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Orange: The Diary of an Urban Surrealist
Drinking with his dead father, buying narcotics from an amateur chemist, trying to keep track of time , space and where he is . Orange is a distillation of futility and dreaming, over sleeping and lack of remorse, the story of a character living in his past, present through a simultaneous hallucinogenic binge.
148 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 2009
1 person is currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Janis
8 books10 followersStephen Janis is an award-winning investigative reporter and the founder of Investigative Voice, an online investigative journalism web site.
As a staff writer for the Baltimore Examiner (and one of only a handful who worked at the paper for its entire existence) he won a Maryland- Delaware-DC Press Association award in 2008 for investigative reporting on the high rate of unsolved murders in Baltimore. In 2009 he won a MDDC Press Association award for best series for his articles on the murders of prostitutes.
He has written two books.
This Dream Called Death, a novel which explores the cultural after shocks of mass incarceration by positing a world where people are imprisoned for the content of their dreams, and Orange, the Diary of an Urban Surrealist, which follows the descent of drug dealer pushing a substance that gives white people soul.
As a staff writer for the Baltimore Examiner (and one of only a handful who worked at the paper for its entire existence) he won a Maryland- Delaware-DC Press Association award in 2008 for investigative reporting on the high rate of unsolved murders in Baltimore. In 2009 he won a MDDC Press Association award for best series for his articles on the murders of prostitutes.
He has written two books.
This Dream Called Death, a novel which explores the cultural after shocks of mass incarceration by positing a world where people are imprisoned for the content of their dreams, and Orange, the Diary of an Urban Surrealist, which follows the descent of drug dealer pushing a substance that gives white people soul.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 11, 2012
This book reels you in from the very first sentence and hooks you for the entirety.
The author grabs your attention with a thorough first-person account of drug-riddled life in a dreary urban environment; but as the narrator experiences, so does the reader. You begin lost but, with the immediate mentions of Orange, uncontrollably curious. I read the book from cover to cover in one sitting, itching for more at the end of each chapter.
The gritty realism gives the reader a vivid account of what life must be like for the bottom rung of society, the ones who are desperate enough to truly do anything. The main character's everyday life is stunning, but the first-person nonchalance adds an interesting dynamic. As common as trips to the grocery store or small talk at the water cooler are for typical people, exposure to sophisticated drug peddling operations and transvestite prostitutes is simply a part of life for the main character.
Not to mention there is a fantastic surprise ending to this novel. The final chapter caps the dangerous hardships of the main character brilliantly.
From start to finish, I found it nearly impossible to put this book down. If you're looking for a powerful and gripping read, Orange could not be any more perfect.
The author grabs your attention with a thorough first-person account of drug-riddled life in a dreary urban environment; but as the narrator experiences, so does the reader. You begin lost but, with the immediate mentions of Orange, uncontrollably curious. I read the book from cover to cover in one sitting, itching for more at the end of each chapter.
The gritty realism gives the reader a vivid account of what life must be like for the bottom rung of society, the ones who are desperate enough to truly do anything. The main character's everyday life is stunning, but the first-person nonchalance adds an interesting dynamic. As common as trips to the grocery store or small talk at the water cooler are for typical people, exposure to sophisticated drug peddling operations and transvestite prostitutes is simply a part of life for the main character.
Not to mention there is a fantastic surprise ending to this novel. The final chapter caps the dangerous hardships of the main character brilliantly.
From start to finish, I found it nearly impossible to put this book down. If you're looking for a powerful and gripping read, Orange could not be any more perfect.
March 23, 2009
The movement of the images in this book race by at an incredible speed. Lyrical, malevolent and beautiful descriptions of a city that never was, with a protagonist that is never named, selling a drug that never existed. Orange is breathtakingly surreal and yet has a strong narrative with offerings both hilarious and philisophical. Magically real, intelligent but not overly clever. Orange is a fast read with images that linger, haunt and delight. A book that surprises you with each sucessive read.
August 16, 2014
As the fictive power of the written narrative decays under the influence of the digital age, Orange: The Diary of an Urban Surrealist presents a newly resonate fictional form.
The initial release from Novelzine Press, a Baltimore based experimental imprint of new fiction, Orange is the first in a series of short, slashing “Novelzines” that proscribes reality in quick descriptive bursts, in the process matching the art form of storytelling with the imperatives of our decidedly visual culture.
Set in a city acclimated to decay, during a time as murky as the sallow and unrepentant gray that envelopes the skyline, Orange is an American urban version of magical realism novel gone awry.
Written by award winning investigative reporter Stephen Janis, Orange has a frenetic plot that follows the inner workings of man trapped in a hallucinatory city, hounded by his dead father while he undertakes pharmacological experiments to enliven his self imposed isolation.
Introduced to an anthropology professor dealing a drug that allegedly gives white people soul , the protagonist gets unwittingly dragged into an accidental murder plot, setting off a chain react ion of addiction and jubilation, lust and alimentation that drives the novel towards and embittered and climactic conclusion.
The novel, the first for Janis, is rich with twisted temporal mechanics, grainier metaphors, and a dark inner-geography of psychic assimilation in an unreal city. It shifts interminably between the corporeal, the hyper –real, and the surreal, taking the reader on a torrid journey into an alternate more potent than a lucid dream.
