hope and shovels

US! Chris Bachelder 2006 Early in Chris Bachelder’s latest novel, US!, the often-resurrected Upton Sinclair tells his reluctant secretary-cum-protector of an early job writing for the funny pages: “I will tell you the secret of joke writing,” he said. “Jokes are made up hind end forward, so to speak.” Beginning with a subject—the great Socialist [...]

jaws and smokey fistfight in heaven

Bear V Shark Chris Bachelder 2001 Found: Original Soho Bookstore   Best read twice, BvS is a pre-9/11 book unfortunate enough to be released in October 2001. Drawing heavily, and (of course) post-modernly self-consciously, on Neil Postman, Henry David Thoreau, Guy Debord, and even a little Lacanian-influence Zizek, this novel twists from comic to tragic [...]