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COMING JUNE 2, 2026

The new book from the best-selling author of My Government Means to Kill Me

"Love, fame, war, religion, political freedom, big dreams and big money – There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a quintessential Hollywood novel and an LA classic for our times."
— LAURA WARRELL, AUTHOR OF SOFT, SWEET, PLENTY, RHYTHM

Rasheed-Newson_Theres-Only-One-Sin-in-Hollywood_cover.jpg

PRE-ORDER TODAY
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A cinematic, razor-sharp novel following a backlot fixer’s daring investigation into the suspicious death of a closeted Black actor within the glamorous world of Hollywood, from the bestselling author of My Government Means to Kill Me

Xavier C. Barlow, one of Hollywood’s young Black stars taking the industry by storm in the late 1950s, is Skyline Studios’s ambitious attempt to rival Sidney Poitier's burgeoning success. His arrival into the industry is calculated, his charm is magnetic, and his seductive screen presence appeals to both audiences and celebrities across generations.  

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But years later, after Xavier dies at the height of his fame, Aaron Touissant—Skyline’s designated backlot fixer who helps the studio’s stars stay as deep in the closet as humanly possible—is finally ready to expose the powerful culprits responsible for his untimely death. 

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Written as part-confessional, part-cris de coeur from Aaron's panoramic lens, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a searing portrait of the movie industry as a manicured minefield and a compelling journey into the queer history of Los Angeles.

PRAISE FOR
THERE'S ONLY ONE SIN IN HOLLYWOOD

“In Rasheed Newson's There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, inhumane history snares all lovelorn seekers, transforming fixers and actors into potent dreamers who frequent and abandon their fates with disastrous and extraordinary resolve. Propelled by a haunted jaunty narration that makes a lively case for the necessity of memory, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood illustrates and innervates the queer midcentury. This novel is an erotically-charged, violent masterpiece of love.”
― KYLE DILLON HERTZ, AUTHOR OF THE LOOKBACK WINDOW

"Living up to its provocative title, Rasheed Newson's There's Only One Sin in Hollywood offers a deft and deliciously decadent excavation of Black queer history. Sexy, sly, and with a piquant sense of humor, Newson's prose handily shuttles you between glittering post-war Hollywood backlots and dimly-lit lurid cruising spots in Griffith Park―all while making a period piece about a fixer stuck between two worlds feel impossibly urgent and fresh."

― MANUEL BETANCOURT, AUTHOR OF HELLO STRANGER

“Newson’s sophomore novel is a cinematic voyage into the decadence and inherent tragedy of old Hollywood. As characters jockey to Trojan Horse a queer narrative within the undertones of a war hero’s biopic, we the readers are morosely confronted with how little has changed in the past sixty years. Newson anatomizes lesser known cultural history while simultaneously inventing such beloved, gorgeously flawed and veristic characters, one is stunned to remember its fiction. In thematic homage to his debut, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood mixes readers a salacious cocktail of love, ambition, legacy and activism. This is the story Hollywood hoped would never see the light of day.”

― JASON YAMAS, AUTHOR OF TWEAKERWORLD

"Rasheed Newson delivers another triumph and staple of queer literature with this noir-style, page turning novel that captures both the regretful and hopeful timelessness of the gay struggle. If Hollywood has only one sin, I hope this book is part of its salvation."
― BYRON LANE, AUTHOR OF BIG GAY WEDDING

"A sharp, glamorous reimagining of Old Hollywood that is as much an examination of race and politics as it is sex and debauchery. There's Only One Sin in Hollywood is equal parts memorial and reclamation―a hard-earned spotlight on an oft forgotten corner of Black queer entertainment history―proving once again that Rasheed Newson writes a historical novel like none other."
― LEAH JOHNSON, YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN

“From the moment I picked up There’s Only One Sin In Hollywood, I was hooked by Rasheed Newson’s gorgeously written novel. This brilliant work of historical fiction had me cackling one minute and clutching my chest the next ― the prose is smart, funny, and devastating in all the right ways. I found myself completely absorbed in this world, and mad at the end when I had to let go. Stories of Black queer life from this pocket of history are far too rare, but Newson delivers one so vivid and necessary.”
― MICHAEL ARCENEAUX, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF  I CAN'T DATE JESUS AND I FINALLY BOUGHT SOME JORDANS


"Unabashedly erotic, irresistible, and heartbreaking, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood exposes the hidden gay world of the movies―the connections, dealings, and dramas of its Black figures―with panache and authority. Sparkling with real-life and invented Hollywood stars, and threaded with a complicated love of the movies, Rasheed Newson’s second novel is an American tale of the first order. It will grip you until the last page."

― RICHARD MIRABELLA, AUTHOR OF BROTHER & SISTER ENTER THE FOREST

"There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is a study of juxtaposition―an equal parts dark and dazzling drama that's both a celebration of a bygone golden age of film and a memorial for the missing scenes that never made it from the cutting room. And it's a lesson for those unfamiliar with the difficult choices that those of us who identify with its characters have made before, during, and even after their time-capsule tale; a needed reminder that far too often, you can be Black, you can be queer, but the choice of how much safety you're willing to compromise in choosing one or both is, sadly, timeless."
― AARON FOLEY, AUTHOR OF BOYS COME FIRST

“I was elated, fascinated, heartbroken, and deeply impressed by this well-wrought novel that takes on the entrenched American way of protecting the powerful and destroying the truth tellers. The story of Xavier C. Barlow’s quest to live and play roles as an openly Black gay man in 1960s Hollywood and the studio fixer who witnesses his struggle speaks directly and eloquently to many of our current injustices and concerns. I will be recommending There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood for a long time to come.”
― ALICE ELLIOTT DARK, AUTHOR OF FELLOWSHIP POINT AND IN THE GLOAMING

“Bold, seductive, and unflinching, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood fuses artistry and legacy into a knockout tale of a Hollywood both intoxicatingly real and seductively mythical. More than a story, it’s a reclamation, spotlighting queer icons and Black brilliance long erased. Newson doesn’t just write historical fiction, he resurrects worlds, reminding us that some stories don’t just survive history; they change it.”

― R.K. RUSSELL, FORMER N.F.L. PLAYER AND AUTHOR OF THE YARDS BETWEEN US

ABOUT RASHEED NEWSON

Photo by Christopher Marrs

Rasheed Newson is the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me, which was selected as a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “The 100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. He is also a television drama writer, producer, and showrunner. He co-developed Bel-Air and worked on The Chi, Animal Kingdom, and Narcos, among other drama series. In 2026, Rasheed was an American Library in Paris Visiting Fellow.

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