Walace Weiss, a famous fantasy novelist struggling with drug addiction, sets himself on a twofold quest: to finish his first book in more than a decade and, like the immortal elves of his stories, to try to remember what, in his long life, he should not have forgotten. While many have come to view Walace as a bad influence on children, literature, and himself, his impact sweeps across worlds both fantastic and real, leading to his establishing a new kingdom in his neglected McMansion, Summerheim. The result is a mock-epic in rehabilitation, starring such friends and enemies as Cal, Walace's dealer and private jester; Dragon, a porn star turned guidance counselor; Epiphany, a lunch lady and stripper in recovery; her son, Tuffy, planning everyone's funerals at age nine; Jackal, newly sober and in touch with his emotions for the first time; and Wolf, Walace's socially withdrawn twin brother and reluctant doppelgAEnger. Brian Bouldrey piles on the laughs and absurdity alongside dollops of humanity. With brilliant recklessness, he praises and pokes fun at genres, conventions, fandoms, and critics, offering a Deadpool-like exploration of an upside-down world filled with epic quests, epic mistakes, and epic characters.
Brian Bouldrey is a senior lecturer of English at Northwestern University. The recipient of a Lambda Literary Award, among other honors, he is the author of, most recently, Good in Bed: A Life in Queer Sex, Politics, and Religion, and the editor of Inspired Journeys: Travel Writers in Search of the Muse. He has published three previous novels, including The Boom Economy.
Book I. The Sorrow of the Elves Chapter 1. Here Comes the Sun King Chapter 2. New Life Chapter 3. Patience Is a Virtue Chapter 4. The Sorrow of the Elves Chapter 5. A Hero's Welcome Chapter 6. A Hero's Quest Chapter 7. Always Darkest Before the Dawn Chapter 8. Slaying the Dragon Chapter 9. Our Hero at Rest Book II. The Truculence of the Dwarves Chapter 1. A Hero's Death Chapter 2. The Truculence of the Dwarves Chapter 3. His Name Is His Curse Chapter 4. His Name Is His Vow Chapter 5. His Name Is His Home Chapter 6. His Name Is His Tribe Chapter 7. His Name Is His Trothplight Chapter 8. His Name Is Mud Book III. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Sasquatch Chapter 1. Cryptozoology Chapter 2. The Lost Duchy of Free Sasquatch Chapter 3. In the Garden of the Bigfoot Suicides Chapter 4. The Founding of the Nation of New Sasquatch Chapter 5. Klonopin Eats Darkness but Time, Ever Always, Passes Chapter 6. Godboxer and the Invention of "Meanwhile" Chapter 7. The House That Bigfoot Built Book IV. The Twilight of the Fauns Chapter 1. Prelude to a Twilight After the Afternoon of a Faun Chapter 2. Twilight After the Afternoon of a Faun Chapter 3. The Actual Afternoon of a Faun Everybody Keeps Talking About Chapter 4. The Rummage Sale of a Faun Chapter 5. Twilight After the Rummage Sale of a Faun Book V. Sanctimony the Cat's New Fables for Now Chapter 1. The Chick, the Duck, and the Dog Chapter 2. The Cat and the Mouse Chapter 3. The Chicken and the Fonz Chapter 4. The Country Raven, the Town Raven, and the Drunk Cousin Raven Chapter 5. The Raven and the Hare Chapter 6. The Three Dogs Chapter 7. Chanticleer, the Farmer, and the Dog Chapter 8. The Dog Named Meow and the Dog Named Pork Chop Chapter 9. The Old Clam and the Sea Chapter 10. The Novelist and the Beaver Chapter 11. The Raven and the Eagle Acknowledgments
"Bouldrey's The Good Pornographer is the only drug you can smoke, snort, huff, drink, or otherwise consume without the least fear of being visited by the grim specter of death, the crushing menace of shame, or the Purgatorial ennui of rehab. Bouldrey has created here a high you'll never want to come down from, and, thankfully, you don't need to." - Andrew Farkas, author of The Great Indoorsman "Hilariously chaotic, with a wonderful panoply of characters. This novel combines the wild inventiveness of Infinite Jest, the brilliant characterizations of the meth-head Ratliffs in The Little Friend, and the sharp humor and sharper truths at the heart of the Patrick Melrose trilogy. Tumultuous and compulsively readable, with a big and bittersweet heart, it will soon join these books as one of the premier novels about addiction." - Naeem Murr, author of Every Exit Brings You Home "The Good Pornographer is showy and knowing, unexpectedly tender and hilariously rude, pinballing between tones, characters, and genres with a velocity that is thrillingly original."- Patrick McGinty, author of Town College City Road
