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Lemur
Damnation and Salvation in the American Food Services Industry! Spencer Sproul is a would-be serial-killing bus boy who can't manage to murder, injure, or even scare anybody. He longs to follow in the footsteps of his heroes, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. Who wouldn't feel murderous working in a family style restaurant with an asshole boss, sadistic co-workers and Lemmy the Lemur as a mascot? But as hard as he tries he simply doesn't have a killer's instinct. However, there are ways to do damage to far more people and do it legally. Spencer learns that a family restaurant can be an instrument of torture, and quickly becomes a rising star in the food services industry. But before Spencer can take his seat of honor at the Merchant of the Month Award Banquet, he must bumble his way past a pederastic restaurant critic, a trash-talking sex worker, a cellulite-worshiping convenience store clerk, and a police force filled with homophobes, overeducated commies and greedy homicide detectives. It's an all-American success story!
- GenresBizarro Fiction
118 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Tom Bradley
49 books14 followerstombradley.org
Tom received his novelist's calling at the age of nineteen. He climbed into the moonlit mountains around his hometown, where he got an unambiguous vocation with physical symptoms and everything, just like Martin Luther in the electric storm. He fucked permanently off from America in 1985, moved to Red China, and has lurked around the left rim of the Pacific ever since, in a successful search for sinecures that steal virtually no time and absolutely no mental energy from his writing.
Energeticum / Phantasticum: a Profane Epyllion was released in 2017 by MadHat Press. The same company published a blank verse epic, fully illustrated, called Useful Despair as Taught to the Hemorrhaging Slave of an Obese Eunuch. Guernica Editions brought out another blank verse epic, Injuring Eternity: a Künstlerroman in Twenty-Six Cantos. Still another blank verse epic, called Nagasaki Soul Huffer: a Manhunt in Fifty-Five Cantos, was released by the great Swedish publisher-film studio, Trapart.
Tom has published thirty-six volumes of poetry, fiction, essays and screenplays with houses in England, Canada and the USA. Various of his novels have been nominated for the Editor’s Book Award, the New York University Bobst Prize, and the AWP Series. 3:AM Magazine in Paris gave him their Nonfiction Book of the Year Award in 2007 and 2009, and one of his latest graphic novels is excerpted in the &Now Award Anthology.
Tom's prose shares the legendary pages of London's AMBIT Magazine with J.G. Ballard and Ralph Steadman. His journalism and criticism have appeared in such publications as Salon.com, and are frequently featured in Arts & Letters Daily. Denis Dutton, editor of the site (“among the most influential media personalities in the world,” according to Time Magazine), wrote as follows:
“Tom Bradley is one of the most exasperating, offensive, pleasurable, and brilliant writers I know. I recommend his work to anyone with spiritual fortitude and a taste for something so strange that it might well be genius.”
HTMLGIANT says:
“Tom Bradley has long been known for repeatedly performing, at will, almost offhandedly, a task one would have thought impossible, perhaps magical, in these latter jaded days: the invention of new genres. Andrei Codrescu hailed his quasi-nonfiction opus Fission Among the Fanatics as ‘the first appearance of a genre so strange we are turning away from naming it...’ In the field of meta-scholarship, the late Carol Novack described his Epigonesia as ‘that rarity of rarities: a new genre, something like a superficially nonfictional Pale Fire, taking place in real time as the primary text alternately rides roughshod over, and is sapped and subverted by, the critical apparatus.’ More recently, in his books Family Romance and We’ll See Who Seduces Whom, Bradley has yanked new kinks into the synaesthetic art of ekphrasis. He ‘accepted the challenge posed by stacks of preexisting art’ and wrote a novel and an epic poem, respectively, around them...’”
Reviews and excerpts, a couple hours of recorded readings, plus links to Tom's essays in Salon.com and other such high-tone swanky magazines, are at tombradley.org
Tom received his novelist's calling at the age of nineteen. He climbed into the moonlit mountains around his hometown, where he got an unambiguous vocation with physical symptoms and everything, just like Martin Luther in the electric storm. He fucked permanently off from America in 1985, moved to Red China, and has lurked around the left rim of the Pacific ever since, in a successful search for sinecures that steal virtually no time and absolutely no mental energy from his writing.
Energeticum / Phantasticum: a Profane Epyllion was released in 2017 by MadHat Press. The same company published a blank verse epic, fully illustrated, called Useful Despair as Taught to the Hemorrhaging Slave of an Obese Eunuch. Guernica Editions brought out another blank verse epic, Injuring Eternity: a Künstlerroman in Twenty-Six Cantos. Still another blank verse epic, called Nagasaki Soul Huffer: a Manhunt in Fifty-Five Cantos, was released by the great Swedish publisher-film studio, Trapart.
