XL

by Michael Atchison

When David Hankins goes to college in the mid-1980s he puts aside his boyhood rock and roll dreams to pursue a career in advertising, at least until he meets Carrie, who persuades him to form a band that he calls XL. After XL's bass player flunks out of school, David recruits Carrie's aimless but talented brother Rick to join the band. But just when XL is on the verge of something big, Rick stages a mutiny, forces David out, and goes on to rock stardom. After David marries Carrie, Rick's success serves as an ever-present reminder of the dream that didn't come true. With help from a charismatic (and enormous) soul singer, a wise elderly lawyer, and a Beatles-obsessed friend with personal damage of his own, David strives to find peace in the shadow of the brother-in-law whose success haunts him.


Part prolonged existential crisis, part rock and roll fantasy, and similar in tone to Nick Hornby's work, XL is a wry and funny male confessional that ultimately reads like a love letter from a man to his wife and kids.

ebook

First published November 23, 2012

About the author

Michael Atchison is the author of the novels Mellow Submarine and XL and the book True Sons: A Century of Missouri Tigers Basketball. His writing on collegiate sports and popular culture has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and The Providence Phoenix, among other publications.

During his previous career practicing law, Michael helped earn freedom for a man wrongly convicted of murder, aided basketball coaches who ran afoul of NCAA rules, and once stood in his office, stripped to the waist, and swapped clothes with veteran rocker Sammy Hagar. The other ninety-nine percent of the time he did things that some might think tedious.

Michael lives in Parkville, Missouri with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Rob James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Atchison proves to be a great storyteller, maybe even a poor man's Michael Chabon, in this tale of David Hankins, a young man with rock 'n roll dreams. With settings that will prove familiar to those acquainted with Columbia, Missouri and Missouri University, XL gives the reader a sympathetic protagonist with dreams the reader wants him to fulfill. I am looking forward to Mellow Submarine, the author's newest novel.