Morrissey responds to Bad Sex in Fiction victory: 'Too many good things in life to let repulsive horrors pull you down'

Earlier this month, The Literary Review announced that a passage from Morrissey’s novel List of the Lost - about a 1970s relay team who get cursed after killing a demon - had won the Bad Sex award.

The nominated single sentence reads: "Eliza and Ezra rolled together into the one giggling snowball of full-figured copulation, screaming and shouting as they playfully bit and pulled at each other in a dangerous and clamorous rollercoaster coil of sexually violent rotation with Eliza’s breasts barrel-rolled across Ezra’s howling mouth and the pained frenzy of his bulbous salutation extenuating his excitement as it smacked its way into every muscle of Eliza’s body except for the otherwise central zone.”

Quite the mouthful. The prize itself is defined as the most “poorly written, perfunctory or redundant passages of sexual description in modern fiction”.

The Smiths frontman, who has unapologetically not spoken about the award (nor the fact his book was damned by critics), has finally responded to the award and he is, to put it lightly, not amused.

He told the Uruguayan paper El Observador (via The Guardian) that it was “best to maintain an indifferent distance” from the prize, “because there are too many good things in life to let these repulsive horrors pull you down”.

“I have many enemies and their biggest motivation, as you know, is to try to use all your achievements against you.”

Last year’s ‘accolade’ was won by Ben Okri for The Age of Magic. If you need a reminder of his dubious sexual writing, look no further:

“When his hand brushed her nipple it tripped a switch and she came alight. He touched her belly and his hand seemed to burn through her. He lavished on her body indirect touches and bittersweet sensations flooded her brain.”