LOVE BUZZ 034: ALLIE ROWBOTTOM

It's good to scare yourself.

This week, the toast of the literary town—Allie Rowbottom.

But first—we are celebrating one year of Love Buzz as of next week! In honor of this momentous occasion, monthly subscriptions are 50% OFF for the rest of June. Start celebrating now!

Also, if you are in NYC next week, come listen to the new Angels in America record, Asphalt Green, on Tuesday 6/23 at Nightclub 101. The record is out now via Halcyon Veil, and the night will follow with guests from the HV roster. See ya there.

Now, back to our guest, Mrs. Rowbottom. Allie’s new book, Lovers XXX, was just released this month, and is already ripening into the read of the summer. It is set in 1980s Los Angeles, and tells the story of two girls navigating the grit and grime of youth and fame in the early VHS era of the porn industry. A lot of the attention has been directed at Lovers’ context, I guess because it is rather novel (no pun intended) and therefore, feels salacious to most people. But I think what is more interesting is the non-fungible entity at the core of the book—female friendship—and how that can be transported across time and place as a kind of fixed concept with epic emotional contours. Allie told me that her original idea was to have the book set in the world of 1960s folk music, playing the girls’ characters with reference to real-life figures of that era: Joni Mitchell and Judee Sill. In the end, she transposed a similar story of girlhood to a radically different context, finding it gave her more to work with. I suppose readers will have to find out how that played out on their own time—go get your copy now.

Below, we talk about engagement, marriage, NEW YORK CITY, and being a young