Thursday, February 26, 2015

Ten top fictional troublemakers

Matt Sumell's new book is Making Nice.

One of the author's top ten fictional troublemakers, as shared at the Guardian:
Bobby Allen Bird in Saguaro by Carson Mell

One day, down in New Orleans, I ended up at the apartment of one of my sister’s yogi friends where – in an idiotic attempt to bed her – I beelined straight for her bookshelf and ridiculed things I’d only half read. She eventually got tired of listening to me, grabbed a book off the bottom shelf, and said something like, “You probably haven’t read this – it’s self-published – but you might like it.” Self-published? I thought. This should be good. Thing is, it’s better-than-good. Way better, and from the very first sentence: “When I was twelve years old I was best friends with a baby.” Fun, fast and voice-driven, Saguaro chronicles the life of rock legend Bobby Allen Bird as he recounts his struggles with barbiturates, dangerous women, fist fights with Bob Dylan, a cruise for satanists and a comeback, often while wearing his favorite colour: pink. If you like your troublemakers to be of the expectation-confounding variety, Bobby Bird’s your man. As for that yogi girl, she didn’t sleep with me, but as consolation I got to keep the book. Putting that in the win column.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue