Home / Jonathan Reiss

Jonathan Reiss

Since the recent release of his debut novel Getting Off Jonathan Reiss has been called “A writer for the new generation” and “A rocket-ship of a writer.” The book has garnered extensive coverage from literary outlets, celebrities and portions of the novel have already been serialized in such literary journals as NY Tyrant and Evergreen Review. Getting Off is being touted by veteran novelists and tastemakers like Dennis Cooper, Giancarlo DiTripano and Scott McClannahan with the project receiving 5 out of 5 stars from LitReactor and a 9/10 from Culture Vulture.

As a journalist, Reiss has published stories in Spin Magazine, The New York Observer, Interview, Vice, Complex, The Source, Tablet and many more. He’s acquired a reputation for challenging convention with his edgy, personal narrative approach as a columnist covering everything from the adult film world to Manhattan nightlife, and rap battles.

His first screenplay Companion sold earlier this year and his second scripted project “The Gangstalker” is currently in development at Adaptive Studios. His first non-fiction book Look At Me! is being published in the fall by Da Capo/Hachette Book Group. "Look At Me!: The XXXTENTACION Story" details the life, career, and murder of a young musician that became one the most divisive entertainers in history before being gunned down at only 20 years old. In that time he came to define Generation Z and their ongoing struggles with mental health, suicide, and the rapidly changing and increasingly puzzling world around them. (Available for Pre Order at: www.amazon.com/Look-at-Me-XXXTentacion-Story/dp/0306845423)

getting off

"As soon as I read the first paragraph I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep till I'd finished. Because it was too real. Novels have endings, thank God." —Stoya You can almost make just enough money to buy heroin every day by jacking off for people on the Internet. This is America. That makes you an entrepreneur. But how do you stop being human? Is it possible? What if you can't? What then? In this relentless, heart-shattering first novel, Jonathan Reiss gently takes your hand and leads you

Cookie Dough

Just out of the subway I spotted the idling hybrid Toyota that 2Byung said he'd be driving. I looked through the window and saw a man with a thin face, a cleft chin and a full head of salt and pepper hair. I pressed my forehead against the glass to see clearly through the window and he peered back at me with a forced smile. 2Byung was a perfect example of how little you can guess about the way a person looks by talking to them online. I’d have pegged him an overweight, pig nosed computer-progra

Getting Off – Evergreen Review

After running for seven blocks, I arrived at the theater glistening. Wearing a herringbone sport jacket over my hoodie with my hair combed neatly to the side, I looked, at the very least, unsuspicious. I spotted my mother outside the box office and leaned down to hug her. She seemed smaller than she had on her last birthday. This made me feel sad for her. I felt deeply sad about this for the duration of the hug. I imagined her waking up and realizing that she was shorter. Age is just a stalker t

These New Opioid PSAs Are Missing the Worst Part of Addiction

Most Eighties and Nineties babies remember the Truth Campaign: The series of anti-smoking ads that took a fresh and unflinching stance on the dangers of cigarette smoking. The TV spots pulled no punches. They featured images that were difficult to look at, like people with tracheotomies and voice boxes singing on parade. To an extent the Truth Campaign worked. In 2000, almost 30 percent of teens were smokers; as of last year, that number had dropped to eight percent. Now, the campaign is turnin

Opioid Crisis: What People Don't Know About Heroin

In a society that’s lost its faith in religion and institutions of government, does the opiate of the masses become, simply, opiates? Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 55 – and despite a push for reform, those numbers aren’t budging. Over the past 15 years, pharmaceutical opioids flooded the streets until a backlash resulted in dried-up supply lines – and countless new addicts eventually found their way to heroin. In this sense, the Pablo Escobar of opioids is

Analyzing the Why: A Conversation with Jonathan Reiss

The first time I met Jonathan Reiss was at a show on the Lower East Side where he read from his novel Getting Off. I was blown away not only by his writing but also by his performance. The scene he read was disturbing; a first-person account of a young heroin addict named Simon getting beaten bloody by a drug dealer who thinks he’s an undercover cop. The dealer relents only when Simon offers him his sleeve to smell. The months of accumulated filth serve as proof that he really is a user. It was

Narratively • 28th November 2016

My High School Girlfriend Became America’s Most Wanted Drug Queenpin

In November 2018, a 66-year-old man named Tommy Thompson was wheeled into Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt’s courtroom in Columbus, Ohio, clad in a dark blue suit and looking like he had just served four years in federal prison. Thompson’s hair, once thick black curls, had given way to a bald pate, and with a long white beard and piercing eyes, he looked like a slightly hairier Christopher Lee, the actor who played the wizard Saruman in The Lord of the Rings. Throughout the trial, Judge Blunt interrup

Camming Together: The Virtues of the Virtual Girlfriend

Nikki Night shimmies a pair of tattered blue jeans up the leg of a tripod and belts them tight. Once steady, she pushes a honking rubber dildo through the opening until it’s flopping out the zipper. Voila, now her students needn’t a penis on hand to simulate oral sex for their devoted fans. Night, who touts herself as the world’s first and foremost adult webcamming coach, today instructs a private room full of nearly two-dozen aspiring male and female cam performers on the online mega-network Ca

Sunday Stories: Chocolate Milk

The beginning of my senior year of high school was a really great time. I was getting a lot of acting work and kids who I didn’t even know would come up to me in the hallways at school telling me they saw me on TV. People wanted to be my friend, I had more money than I understood and girls were fond of me. Every month I got a haircut and every day seemed to have a reason for happening. One of the best things about auditioning was getting to leave school early to get on a train for Manhattan. Th