Böcker av Corey Michael Smithson

"The Nova In The Attic" is a queer ghost story, one hundred years in the telling, that describes the enduring remnants of love after death. Set at first in a fin de siècle brothel and later in an elegantly appointed pharmacy, "Nova" depicts the intertwined lives of an immigrant abortionist, a wise procuress, a drug-addled historian, a glamorous "Fixer", an incandescently brilliant Vaudevillian, and a crass young artist. Traveling through three generations and dozens of vivid characters, the novel reveals within its magic knots a tale of romance, horror, talent, and the unpredictable movements of fortune.

In this engaging memoir, a homeless American artist flees New York to backpack alone across India. Armed with a wry sense of humor and a boundless curiosity, he crisscrosses a dazzling, fragile, and complicated country. Travel with him as he wanders from the thrilling chaos of Mumbai to the burning ghats of Varanasi, from the monkey-ridden temples of Jaipur to the colorful slums of Kolkata, from the surreal dreamscapes of Hampi to the serene shores of Goa. Joyous, wistful, heartbreaking, and full of surprises, "Lost Among The Marigolds" describes an unforgettable journey, an amazing landscape, and the marvelous complexities of the human condition.

An unusual and thrilling adventure story, set within a self-contained universe of competing cultures and dangerous magic, "Young Pim and the Goblins" explores the unexpected consequences of freedom, through the eyes of a runaway on the cusp of adulthood. The world of "Young Pim" is balanced between three ancient Great Houses, a semi-industrialized human town, and an underground society of misunderstood creatures. Sold at birth into slavery and raised by sadistic overseers, an adolescent boy named Young Pim narrowly escapes from the horrors of Old Buttertub, a training school for ritual concubines, only to find himself lost in an unfamiliar and menacing landscape. He is captured by the Goblins, an aggregate civilization of monsters and warriors, and he is introduced into their complex social networks. During his time among the various clans and species, he learns to overcome superstition with curiosity, prejudice with love, and fear with valor. But in liberating himself, Pim has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that will eventually lead to the destruction of the Goblins' way of life, and the rise of an oppressive human religion. "Young Pim and the Goblins" is aimed at a target audience of curious, imaginative readers who enjoy provocative and challenging fantasy.

"RELISHED VICES" is an unorthodox self-portrait, a collection of essays describing a few transitional years in the life of a queer American artist. Struggling to come to terms with his alcoholism, loneliness, and depression, he attempts to undergo a period of total sobriety, only to encounter a far more sobering dose of reality than he bargained for. Burning with a newfound vitality, he roams at will, wrestles with insidious demons, gleefully eviscerates pop culture, reaffirms his purpose, and falls in love with the world all over again. "RELISHED VICES" fearlessly takes on booze, drugs, sex, Baroque art, gay porn, corny musicals, drag, gender, suicide, New York City, Vaudeville, divinity, romance, recovery, and the surprising resilience of the human spirit.

While working in a Kansas City car factory, a nomadic American artist decides, at the age of 42, that he's finally ready to learn how to drive. The following spring, he purchases his first vehicle, a dilapidated soccer-mom minivan that he nicknames "Pamela". Over the next six years, he and Pamela travel over 99,700 miles together ... getting lost, breaking down, blowing tires, taking on grueling jobs, chasing storms, skirting disaster, witnessing scenes of astonishing beauty, and discovering the grace of the open road. These essays on work, wanderlust, and the spirit of discovery are a testament to the glory hidden within everyday life, a love letter to a magic automobile, and a document of a transformative era.