Forthcoming Book Titles

Forthcoming titles to be published by Atticus Books in 2010:

OCTOBER 2010
Fight for Your Long Day by Alex Kudera

FIGHT FOR YOUR LONG DAY is a day-in-the-life tragicomedy that follows the eventful unraveling of Cyrus Duffleman, a portly, down-and-out educator who teaches classes at four urban universities and works the night shift, all so he could barely stay afloat in an increasingly “efficient” service economy.

This dark satire, set in the modern, super-information age of “terror squared,” embodies the American-made irony of being an overworked, overwrought and marginalized citizen in a once-wealthy and industrious country.

Watermark plot points twist and turn as students protest, get laid, practice murder, and commit suicide, while “Duff,” the novel’s lovable loser, trudges along from pillar to post with his overstuffed book bag and perversely cynical thoughts.

“Villains” run amok and feature corrupt college CEOs, stapler-wielding zealots, bow & arrow assassins, inner demons, and the inimitable antihero Duff contending gracelessly with his own three feet.

Well-hatched scenes and dazzling imagery make this material prime for film adaptation as a droll comedy. Think A Confederacy of Dunces meets Richard Russo’s Straight Man.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Kudera has survived a decade of adjunct-teaching overloads but in some circles is better known for his mysterious injuries. He has bussed dishes and tutored English in two countries and fondly recalls writing in museums, parks, and zoos on several continents. A lifelong Philadelphian until fall 2007, Alex currently teaches literature and writing at Clemson University in South Carolina. Fight for Your Long Day is his first published novel, but he has promised several more.

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NOVEMBER 2010
Daring to Eat a Peach by Joseph Zeppetello

DARING TO EAT A PEACH is a reverberating multiple character-study of a novel that shines a soft light on the situations in which people find themselves, and humbly asks the eternal question of poets, philosophers and lay people alike: “How did I get here?” A finely tuned allegory of modern romance, it elegantly illustrates themes of love, loss and redemption in a shifting, interconnected world.

In spare, tightly written prose, Joseph Zeppetello’s book sparkles from his economic use of language and speaks volumes about human nature with concise dialogue that reads effortlessly.

The author’s first novel gradually unveils each major character’s motivations while blending their rich past with their tilted present. The work illuminates the struggles that everyone faces to make the right choices in life. Even when they’re steered wrong.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph Zeppetello is the Director of Writing at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is the author of short stories published in the Iron Horse Literary Review (Texas Tech University), The Little Magazine, and Copper Nickel: A Journal of Art and Literature, published by the students and faculty at the University of Colorado. He received his cross-disciplinary DA degree in Composition Studies and Philosophy from the State University of New York at Albany.

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DECEMBER 2010
The Absent Traveler: A Novella & Other Stories by Randall DeVallance

THE ABSENT TRAVELER is the story of Charles Lime, a 20-something, 24-hour-a-day escapist, who has little drive, less money and few prospects. Charles spends much of his mundane hours working at a local electronics store, ringing up customers at the cash register and getting into trouble with his boss and co-workers.

During his waking hours, Charles mostly tries to avoid personal encounters and wanders the drab city streets of Western Pennsylvania in a dream-like, entranced state. In the evening, when he enters that place where no one can touch him, Charles is transformed through the power of fantasy.

Charles religiously reads travel stories, alone in his small boarding room, seeking shelter from his hateful father and his lush of a landlady. Charles invariably succumbs to his nightly habit of reading as if possessed by the addictive charms of an illicit drug. Once he drifts off, he enters an alter life filled with vaguely familiar surroundings and careless adventures in a land far away from his dull, small-town existence.

A mixed-up heart and a distracted mind cause Charles to lose all sense of responsibility — and his increasingly odd behavior and unconscious actions set him on a path of self-destruction. Facing a possible eviction from his basement apartment, Charles ignores the obvious truth — his life is in tatters, and instead retreats to the place he knows best: the safety of his books, where he is free to let his imagination carry him to distant lands.

Reality, or what may pass for it, matters little to Charles who grows to find solace in permanent escape. Whether he can find his way back to the only place he has ever known becomes an altogether different matter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Randall DeVallance is the author of the short novel, Dive (2004), and the short-story collection, Sketches of Invalids (2007). His stories have appeared in several anthologies and more than 30 print and online publications including McSweeney’s, Pindeldyboz, Eyeshot, Vestal Review, and Word Riot. He lives in New York City.