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Quake City
Andre met his best friend Amy on a night like tonight. The way Amy tells it she had to stop him from climbing over the bar at Aunty Bob’s to punch the bartender, though if you ask Andre he’ll say, “What? That never happened. I don’t even know what you’re saying to me right now.”
Now Amy is worryingly missing in action, and Andre goes to Aunty Bob’s on a quest to find her. No sooner does he walk in with his depressingly heterosexual date than his best hat is spirited away by a lesbian in the throes of breaking up with her girlfriend. She in turn has it stolen from her when she starts a fight with two twinks at the bar. The hat makes its way around Aunty Bob’s from one head to another, giving glimpses into the dozens of stories playing out at the same time, unaware of each other but colliding in catastrophic ways. Can Andre find Amy before this party devolves into a nightmare of broken hearts, malevolent drag queens, and spontaneous human combustion? Or has it always happened this way, every night, at Aunty Bob’s Quake City Club?
Now Amy is worryingly missing in action, and Andre goes to Aunty Bob’s on a quest to find her. No sooner does he walk in with his depressingly heterosexual date than his best hat is spirited away by a lesbian in the throes of breaking up with her girlfriend. She in turn has it stolen from her when she starts a fight with two twinks at the bar. The hat makes its way around Aunty Bob’s from one head to another, giving glimpses into the dozens of stories playing out at the same time, unaware of each other but colliding in catastrophic ways. Can Andre find Amy before this party devolves into a nightmare of broken hearts, malevolent drag queens, and spontaneous human combustion? Or has it always happened this way, every night, at Aunty Bob’s Quake City Club?
242 pages, Paperback
Published August 11, 2020
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
St. John Karp
6 books32 followersI am a writer, historian, and ornamental hermit. I enjoy living close to things so I can not go to them, and I spend my time pining for my old age when I can shout at kids to get off my lawn.
I love books that are bizarre and exciting and ridiculous. There's something so liberating about a book that makes you want to run up to the nearest person and describe the amazing thoughts that have just been put in your head. I love the authors so much who've done that for me, and the most I can hope for is to do that for someone else.
If I could travel back in time to any point in history, it would be the 1920s. The first question I'd ask is for directions to the nearest speakeasy.
I love books that are bizarre and exciting and ridiculous. There's something so liberating about a book that makes you want to run up to the nearest person and describe the amazing thoughts that have just been put in your head. I love the authors so much who've done that for me, and the most I can hope for is to do that for someone else.
If I could travel back in time to any point in history, it would be the 1920s. The first question I'd ask is for directions to the nearest speakeasy.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 26, 2020
If you want a book that is so funny that it will make you cack your smoothie out your nostrils, this tome is your ticket. But there are some caveats; It will smooth your path a great deal if you have a dark, twisted . . . hell, just plain sick, sense of humor. This read is diseased, catty, scatological, profane, weird and politically incorrect. There is a magical tarantula named George, Time Travel and the strangest cocktail since the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
Feature this; William Burroughs meets Monty Python meets Beach Blanket Babylon . . . if those references mean little or nothing to you, take this book, throw it and then run the other way. Otherwise, buckle up for a bumpy night.
A few excellent quotes to prime your carbeuretor:
. . . I’m as useful as a condom machine in the Vatican. page 161 Lucien
“Here,” he says, jamming the hat on my head. “Take this. It’s cheap and ugly, like you.” page 77 Benny
and finally:
. . . he might actually have a point about being a brain surgeon. I can see those precise movements coming in handy. You don’t want the man in the white coat getting twitchy when he’s wrist-deep in your cerebral cortex. page 44 Will
If you’ve gotten this far, read Quake City.
Feature this; William Burroughs meets Monty Python meets Beach Blanket Babylon . . . if those references mean little or nothing to you, take this book, throw it and then run the other way. Otherwise, buckle up for a bumpy night.
A few excellent quotes to prime your carbeuretor:
. . . I’m as useful as a condom machine in the Vatican. page 161 Lucien
“Here,” he says, jamming the hat on my head. “Take this. It’s cheap and ugly, like you.” page 77 Benny
and finally:
. . . he might actually have a point about being a brain surgeon. I can see those precise movements coming in handy. You don’t want the man in the white coat getting twitchy when he’s wrist-deep in your cerebral cortex. page 44 Will
If you’ve gotten this far, read Quake City.
January 16, 2021
On the surface, it's a book featuring fiendishly clever barbs between characters in a gay club that has the absurdity knob gently twiddled up to the "Cronenberg" setting towards the climax. It has a clever narrative driving device and an array of characters who sometimes get washed out in the mix. Deeper down, it is clear that this book is a mix of "Love Letter" and a giant "F**k You" to San Francisco. Having visited the city myself (but never lived in it), I identified with the author's take on the city's archetypes in a manner that betrays a similarly outsider-ish kindred spirit to me. From the half-dressed furries, the tiresome property price commenters and the dreary pretentious art critics. This book is what I *wish* the TV series "Looking" was. It's a fun, very surreal, and at times affectionate jab-in-the-eye at the LGBT scene in San Francisco.
August 4, 2020
I recived an ARC of this tittle from NetGalley for a honest review.
I like it a little bit, but the problem was that it becomes confusing every chapter when the story is told in the perspective of the person that got the hat, due to sometimes I didn't even know the character who had it and the story just continues the story like if I already know that character without any explanation at all.
The plot is good, maybe a little bit confusing and at least I enjoyed the first part of all stories.
I like it a little bit, but the problem was that it becomes confusing every chapter when the story is told in the perspective of the person that got the hat, due to sometimes I didn't even know the character who had it and the story just continues the story like if I already know that character without any explanation at all.
The plot is good, maybe a little bit confusing and at least I enjoyed the first part of all stories.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews