A01=Brian Bouldrey
addiction
alcohol
Author_Brian Bouldrey
Category=FB
Category=FBA
disappearance
dragons
drugs
elves
eq_bestseller
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
fantasy
fiction
goofballs
hedonists
humor
mansion
metafiction
novel
opioids
outcasts
recovery
sci-fi
SFF
sobriety
sorcery
strippers
tricksters
Product details
- ISBN 9780299355845
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 17 Mar 2026
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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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at age nine; Jackal, newly sober and in touch with his emotions for the first time; and Wolf, Walace’s socially withdrawn twin brother and reluctant doppelgÄnger.
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.
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at age nine; Jackal, newly sober and in touch with his emotions for the first time; and Wolf, Walace’s socially withdrawn twin brother and reluctant doppelgÄnger.
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.
