“Reading The Hobbyist is like walking through a mysterious door off the street that's been hiding in plain sight. You've passed it a thousand times and never imagined the dark world that lurks beneath the surface of our ordinary lives. What I enjoyed most about this book are its riveting characters. The story’s a gallery of rogues, eccentrics, and the ever-present hobbyists who patronize the hidden brothels with amazing frequency, and provide drama and layers to the story. It was refreshing to read about the Asian escorts, who seem to work quite happily with a surprising lack of misery and subjugation, as portrayed in this black market of lust. Darryl Shelly's honesty is startling, and there's a sadness in this personal journey that's inescapable – but it’s what elevates this novel above a tell-all, show off memoir. In the tradition of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, William Burroughs’ Junky, and Charles Bukowski's Barfly, it shows that even in the modern, Disneyfied New York, the dark underbelly of the city that never sleeps is still alive and well.”
~ Michael Rymer
Producer: Battlestar Galactica and director of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned