Great Days

"The story of a troubled young cult member, this debut novel from poet Brown is a carefully-imagined tale of delusion and disillusion. After one too many LSD trips, Berkeley student August signs up as a True Mind Heart Center initiate. Under the guidance of a man known as Papa, August grows increasingly involved, training the center's latest recruits ('NewFaces'), serving as Papa's spokesperson and understudy, and falling more deeply into the dogma's swampy logic. Though he finds refuge in Papa's authority and routine, the line between lies and 'Truth' become blurry, especially after August witnesses an ominous beetle infestation, the wedding of a child bride and the abusive 'redirection' of a disciple. August's ingestion of cult doctrine is convincingly detailed, as is his eventual abandonment of it; after a cataclysmic psychic break, August flees the Center and begins putting as many miles as he can between himself and True Mind Heart. Unfortunately, he finds it hard to shake the Center's tremendous hold on him. Grappling anew, August has to make sense of his own desires and chart a path back to the real world. With lyrical, confident prose, Brown makes August's dark journey a harrowing, convincing look into the heart of cult life that should linger with readers." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Eli Brown lives and writes in Oakland, California. He holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Mills College and his poetry has appeared in the Cortland Review and Homewrecker: An Adultery Reader. This is his first novel.