Tom has published thirty-six volumes of poetry, fiction, essays and screenplays with houses in England, Canada and the USA. Various of his novels have been nominated for the Editor’s Book Award, the New York University Bobst Prize, and the AWP Series. 3:AM Magazine in Paris gave him their Nonfiction Book of the Year Award in 2007 and 2009, and one of his latest graphic novels is excerpted in the &Now Award Anthology.
Tom's prose shares the legendary pages of London's AMBIT Magazine with J.G. Ballard and Ralph Steadman. His journalism and criticism have appeared in such publications as Salon.com, and are frequently featured in Arts & Letters Daily. Denis Dutton, editor of the site (“among the most influential media personalities in the world,” according to Time Magazine), wrote as follows:
“Tom Bradley is one of the most exasperating, offensive, pleasurable, and brilliant writers I know. I recommend his work to anyone with spiritual fortitude and a taste for something so strange that it might well be genius.”
HTMLGIANT says:
“Tom Bradley has long been known for repeatedly performing, at will, almost offhandedly, a task one would have thought impossible, perhaps magical, in these latter jaded days: the invention of new genres. Andrei Codrescu hailed his quasi-nonfiction opus Fission Among the Fanatics as ‘the first appearance of a genre so strange we are turning away from naming it...’ In the field of meta-scholarship, the late Carol Novack described his Epigonesia as ‘that rarity of rarities: a new genre, something like a superficially nonfictional Pale Fire, taking place in real time as the primary text alternately rides roughshod over, and is sapped and subverted by, the critical apparatus.’ More recently, in his books Family Romance and We’ll See Who Seduces Whom, Bradley has yanked new kinks into the synaesthetic art of ekphrasis. He ‘accepted the challenge posed by stacks of preexisting art’ and wrote a novel and an epic poem, respectively, around them...’”
Reviews and excerpts, a couple hours of recorded readings, plus links to Tom's essays in Salon.com and other such high-tone swanky magazines, are at tombradley.org
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 16, 2011
Lemuel's Family Restaurant's loser bus boy Spencer Sproul longs to be a serial killer like his heroes but just doesn't have the aptitude for it, until he determines that he can use the restaurant itself to torture his victims...
When I saw the demented drawing of Lemmy the Lemur on the cover, I knew I had to read this book. Not only did Tom Bradley make me care about a loser sociopath like Spencer Sproul, he gave me a few laughs along the way.
The main attractions of this story to me were the setting and the characters. Spencer's job as a bus boy made me reflect fondly on my day as a dishwasher... when I quit after one shift! Spencer's lack of skill at serial killing was hilarious. Having a hooker come over and not clubbing her with a potato masher as she looks at your favorite serial killer book? Breaking into a house with murder on your mind and getting distracted by the book about serial killers your victim fell asleep reading? Priceless! Spencer being completely inept at chit-chat really made the story for me.
The supporting cast was good as well; Spencer's would-be apprentice Spud, Raleigh Standish, Detective Furtwangler, Spencer's co-workers, they were all pretty well done. I even like the lady cop, the fat cop, and the reading cop as a team. The hellish restaurant setting, and even Spencer, to an extent, reminded me of James Steele's Felix and the Sacred Thor quite a bit.
Any gripes? It was way too short. It's 118 pages and the type was pretty big. Other than that, it was a very enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.
When I saw the demented drawing of Lemmy the Lemur on the cover, I knew I had to read this book. Not only did Tom Bradley make me care about a loser sociopath like Spencer Sproul, he gave me a few laughs along the way.
The main attractions of this story to me were the setting and the characters. Spencer's job as a bus boy made me reflect fondly on my day as a dishwasher... when I quit after one shift! Spencer's lack of skill at serial killing was hilarious. Having a hooker come over and not clubbing her with a potato masher as she looks at your favorite serial killer book? Breaking into a house with murder on your mind and getting distracted by the book about serial killers your victim fell asleep reading? Priceless! Spencer being completely inept at chit-chat really made the story for me.
The supporting cast was good as well; Spencer's would-be apprentice Spud, Raleigh Standish, Detective Furtwangler, Spencer's co-workers, they were all pretty well done. I even like the lady cop, the fat cop, and the reading cop as a team. The hellish restaurant setting, and even Spencer, to an extent, reminded me of James Steele's Felix and the Sacred Thor quite a bit.
