A Critical Race Theorist’s guide to writing smut novels, with Dr. Kevin Harrison

Deviate with Rolf Potts

“I told him, ‘You didn’t have a long, lucrative NBA career, but that doesn’t make you a failure. Yet if you let other people tell your story, that’s how you’re going to be depicted.” –Dr. Kevin Harrison

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin talk about how Kevin started writing what he calls “smut novels,” how he sold them at the grassroots level, and how people reacted to them (3:30); what it’s like to represent lesser-known places like Wichita in urban fiction and other writing, and how Kevin came to co-write NBA player Korleone Young’s book (20:00); and the way Kevin’s music is another form of storytelling that draws on specific experiences and places (29:30).

Dr. Kevin Harrison is a writer, musician, and assistant teaching professor at Wichita State University. He is the author of Cameron Banks: The Reality Show, and co-author of One and Done: The Korleone Young Story.

Notable Links:

• Urban fiction (literary genre)
• Kaye-Monk-Morgan on Deviate
• Korleone Young (basketball player)
• Zane (erotic fiction author)
• Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens novel)
• Iceberg Slim (writer and former pimp)
• Dolemite (Rudy May Moore film)
• Gordon Parks (Kansas-born photographer and filmmaker)
• She’s Gotta Have It (1986 Spike Lee film)
• Selena Montgomery (pen name of politician Stacey Abrams)
• Barry Sanders (football player)
• Curtis McClinton (football player)
• The Forgotten Phenom, by Jonathan Abrams (article)
• LeBron James (basketball player)
• Hot Water Cornbread (Kevin Harrison song)

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