Nancy Huston Wins 'Bad Sex in Fiction' Prize

Want a good sex scene in your next read? Skip Nancy Huston's Infrared, which just nabbed the Literary Review's tongue-in-cheek award for Bad Sex in Fiction, reports the LA Times. Unlike last year's winner, Infrared—about a photographer who takes pictures of her lovers' bodies at intimate junctures—avoided awful Oedipal storylines, but nailed the squirm-inducing writing. An example, via Bloomberg: "Kamal and I are totally immersed in flesh, that archaic kingdom that brings forth tears and terrors, nightmares, babies, and bedazzlements."

There's also this gem: “undulating space where the undulating skies make your non-body undulate.” Huston, the third woman to receive the award in its two-decade history, wasn't on hand to accept it, but she's not as turned off as you might expect. In a statement, she said she hopes the prize "will incite thousands of British women to take close-up photos of their lovers’ bodies in all states of array and disarray." Here's some less-icky recommended reading. (More sex stories.)