Any gripes? It was way too short. It's 118 pages and the type was pretty big. Other than that, it was a very enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.
May 11, 2008
In LEMUR, Tom Bradley applies an expansive sense of language and razor sharp social criticism to a slim volume about Spencer Sproul, busboy at present, serial killer aspirant. Supremely mean spirited in tone (not a bad thing), Spencer is probably the most well-adjusted character in the book. While working his hideous job at Lemuel's Family Restaurant, dealing with a form of "oral dyslexia," and fantasizing about all the superstar serial killers of the past, Spencer manages to come to the aid of his manager and climb the ranks of the family restaurant ladder. Using Spencer as the main character, Bradley examines the nature of murder, always the basis for a raucous comedy. Along with murder, Bradley probes the conscience of humans, specifically, it seems, Americans. American society is one that condemns and glorifies serial killers--they are modern antichrists, spread across tabloids, the television, and books. The message is clear: Murder Is Wrong/Murder Can Make You Rich and Famous. But serial killers are just a shiny poster spread over a hole in a wall. If one ventures into that hole and starts asking questions, murder arises in a multitude of forms. What kinds of things are we encouraged to put into our bodies? Are the corporations who smile as they continue to shovel this stuff down our throats murderers? What about war? Are we really freethinking individuals who design our own reality or is that reality designed for us by the very same people who tell us we are freethinking individuals who design our own reality? Confusing? Read LEMUR and it will make sense.
But this isn't a preachy book. It is a comedy, a comedy with an overtly black heart but an underlying message of understanding, one that Nabokov (and probably Vonnegut) would have been proud of. It is about class war and social struggles and how, really, depending on your perspective, everything seems different to everyone. The reader walks away from this book feeling as though their direst thoughts have been fully validated.
But this isn't a preachy book. It is a comedy, a comedy with an overtly black heart but an underlying message of understanding, one that Nabokov (and probably Vonnegut) would have been proud of. It is about class war and social struggles and how, really, depending on your perspective, everything seems different to everyone. The reader walks away from this book feeling as though their direst thoughts have been fully validated.
May 14, 2008
LEMUR is a bizarre journey into fast-food hell with a serial killer wannabe named Spencer.
First, I’ll say that if you are looking for a weird, fast-paced satire with crazy “mental-patient” dialogue, you should buy this book.
When I started reading, LEMUR reminded me of one of those independent movies in which the main setting is banal (in this case, a fast food restaurant) but the characters talk in unrealistic and exaggerated ways. That’s neither a positive nor a negative statement. However, usually when I start watching one of those movies, I turn it off.
Luckily, Tom Bradley’s prose is so well-written, so smooth and clever that it overshadows any problem that I personally have with the dialogue. This book is in the Bizarro genre so it’s not a shock that the characters speak in weird/funny/unrealistic ways. It isn’t that Bradley can’t write realistic dialogue but rather that he chose not to for the sake of this story. By the end of the book, however, the dialogue seemed less awkward and I was fully immersed in the story.
I fear that this is starting to sound like a bad review. It’s not. Bradley is a talented writer who satirically explores many social issues in LEMUR. Consumerism, murder, corporations, communism, the food-service industry, bad Anthony Hopkins impressions. All are fodder for Bradley’s sharp wit.
Bradley ventures into Vonnegut territory (though maybe not as deftly in the dialogue department). Overall, that’s my impression of LEMUR: a more obscene version of a Vonnegut novel but with enough originality to not make it a rehash of old ideas. There are some laugh-out-loud parts in there, too.
Personally, as far as Bizarro fiction is concerned, I much prefer the style of Carlton Mellick III. However, that isn’t meant as an insult to Bradley and his work. LEMUR will no doubt please most bizarro readers as well as those who have never read a "bizarro" book before.
First, I’ll say that if you are looking for a weird, fast-paced satire with crazy “mental-patient” dialogue, you should buy this book.
When I started reading, LEMUR reminded me of one of those independent movies in which the main setting is banal (in this case, a fast food restaurant) but the characters talk in unrealistic and exaggerated ways. That’s neither a positive nor a negative statement. However, usually when I start watching one of those movies, I turn it off.
Luckily, Tom Bradley’s prose is so well-written, so smooth and clever that it overshadows any problem that I personally have with the dialogue. This book is in the Bizarro genre so it’s not a shock that the characters speak in weird/funny/unrealistic ways. It isn’t that Bradley can’t write realistic dialogue but rather that he chose not to for the sake of this story. By the end of the book, however, the dialogue seemed less awkward and I was fully immersed in the story.
