The Power of the Dog: The classic Western, now an Oscar and Bafta Award-winning film starring Benedict Cumberbatch

by Thomas Savage

Phil always did the castrating; first he sliced off the cup of the scrotum and tossed it aside; next he forced down first one and then the other testicle, slit the rainbow membrane that enclosed it, tore it out, and tossed it into the fire where the branding irons glowed. There was surprisingly little blood. In a few moments the testicles exploded like huge popcorn.

This is up there with “It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.” as one of the most one of the most provocative opening salvos in a book.