In his debut full-length memoir, Stripped, Erik Mario Austin unravels his chaotic return to Los Angeles, where what begins as a simple swipe on a dating app in search of love, sex, and connection spirals into a nightmare he never saw coming. Labeled an addict on the run from rehab after a staged intervention, Erik’s life rapidly collapses as rumors spread, loyalties fracture, and those who claim to be helping push him closer to destruction.
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A raw, twisting memoir that reads like fiction, Stripped chronicles Erik’s dramatic fall into homelessness as he spirals through some of Los Angeles’s most dangerous neighborhoods. Pulled into a modern-day Dickensian underworld, he becomes ensnared in a ruthless network of homeless con artists who survive by seducing, stealing, and scheming beneath the city’s glittering façade. In their desperate hunt for drugs and shelter, they prey on the wealthy and surrender their stolen rewards to a manipulative kingpin, a twisted modern-day Fagin who keeps them loyal with just enough to survive. Forced deep into the city’s underbelly, Erik learns that trust is a currency no one can afford and that every choice comes with a price that may not be paid in money.
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Told with the urgency of a psychological thriller and the intimacy of a whispered confession, Stripped is part porn, part dark comedy and entirely unflinching. With sharp humor, fearless honesty, and theatrical flair, Austin tears the mask off society’s prettiest lies and exposes what happens when survival becomes the only script left to follow. At its core, Stripped is a raw and revealing story of queer identity, addiction, betrayal, and the art of surviving your own destruction—when life goes off-script and you’re forced to improvise.
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Sometimes, survival is the greatest performance of all.
Grab Stripped: A Memoir now for only $24.95—including shipping!
WARNING: PROCEED WITH CAUTION (AND MAYBE A DRINK)
This book contains strong language, questionable life choices, illicit substances, and adult activities that your grandmother would definitely disapprove of.
If you’re easily offended, this might not be the book for you.
Reader discretion is highly advised (or totally ignored, your call).
🎤 Fun Facts About Stripped: A Memoir
1. It started as a book about Grindr.
No, seriously. It began as a funny, chaotic collection of hookup stories. But life had other plans and the story went somewhere way deeper, darker, and more honest.
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2. Every chapter is title is a musical or a song title.
Because theater has always been the soundtrack of my life.....my heartbreaks, my highs, my healing. The references aren’t just clever… they’re part of the DNA of the book.
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3. I self-published it—twice.
The first time, I thought I was being bold, brave, fearless even. Turns out, I was just a little too fast and a little too trusting. Legal red flags surfaced quickly, so I pulled the book, hired a lawyer, regrouped, and committed to doing it the right way. That meant reaching out to real people mentioned in the story to ask for permission and signed releases. Some said no, some were excited, and eventually even that became complicated. So I respected the boundaries, changed names, rewrote chapters, and moved forward, because the last thing I want is to tell my story at the cost of someone else’s peace. Second time’s the charm. And this time, it’s not just bold. It’s legal. 💅
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4. My mom told me she won’t read it.
She’s not happy I’m putting it out there. That’s hard to sit with. But this story isn’t about protecting anyone else’s comfort. It’s about reclaiming mine.
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5. I’m terrified what people will think.
But honestly? At this point, I don’t care. The people who judged me already made up their minds. So I stopped writing for approvaland started writing for truth.
6. I hired a ghostwriter…
…and while the process was thrilling at first, it didn’t take long for my story to start sounding like someone else’s. They changed so much of the voice, the heart, the rawness, and eventually I realized it no longer felt like mine, so I took it back. Then I hired an editor who just was not the right fit. They didn’t like my voice driven writing and flagged the run on sentences, the long emotional rambles, and the rhythmic flow of how I actually talk. They wanted it more structured and more polished, but I wanted it real.
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7. Most chapters were rewritten so many times I lost count.
Not just for legal reasons, but for emotional ones. Every time I thought I had said what I needed to say, I would realize there was still a deeper truth, a more painful angle, a version I hadn’t been ready to admit even to myself. Some chapters felt like therapy. Others felt like surgery. But I kept going, rewriting, reshaping, and re-owning the narrative.
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8. The final version is mine.
I kept a lot of what the people I hired contributed. Some of their edits helped, and tools like Sudowrite and Grammarly definitely cleaned up the spelling and punctuation. But ultimately, I went with what I liked best. Maybe that’s why I still don’t have a publisher or a literary agent. Who knows. It’s not perfect, but it’s honest...the chaos, the heartbreak, the growth, and the weird humor. And that’s all I ever wanted it to be.
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9. I wrote this for anyone who’s ever felt broken and still kept going.
For anyone who has ever been erased, misunderstood, or afraid of what telling the truth might cost them, this book is proof that you can tell your truth. There are always different versions of what happened depending on who is telling the story, and the gossip chain can twist, distort, or even destroy the reality of events. Your truth matters, even if others try to rewrite it, hide it, or weaponize it against you. This is a story about owning your version, no matter how messy, complicated, or raw it may be.
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10. Three of my therapists read it—and only one loved it 🙂
Over the years, I gave the manuscript to three different therapists. One was confused, one was concerned, her word not mine, and one said it was “raw, gripping, and strangely beautiful.” She got it. She saw the meaning behind the mess and said, “You’re not just telling on yourself, you’re healing out loud.” And that is exactly what I hoped someone would see. The book isn’t clean, and it is not always flattering, but it is true.