Walace Weiss, a famous fantasy novelist struggling with drug addiction, sets himself on a twofold quest: to finish his first book in more than a decade and, like the immortal elves of his stories, to try to remember what, in his long life, he should not have forgotten. While many have come to view Walace as a bad influence on children, literature, and himself, his impact sweeps across worlds both fantastic and real, leading to his establishing a new kingdom in his neglected McMansion, Summerheim. The result is a mock-epic in rehabilitation, starring such friends and enemies as Cal, Walace’s dealer and private jester; Dragon, a porn star turned guidance counselor; Epiphany, a lunch lady and stripper in recovery; her son, Tuffy, planning everyone’s funerals at age nine; Jackal, newly sober and in touch with his emotions for the first time; and Wolf, Walace’s socially withdrawn twin brother and reluctant doppelgÄnger. Brian Bouldrey piles on the laughs and absurdity alongside dollops of humanity. With brilliant recklessness, he praises and pokes fun at genres, conventions, fandoms, and critics, offering a Deadpool-like exploration of an upside-down world filled with epic quests, epic mistakes, and epic characters.
