Synopses & Reviews
With the literary muscle of Victor LaValle's
Big Machine and the outlandish humor of Kevin Smith's
Dogma, this debut reveals the dark underbelly of the NY literary scene.
At thirty, Billy Ridgeway still hasn't gotten around to becoming a writer; he thinks too much to get anything done, really, except making sandwiches at a Greek deli with his buddy Anil. But the Devil shows up with fancy coffee one morning, promising to make Billy's dream of being published come true: as long as Billy steals The Neko of Infinite Equilibrium, a cat-shaped statue with magical powers, from the most powerful warlock in the Eastern United States.
The Devil's bidding sends Billy on a wild chase through New York City, through which Billy discovers his own strength, harnessing his powers as a hell-wolf and finally fighting the warlock face-to-face. God even makes a guest appearance, and He's not who you thought He was.
Bushnell's stunningly imaginative debut is about finding meaning in life, confronting your biggest critics, and discovering that a boring life might be the best life of all.
Synopsis
"This book is wild. And smart. And hilarious. And weird ... in all kinds of good ways. Prepare to be weirded out. And to enjoy it."
--Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
What do you do when you wake up hung over and late for work only to find a stranger on your couch? And what if that stranger turns out to be an Adversarial Manifestation--like Satan, say--who has brewed you a fresh cup of fair-trade coffee? And what if he offers you your life's goal of making the bestseller list if only you find his missing Lucky Cat and, you know, sign over your soul?
If you're Billy Ridgeway, you take the coffee.
Synopsis
An "utterly charming, silly, and heartily entertaining" literary urban fantasy about a floundering aspiring writer who makes a deal with the Devil (Boston Globe) What do you do when you wake up hung over and late for work only to find a stranger on your couch? And what if that stranger turns out to be an Adversarial Manifestation--like Satan, say--who has brewed you a fresh cup of fair-trade coffee? And what if he offers you your life's goal of making the bestseller list if only you find his missing Lucky Cat and, you know, sign over your soul?
If you're Billy Ridgeway, you take the coffee.
Synopsis
Literary fiction meets the otherworldly in this "wonderfully weird and entertaining" urban fantasy for Millennial fans of Victor LaValle (Esquire). "An utterly charming, silly, and heartily entertaining coming-of-age story about a man-boy who learns to believe in himself by reckoning with evil
." --Boston Globe What do you do when you wake up hung over and late for work only to find a stranger on your couch? And what if that stranger turns out to be an Adversarial Manifestation--like Satan, say--who has brewed you a fresh cup of fair-trade coffee? And what if he offers you your life's goal of making the bestseller list if only you find his missing Lucky Cat and, you know, sign over your soul?
If you're Billy Ridgeway, you take the coffee.
About the Author
Jeremy Bushnell is a professor at Boston University, specializing in courses in literature and video games. He is the fiction editor for Longform.com, and is also the lead developer of Inevitable, a tabletop game released by Dystopian Holdings. He lives in Boston. This is his first novel.