Synopses & Reviews
Leaning with Intent to Fall is the first literary book to emerge from bike-punk subculture. Author Ethan Clark who has passed the time riding bikes, drinking too much, getting chased by dogs, living in abandoned buildings, parading in unsanctioned street festivals and breaking into historical monuments celebrates this culture, expressed in moments of perfect, beautiful chaos.
Review
"Clark reminds me there's a brave new generation out there young people who are wise enough to turn their backs on prejudice, materialism and other deadly aspects of our culture; who still think it's important to see the world before settling into the life they've been told will make them happy." Susan Salter Reynolds, LA Times
Review
"It's a trip through the outlaw sensibility sometimes comic, sometimes nightmarish, filled with vicarious thrills and chills." Susan Larson, [New Orleans] Times-Picyaune
Review
"Ethan Clark is a punk rock treasure. His absorbing tales are wild and funny, told with deep honesty and sensitivity." Davy Rothbart, This American Life
Review
"Leaning With Intent To Fall is a unique blend of engaging humor and thought-provoking social commentary....Clark has that elusive ability to turn the mundane into poetry, without ever sounding trite or obvious."
Joani Delezen, The Independent Weekly
Review
"Ethan recounts a life on the fringes, filled with all the great punk pastimes: dodging cops, shoplifting, trespassing, drinking too much, and working crappy jobs that barely pay the rent on dilapidated houses filled with down-and-out roommates. But rather than succumbing to the jaded cynicism one might expect after an accumulation of years of discouraging predicaments and misadventure, Ethan somehow manages to find comedy in his precarious situations and retains a sense of optimism and hope in life's endless possibilities. Ethan puts it best himself when he says, 'Always look in the suitcase. Sure, it's probably just full of dead cats, but maybe, it'll be full of money and cocaine." Kyle Bravo, Editor of Making Stuff and Doing Things
About the Author
Ethan Clark was born in Mississippi on Sept. 22, 1980, two months before Reagan was elected president of the United States. During his childhood two films were made about the Klan within a mile of where he grew up. He got the hell out of there at age sixteen, pinball bounced around the country, then lived in New Orleans for about six years. He now spends his time in Asheville, NC. His writing and illustrations have appeared in Maximumrock'n'roll, Bike, Stories Care Forgot, The Zine Yearbook, Chainbreaker the Book (forthcoming), and Punk House: Anarchist Interiors by Abby Banks & edited by Thurston Moore.