the author comes across as trying too hard to be literary. He places huge sections of the book in dialogue that he could not possibly have remembered, or recorded in journal form, with such precision. So, one has the sense of reading a work of fiction, and not a particularly good one at that, rather than a book of actual reminisces and recollections. Shaw, apparently, studied creative writing in later years. This book seems to be not so much a vehicle for sharing personal history as an effort to practice the craft of writing. I'd give the student a C+ on the assignment.

This self styled star of gay pornography is well known for being not too bright. How I do wish he would engage someone with a few more neurones than he, who also has some editing, writing knowledge and experience of the English language than he does. (hey he could pay for it in other ways if he's as powerfully attractive as he keeps on telling us he is). The book is appallingly written by an intellectually challenged, narcissistic, drug addled has been second rate porn star who keeps on trying to convince the reader (and therefore himself) that he is/was maddeningly attractive to anyone who was lucky enough to lay eyes on him and that he made a great deal of money. I s'pose the book must be self published because no publisher would have accepted this nonsensical tripe. But that is the point of reading it for me, i.e. is is so appallingly bad it's good because it so unintentionally amusing. It's a car crash book (it's so horrifyingly bad you can't look away)

Just started reading it last night Its very difficult to put down.

Have received item in good condition. Thank you.

This book is an eye opener in describing the daily lives of sex workers. I am amazed that these beautiful people abuse their bodies to the extent they do and remain physically attractive for even the short run. The quantity of drug use, long nights, fast living, and so on is mind boggling.The book is a good read but certainly not great literature. More like a diary, it gives us a close look at a fascinating way of life.

Mr. Shaw has written yet another fantastic book with pure honesty, rawness, and REALNESS. I read this book in one sitting. He holds nothing back. Props to him.

Young & hot, he sold his sole. Aiden needed to be validated by men and he did that well for $$. No social redemption here !

I've always admired Aiden Shaw and not just for his oft-displayed physical attributes. Here he explains how he became the man he is in an honest and candid manner. Maybe not the book to leave lying around during a visit from your maiden aunt but anyone with an open mind can't help but be drawn into his story. It is well written and very descriptive (some may say graphic) but always in a way that you know it's the truth and not just being done for effect.In fact, far from glamorising the life he has led, he simply tells it as it is. It's certainly presented in a 'warts and all' way.Highly recommended read.

Really enjoyed Aiden's frankness in this book. Although his past is not what most people would say is conventional, I really like his honesty about being a rentboy and learning how he found his break in the adult film world. He is a very interesting guy who definitely has a brain.

How this man is still alive, I'll never know!

Well written and intersting.

I really enjoy Aiden Shaw's books - don't think I've ever seen one of his films, but have read all his written work and he writes well about his sometimes very troubled and difficult life. He's open an honest about his problems with addiction and this really comes across in his work. Yes he was a porn star, a hooker, you name it he tried it, but he writes about it in a really fascinating and interesting way.