There was an exuberance to behold last night at the Housing Works Bookstore in Soho, where a crowd of editors, agents and other usual suspects gathered to toast the British countercultural icon and author Sebastian Horsley. Mr. Horsley has written a memoir called Dandy in the Underworld, which was published in paperback last week by Harper Perennial. He could not attend last night’s party, because when he arrived at Newark International Airport from London on Tuesday afternoon, he was not allowed entry into the United States and forced to fly home.

Word of this incident rang out immediately, and a solemn statement laying out the facts of the deportation was issued by his literary agency in England. “The flamboyant Horsley,” the press release said, “dressed in his trademark style, complete with top hat, three-piece suit and finger nail-polish, was immediately pulled aside for questioning…. It is believed the book’s content is what caused the writer’s return to the UK because of its candid and controversial account of Horsley’s extreme drug abuse, the author’s pro-prostitution views, and the author’s own self crucifixion in the Philippines in 2000.”  read more »