We chat with author Turner Gable Kahn about The Dirty Version, which sees heat rise and sparks fly when a surf-town author and an intimacy coordinator are thrown together to write new, steamy sex scenes for a TV series based on her hit novel in this deliciously fun debut romance.
Hi, Turner! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m a debut author and longtime writer currently splitting my time between Singapore and the Pacific Northwest. My first novel, The Dirty Version, just came out from HarperCollins — it’s a feminist contemporary romance about an indie author and a Hollywood intimacy coordinator who are forced to collaborate on new steamy scenes for the screen adaptation of her book. (Enemies-to-lovers, but make it about creative control and gender politics in Hollywood.)
I’m originally from South Florida, where the novel is set, and I’ve worked across all kinds of creative fields — from fashion and design to live storytelling — but I always came back to writing. When I’m not reading (usually contemporary romance or literary fiction), I’m doing yoga, making videos of my cats acting out romance tropes, or hunting for obscure vintage accessories.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Putting words on paper to make sense of the world has always been my instinct. As a kid, whenever I got in trouble and was sent to my room, I’d write protest poems to my parents, trying to explain how I’d been gravely misunderstood — then I’d slide them dramatically under the door. It never worked, of course, but it might be where I started honing my craft 😉
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. There were so many poems, and it never got old — you could flip to a different page each time and still be surprised. Plus, there’s a poem in there called “Dirty Dan,” and Daniel is my little brother’s name — so naturally, I loved teasing him with it.
- The one that made you want to become an author: City of Glass by Paul Auster. It completely blew my mind. At one point, the phone rings and the main character picks up — and the voice on the other end asks for “Auster.” I still get chills! It cracked open my sense of what a story could do.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. It’s so ambitious and layered and tender and smart — a brilliant mashup of genres that somehow works perfectly. I didn’t want it to end.
Your debut novel, The Dirty Version, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Romance. Power. Foreplay. Feminism. Hollywood.
What can readers expect?
A smart, emotional, enemies-to-lovers romance — with no explicit sex scenes, but plenty of heat. A book-within-a-book twist. An intimacy coordinator hero who’s sexy because he listens. A protagonist determined to protect her feminist novel from being exploited. And a love story that’s just as much about creative partnership as it is about chemistry.
Set against a backdrop of South Florida salt and sea, the story explores attraction, trust, and the leap it takes to be vulnerable. It’s also about loyalty and female friendship — and, quietly, about how our ideas of what’s “sexy” are shaped by patriarchy, pop culture, and myth.
Where did the inspiration for The Dirty Version come from?
The seed of the idea actually came during the height of #MeToo. There was this relentless stream of horrifying headlines, and I remember saying to my friends, “I’d read a book about a world without men.” That offhand comment eventually became The Colony — the feminist dystopia written by my main character, Tash, and the book-within-the-book at the heart of The Dirty Version.
Later, when I was deep into a romance reading phase and thinking about what I wanted to write next, I had the idea to wrap a love story around that tension: a writer trying to protect a vulnerable story, and the person she’s forced to collaborate with. Around that time, the adaptation of Normal People was getting a lot of press — especially the behind-the-scenes work of intimacy coordinators — and I thought, that’s it. Let’s make the romantic lead an intimacy coordinator. A very handsome, raised-in-a-coven-of-women, aspirationally thoughtful unicorn of a man.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing Caleb, the intimacy coordinator. I wanted to challenge the trope of the emotionally unavailable or morally grey romantic hero. Caleb is sexy because he’s emotionally intelligent. Because he respects boundaries. Because he puts the main character’s book — and her agency — first. Writing someone who was genuinely good and undeniably hot was such a fun creative challenge.
I also loved writing the moments between Tash and her best friend, Janelle. That friendship is the beating heart of the story, and it’s loosely inspired by the real-life women in my world. Those bonds run deep, and I wanted the book to reflect that kind of love, too — the kind that holds you up when everything else feels like it’s slipping.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Definitely. I wanted to stick to the classic contemporary romance arc — it’s my favorite genre, and as a writer, I love structure. But The Dirty Version deals with themes that felt personal and important to me, so the challenge was fitting those ideas into a familiar framework without losing their nuance.
The biggest craft challenge was writing something that felt very sexy without explicit sex. I wanted to focus on foreplay — emotional, intellectual, and romantic — and build the tension through that. It felt a bit like writing the best parts of burlesque: all tease, all slow burn.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
Winding! I’d been writing for a long time — and honestly, I’m so grateful for all those shelved manuscripts. They were my unofficial MFA. I’m also glad I trusted the querying process — because it really can work. With zero platform and a blind query, my agent requested the full manuscript the very next day. I truly thought it was a prank.
Publishing can be slow and lonely and hard — and then suddenly fast, full of incredible writer connections, and kind of magical. I’m just trying to stay grounded in the joy of this actually happening.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on a new book that draws from my background in live storytelling — I used to perform with a group like The Moth and teach corporate storytelling workshops. So the next novel centers on a professional storyteller who gets roped into coaching the Best Man speech for a wedding… only it’s way more complicated than that.
For now, though, I’m just so excited to see The Dirty Version out in the world!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
I just finished Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski — it’s absolutely gorgeous. I also loved You Are Here by David Nicholls — such an expertly crafted book. When I need a comfort re-read, I always reach for Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess, We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, or Do This For Me by Eliza Kennedy.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to read Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman and Square Waves by Alexandra Romanoff — two contemporary romances releasing right around the same time as The Dirty Version!
