Ferment

by Chris Minnick

Author Chris Minnick exposes the gritty events and strange characters that inhabit a small traveling circus in his new novel, FERMENT. Set in the recent past, the book provides a glimpse of what life might be like in the final days of a once-great institution of American entertainment. FERMENT bounces between past and present and between the ordinary and the extraordinary with playful and deceivingly simple language. The mysteries of the circus bubble up throughout the story's twists and turns as the reader is drawn into a troubled world of people, institutions, and morals on the edge of collapse.

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 13, 2017

About the author

Chris Minnick is a prolific published author of both fiction and non-fiction.

In his non-fiction writing, Minnick specializes in finding unique and engaging ways to incorporate stories and fun into teaching beginners and kids highly technical skills such as computer programming.

In his fiction writing, his style might be best described as absurdist bizarro fictional history. He published his first novel, Pickled Punk, in 2019. His second novel, Music For Losers, will be released in 2023.

In addition to his writing, Chris is an enthusiastic amateur at something new every day.

Reviews

[Mari LivTollefsonCarlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ferment is a verb not a noun. This is about a process, not a product. The story begins as two strands, one from the past and one in the present. In the past, Mike helps out at the circus, little brother to a beloved clown and taken in by the party-animal dwarfs. In the present he’s a recently unemployed heavy drinker chased by Rita and her gang. These two threads come together like sugar and yeast, bubbling and reacting and reaching a point of either scrumptiousness or waste, depending on your tastes. Either way, you’ll enjoy the dramatic progression. Minnick writes with a simplicity and sparsity ironically befitting the big ideas behind his words. He may be describing circus antics but when is the circus ever just the circus? It’s a metaphor, an alternative universe that allows us to escape our normal routine. But it also comments on that normal routine, and perhaps we need a stiff drink, or several, to hear what it has to say to us. What do drinks and the circus have in common? They’re both fermented. They both transport us to where we’re more ourselves than we ever thought we could be. Let Chris Minnick take you there. He’s a great bartender, and ringleader, even though he’s never been to the circus!