easy to build an altar if you’re never thinking about follow through / spin the bottle / take the turn a little too fast / CCTV IS IN OPERATION / put on a show if you’re going to crash
- Details from the Burning Petrol Station
In the sticky floored sanctum of the movie theatre, Blair finds solace and selfhood where some seek escape. Steeped in reverence for horror and analogue cinema, The Death of The Cult Classic celebrates the transgression of performance that genre allows. In Blair’s deft hands, nostalgia and longing fuel exploration; every monster a possible alt(a/e)r, every queered (head)canon a closely held grace. Anyone and everyone belongs at the movies. In the anonymised darkness, we’re loosed to our dreaming. Lights off, curtains up, and our bodies go with.
Release Date: May 14, 2026
ISBN: 978-1-964932-28-6
32 pages
Praise for The Death Of The Cult Classic:
‘Blair is one of the most intelligent and contemplative poets I have had the pleasure of reading. As witty as it is nostalgic, this vivid study of cinema as seen through a Queer and quirky lens bucks the mainstream without pretension, reaching through the pages as if leaning across the theatre seat to giggle with you. Heartfelt yet cynical, both warm and gritty, not a word is wasted in this gorgeous debut, with a top rating on Rotten Tomatoes surely deserved.’
- Kayla Martell Feldman, author of Same Story‘Cult Classic by K. Blair is breath-takingly brilliant. My skin tingled while reading it – I felt so much: nostalgic, winded, connected and seen. Themes of queerness, metamorphosis, darkness and horror are skillfully interwoven throughout, and Blair’s use of form is impeccably light-handed. These poems are a genuine delight to read, at times searingly cut-throat and sharp, with an underlying dry humour. I was left with the feeling that we are all capable of abundant change and are not stuck to the limitations of a single character. Blair has achieved what good cinema does in this pamphlet, and I have become a willing follower at the cult of K Blair. My God – it is superb.’
- Héloïse de Satgé, author of Rein It In‘In The Death of the Cult Classic, K. Blair invites readers to join them in mourning “a universe in which / the video rental places / weren’t butchered by Netflix”—in mourning film as an art and its power to transgress, both lost “to those obsessed with tax breaks.” Where have the bodies and gore of it gone? Where’s the porn got off to? Still, in their ambitious survey of the disappearing past, Blair forges hope and connection with the cinema-loving freaks who came before us, splicing together a montage to help us transition to how we’re meant to be.’
- sterling-elizabeth arcadia, author of Transmasc Marvel Girl and Heaven, Ekphrasis‘Like a good horror flick, The Death of the Cult Classic hums with wit, charm, and catharsis. At its core is the necessary act of queer transgression which both unsettles and liberates us from the cisnormative narrative.’
- luna rey hall, author of loudest when startled and the patient routine
easy to build an altar if you’re never thinking about follow through / spin the bottle / take the turn a little too fast / CCTV IS IN OPERATION / put on a show if you’re going to crash
- Details from the Burning Petrol Station
In the sticky floored sanctum of the movie theatre, Blair finds solace and selfhood where some seek escape. Steeped in reverence for horror and analogue cinema, The Death of The Cult Classic celebrates the transgression of performance that genre allows. In Blair’s deft hands, nostalgia and longing fuel exploration; every monster a possible alt(a/e)r, every queered (head)canon a closely held grace. Anyone and everyone belongs at the movies. In the anonymised darkness, we’re loosed to our dreaming. Lights off, curtains up, and our bodies go with.
Release Date: May 14, 2026
ISBN: 978-1-964932-28-6
32 pages
Praise for The Death Of The Cult Classic:
‘Blair is one of the most intelligent and contemplative poets I have had the pleasure of reading. As witty as it is nostalgic, this vivid study of cinema as seen through a Queer and quirky lens bucks the mainstream without pretension, reaching through the pages as if leaning across the theatre seat to giggle with you. Heartfelt yet cynical, both warm and gritty, not a word is wasted in this gorgeous debut, with a top rating on Rotten Tomatoes surely deserved.’
- Kayla Martell Feldman, author of Same Story‘Cult Classic by K. Blair is breath-takingly brilliant. My skin tingled while reading it – I felt so much: nostalgic, winded, connected and seen. Themes of queerness, metamorphosis, darkness and horror are skillfully interwoven throughout, and Blair’s use of form is impeccably light-handed. These poems are a genuine delight to read, at times searingly cut-throat and sharp, with an underlying dry humour. I was left with the feeling that we are all capable of abundant change and are not stuck to the limitations of a single character. Blair has achieved what good cinema does in this pamphlet, and I have become a willing follower at the cult of K Blair. My God – it is superb.’
- Héloïse de Satgé, author of Rein It In‘In The Death of the Cult Classic, K. Blair invites readers to join them in mourning “a universe in which / the video rental places / weren’t butchered by Netflix”—in mourning film as an art and its power to transgress, both lost “to those obsessed with tax breaks.” Where have the bodies and gore of it gone? Where’s the porn got off to? Still, in their ambitious survey of the disappearing past, Blair forges hope and connection with the cinema-loving freaks who came before us, splicing together a montage to help us transition to how we’re meant to be.’
- sterling-elizabeth arcadia, author of Transmasc Marvel Girl and Heaven, Ekphrasis‘Like a good horror flick, The Death of the Cult Classic hums with wit, charm, and catharsis. At its core is the necessary act of queer transgression which both unsettles and liberates us from the cisnormative narrative.’
- luna rey hall, author of loudest when startled and the patient routine