I fear that this is starting to sound like a bad review. It’s not. Bradley is a talented writer who satirically explores many social issues in LEMUR. Consumerism, murder, corporations, communism, the food-service industry, bad Anthony Hopkins impressions. All are fodder for Bradley’s sharp wit.
Bradley ventures into Vonnegut territory (though maybe not as deftly in the dialogue department). Overall, that’s my impression of LEMUR: a more obscene version of a Vonnegut novel but with enough originality to not make it a rehash of old ideas. There are some laugh-out-loud parts in there, too.
Personally, as far as Bizarro fiction is concerned, I much prefer the style of Carlton Mellick III. However, that isn’t meant as an insult to Bradley and his work. LEMUR will no doubt please most bizarro readers as well as those who have never read a "bizarro" book before.
November 14, 2008
“Spencer wanders past various deserted sections of the library, marked LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, and HISTORY. Eventually he comes to the Business shelves, the only ones that have any visitors.” Yes indeed. Spencer Sproul lives in a world where money and power mean everything. He lacks both, of course, and he’s too broken down to lash out like his serial killer idols. But this is America, folks. The land of opportunity, where the abused can become the abuser. In Lemur, Tom Bradley writes about the American Dream. This is a funny, twisted book filled with funny, twisted characters. His prose is as addictive as MSG, and the only side effect is the feeling of being smacked across the brain, and liking it.
January 23, 2009
Tom Bradley has had several novels published with a few having been nominated for awards from institutions such as New York University and the AWP award series. In his first novel for Raw Dog Screaming Press, he demonstrates his talent for combining satire and horror that has won him so much attention.
Lemur is the story of Spencer Sproul, just another American male obsessed with serial killers. He works a dead end job as a busboy (or "bus-bitch" as his coworkers call him) and spends his time fantasizing of following in his heroes' footsteps. But after a few attempts, he realizes he just does not have what it takes to be a killer. His job at Lemuel's Family Restaurant, however, presents him with an opportunity to torment his fellow man while climbing the corporate ladder at the same time. Who would have thought torture and food service would have so much in common?
Bradley's smooth prose keeps the books flowing nicely. At no point will the reader be bored as the story's world is populated with bizarre characters that have even stranger schemes. Bradley is so interested in his characters that it can take the reader some time to catch up to the story's events. There is a lot going on in the book's one-hundred-and-eighteen pages and a few more pages to the story could have made it a bit easier to follow.
Tom Bradley demonstrates that he has an eye for the nature absurdities in the every-day world, and with Spencer Sproul he aims to expose the inhumanities of the modern work environment. Not out of place sitting on a shelf next to Palahnuik or Vonnegut, Lemur is a fun and thoughtful book for fans of dark humor and social satire.
Lemur is the story of Spencer Sproul, just another American male obsessed with serial killers. He works a dead end job as a busboy (or "bus-bitch" as his coworkers call him) and spends his time fantasizing of following in his heroes' footsteps. But after a few attempts, he realizes he just does not have what it takes to be a killer. His job at Lemuel's Family Restaurant, however, presents him with an opportunity to torment his fellow man while climbing the corporate ladder at the same time. Who would have thought torture and food service would have so much in common?
Bradley's smooth prose keeps the books flowing nicely. At no point will the reader be bored as the story's world is populated with bizarre characters that have even stranger schemes. Bradley is so interested in his characters that it can take the reader some time to catch up to the story's events. There is a lot going on in the book's one-hundred-and-eighteen pages and a few more pages to the story could have made it a bit easier to follow.
Tom Bradley demonstrates that he has an eye for the nature absurdities in the every-day world, and with Spencer Sproul he aims to expose the inhumanities of the modern work environment. Not out of place sitting on a shelf next to Palahnuik or Vonnegut, Lemur is a fun and thoughtful book for fans of dark humor and social satire.
July 24, 2014
Bradley's Characters are enjoyable people. Spencer the would be serial killer, just does not have the guts to spill some. Reads all about his idols; Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, etc. He works in a dinner as a bus boy.
Overall I like the authors character development, but the plot was missing something or maybe it needed more. I have to point out that the cover artwork is great will look awesome on my book shelves.
Overall I like the authors character development, but the plot was missing something or maybe it needed more. I have to point out that the cover artwork is great will look awesome on my book shelves.
January 8, 2014
A great satire of consumerism,excess and the lengths to which our mediatized culture push us. Also, just a fun, quirky serial-killer spoof.
January 21, 2011
With Tom Bradley, counterculture tastes good again.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews