What Tried to Kill Me Had Many Names by Marc Gauss (Pre-Order)
THIS IS A PRE-ORDER TITLE. Titles generally ship one week before their publication date. This title's publication date is September 15, 2026.
What Tried to Kill Me Had Many Names
A Memoir of Spirit, Sex, and Survival
Copyright © 2026 by Marc Gauss
ISBN: 978-1-943977-96-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2026942132
Retail Price: $25.00
Publication Date: September 15, 2026
Memoir; 6 x 9” Paperback; 260 Pages
Distributed by Ingram and Sibling Rivalry Press
Author is available for appearances and interviews
Author Website: www.marcgauss.com
Publisher Contact: [email protected]
Trade, library,
and educational discounts available
Desk copies available for educators
Review copies available; Digital ARCs available on Edelweiss on 6/1/26
Download the Press Sheet
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Keywords: Memoir, Religious Trauma,
Overcoming Sexual Shame,
Homosexuality,
Sex Work, Adult Film Industry,
Masturbation,
Self-Affirmation, Pride,
Relationships, Palm Springs
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Content note: This memoir includes discussions and depictions of religious trauma, violence, self-harm, and explicit sexual content. The work engages these experiences in the context of self-affirmation, finding community, inner strength, and overcoming shame.
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What Tried to Kill Me Had Many Names is a fearless memoir of spirit, sex, and survival. Raised in a strict Christian home where every desire was measured against sin, Marc Gauss grew up believing that love—especially the kind he felt for other men—was something that had to be hidden, prayed away, or punished. As he moves from small-town boyhood to college campuses, locker rooms, churches, and the neon freedom of gay nightlife, Gauss confronts the contradictions between the life he was taught to live and the truth of who he is. Along the way he encounters cruelty, rejection, ecstatic freedom, and moments of devastating despair—including the kind of spiritual shame that nearly costs him his life. Told with disarming candor, humor, desire, and vulnerability, What Tried to Kill Me Had Many Names is the story of a man who survived religious judgment, sexual awakening, and the many identities others tried to force upon him. It is a memoir about reclaiming joy, owning one’s body, and learning—finally—to live without apology.
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“What Tried to Kill Me Had Many Names is a wild ride over six decades of gay struggle and freedom. From the religious abuse and oppression of Jerry Falwell, to the out-of-control partying of the eighties, to the depths of barely surviving the AIDS epidemic, to the power of transforming his life with queer liberation and marriage equality, Gauss’s sensitive and compassionate narrative gives hope and humor to anyone who might have gotten stuck along the way.”
DR. JALLEN RIX, Ex-Gay No Way: Survival and Recovery from Religious Abuse
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“With rare honesty, Gauss traces the long and often messy journey from what we are taught to who we become. The result is a story of remarkable bravery—not the kind found in grand gestures, but the quiet, powerful courage of learning to be generous with oneself. An extraordinary accomplishment.”
JASON ARMSTRONG, Solosexual: Portrait of a Masturbator
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MARC GAUSS lives in the Palm Springs, California area, where he co-facilitates workshops and retreats centered on sex positivity and authentic self-expression. An outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and sex workers’ rights, he is committed to dismantling shame and redefining what it means to live freely. Marc is also an ordained Phallocentric High Priest.
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THIS IS A PRE-ORDER TITLE. Titles generally ship one week before their publication date. This title's publication date is September 15, 2026.