Only Descend

by Carl Watson

Just as the Situationists would engage in derives, drifting through Paris to locate (via vibrational contact) zones of danger and love, so Carl Watson’s hero, Frank Payne, in Only Descend wanders down the spine of Manhattan, flitting through encounters with addicts, hustlers, transvestites, and barroom habitués, as he puts his own label on the wounded neighborhoods he passes through. Interleaved with this pedestrian voyage are pages from the diary of his girlfriend—poet, photographer and curious costume designer, Odee Bones. Only Descend (Autonomedia), is set in the late 90s in NYC, and is the third installment in a trilogy of novels including Idylls of Complicity (Spuyten Duyvil), and Backwards the Drowned Go Dreaming (Sensitive Skin Books).

Paperback

Published March 31, 2021

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading Carl Watson. I've been reading his books for something like 40 years? He gets better with age like a good wine. I think it's his ability to take almost unconscious concepts that lurk in your mind, put them in a paragraph with some zingers from our crazy culture, and serve them up, hot and delicious. This guy can write. When I discovered his work he was living in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, and he somehow brought to life the magical creepiness and violence of the place. He's in New York now and doing the same for the big apple, worms and all.
I think it's a shame that he's not more well known, goodreads couldn't even be bothered to put the fucking illustration on the cover of his book, which disturbs me greatly. Maybe he likes it that way, who knows? Being famous can fuck your head up and ruin your work. Whatever the case, it is my fervent hope that he will keep and making his beautiful, twisted, masterful books for a long time.
Do yourself a real favor and pick up on Carl's work. Just grab the first one you can find, doesn't make any difference where you start, as they are uniformly excellent.