I recently started William Browning Spencer's Résumé with Monsters and I figure I'll finish it soon. It's not long, and perversely fun.
The Old Gods of H.P. Lovecraft have their part to play in it. But here's another thing. The protagonist is named "Philip Kenan", which made me think right away of Philip Kindred Dick. And the book has the feel of his work as well. Bleak hallucination bleeds into bleak reality.
There could be some Raymond Carver influence as well. Or at any rate someone who's practiced the art of writing about shit jobs.
The Old Gods of H.P. Lovecraft have their part to play in it. But here's another thing. The protagonist is named "Philip Kenan", which made me think right away of Philip Kindred Dick. And the book has the feel of his work as well. Bleak hallucination bleeds into bleak reality.
There could be some Raymond Carver influence as well. Or at any rate someone who's practiced the art of writing about shit jobs.
2 comments:
while it didn't work quite as well for me the second time around, i still found lots to admire. spencer does indeed come off as a kinder, gentler p.k. dick, which, while interesting, unfortunately works against him (especially afa the slapstick type stuff goes) as often as it does for him. anyway, thought you'd enjoy it :) ...
I did enjoy it. Spencer delivered a happier ending than Dick was comfortable writing. It wasn't a predictable kind of happy ending, though, which I give him props for. (Marrying your obsessed fan probably doesn't work out so well in real life, though.)
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