Infused with the rhythm, caustic musical like phrasing, and strange exordial imagery, Orange represents an artistic resistance to digitalism, embodying pathos of free-style fiction that confounds the prismatic inhibitions of the screen.
Stephen Janis is an award winning investigative reporter. He covered crime and City Hall for the now defunct Baltimore Examiner newspaper for three years. Before joining the Examiner he was a columnist and contributing writer for the Baltimore City Paper. Recently he founded Investigativevoice.com, a web site dedicated to investigative journalism.
He has published ground breaking essays on MP3 culture and the influence of quantanization on popular music in the theoretical journal Link Magazine.
During his tenure as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins Univeristy’s School of Contemporary Society and Communication he developed an original curriclium that surveyed the growth and implications of a burgeoning digital culture. His work on sub-culture and style has also appeared in The Urbanite, Radar, and The Next American City.
Janis’ work as a journalist has won numerous awards. In 2008 he won a Maryland, Delaware, DC press association award in category “A” for dailies with circulation over 75,000 for his investigative reporting on the high number of unsolved murders in Baltimore, MD. In 2007 he also won an NAACP President’s award for his coverage of minority affairs. In 2008 he won a YANA award for a series of article that revealed dozens of unsolved murders of prostitutes in Baltimore.
Recently he was listed in “winners list” for a second consecutive category “A” award from the Maryland, Delware, DC Press association.
The initial release from Novelzine Press, a Baltimore based experimental imprint of new fiction, Orange is the first in a series of short, slashing “Novelzines” that proscribes reality in quick descriptive bursts, in the process matching the art form of storytelling with the imperatives of our decidedly visual culture.
Set in a city acclimated to decay, during a time as murky as the sallow and unrepentant gray that envelopes the skyline, Orange is an American urban version of magical realism novel gone awry.
Written by award winning investigative reporter Stephen Janis, Orange has a frenetic plot that follows the inner workings of man trapped in a hallucinatory city, hounded by his dead father while he undertakes pharmacological experiments to enliven his self imposed isolation.
Introduced to an anthropology professor dealing a drug that allegedly gives white people soul , the protagonist gets unwittingly dragged into an accidental murder plot, setting off a chain react ion of addiction and jubilation, lust and alimentation that drives the novel towards and embittered and climactic conclusion.
The novel, the first for Janis, is rich with twisted temporal mechanics, grainier metaphors, and a dark inner-geography of psychic assimilation in an unreal city. It shifts interminably between the corporeal, the hyper –real, and the surreal, taking the reader on a torrid journey into an alternate more potent than a lucid dream.
Infused with the rhythm, caustic musical like phrasing, and strange exordial imagery, Orange represents an artistic resistance to digitalism, embodying pathos of free-style fiction that confounds the prismatic inhibitions of the screen.
Stephen Janis is an award winning investigative reporter. He covered crime and City Hall for the now defunct Baltimore Examiner newspaper for three years. Before joining the Examiner he was a columnist and contributing writer for the Baltimore City Paper. Recently he founded Investigativevoice.com, a web site dedicated to investigative journalism.
He has published ground breaking essays on MP3 culture and the influence of quantanization on popular music in the theoretical journal Link Magazine.
During his tenure as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins Univeristy’s School of Contemporary Society and Communication he developed an original curriclium that surveyed the growth and implications of a burgeoning digital culture. His work on sub-culture and style has also appeared in The Urbanite, Radar, and The Next American City.
Janis’ work as a journalist has won numerous awards. In 2008 he won a Maryland, Delaware, DC press association award in category “A” for dailies with circulation over 75,000 for his investigative reporting on the high number of unsolved murders in Baltimore, MD. In 2007 he also won an NAACP President’s award for his coverage of minority affairs. In 2008 he won a YANA award for a series of article that revealed dozens of unsolved murders of prostitutes in Baltimore.
Recently he was listed in “winners list” for a second consecutive category “A” award from the Maryland, Delware, DC Press association.
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February 22, 2020I am going to leave this book unrated, it would be absurd to rate this considering the absurdist and surreal nature of the plot, story and narration.
It is definitely an interesting read, the writing style seems to be a mixture of a stream of consciousness(maybe?) and first person narrative. I still do not know what the numbers on each chapter stand for, co-ordinates for time,space, reality, mental health? There are some beautifully written sentences and paragraphs by Stephen - it is visually evocative , I can almost imagine a movie made out of this book.
A word of caution..not everyone can digest this. ( I didn't digest it completely myself- might re-read it again). You need an OPEN "Orange" mind.
It is definitely an interesting read, the writing style seems to be a mixture of a stream of consciousness(maybe?) and first person narrative. I still do not know what the numbers on each chapter stand for, co-ordinates for time,space, reality, mental health? There are some beautifully written sentences and paragraphs by Stephen - it is visually evocative , I can almost imagine a movie made out of this book.
A word of caution..not everyone can digest this. ( I didn't digest it completely myself- might re-read it again). You need an OPEN "Orange" mind.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews