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Confusion
In the 1980s—the decade of excess—Vinnie Hamilton is a former hippie and basketball star who lives in exile among the palm trees, pop music, and Reaganomics in Miami, Florida. Hamilton once rode through life on the high road, but now is a disgraced plumber. He’s about to get a second chance, thanks to Mike Whitaker, his best friend and a successful businessman. Whitaker just purchased the Miami Fireballs basketball franchise, and he believes Hamilton will be a perfect coach for his new team. Hamilton takes him up on his offer and soon meets many interesting characters, including Sypha Nadon, the openly gay pop star. Nadon is one of the flashiest celebrities in America, but behind his glamorous façade lurks a troubled soul. He’s haunted by his past, which could consume him when he least expects it. But Hamilton and Nadon, two polar opposites, might have more in common than they think. Will these two men find enlightenment in a decade where outside layers mean everything, and introspection no longer matters? Confusion will take you on an unforgettable adventure through the lives of a multigenerational group of characters who live life to the fullest.
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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August 3, 2016
When considering the reception given to books, it's tempting to use a metaphor taken from the old late night skit: "Will it float?" Some books make a splash at first but then sink once their lack of lasting appeal makes itself known...while others are submerged for years and only gradually make their way to the surface.
James Champagne's Confusion is an example of the latter. In an era of rapidly proliferating sub-sub-sub-genres (fanfiction of earlier fanfiction, werewolf erotica, right wing military SF), this may still be the world's premiere gay Occult basketball thriller. Champagne cut his teenage writing teeth on unpublished, straight-up sports novels, frequently with socially-inclusive themes (think: female coaches in the NBA), but by the time of Confusion, the Rhode Island-based writer, who doubles as electronic music producer Sypha Nadon (who doubles as a character in Confusion...yes, this is that sort of book), expressed an interest in being "the next Bret Easton Ellis." To say that he fails at this is rather to praise the book; whatever his merits, Ellis would never have been able to pull off the level of Kenneth Grant-derived insanity present here (think: starfish-headed extradimensional monsters and gay basketball coaches making satanic deals with their own HIV-infected cells).
The book takes place against the backdrop of the 1980s and is in some ways intended as an overview of the decade, although that's really the least interesting thing happening here. The writing style veers wildly between Young Adult easy read (the generally sympathetic introductions of all the characters and potted histories of their backgrounds) and graphically avant-garde (cum-drenched erotica, random violence and some Ellis-style first person chapters from Sypha's perspective that read like a mashup of Glamorama and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City). Champagne has since detoured into Weird Fiction with a capital W and F, but it'd be a mistake to think of Confusion as juvenilia or a false start: this is a fully-formed, tightly constructed novel with a strong sense of humour; in other words a prime candidate for republication for a more informed audience.
James Champagne's Confusion is an example of the latter. In an era of rapidly proliferating sub-sub-sub-genres (fanfiction of earlier fanfiction, werewolf erotica, right wing military SF), this may still be the world's premiere gay Occult basketball thriller. Champagne cut his teenage writing teeth on unpublished, straight-up sports novels, frequently with socially-inclusive themes (think: female coaches in the NBA), but by the time of Confusion, the Rhode Island-based writer, who doubles as electronic music producer Sypha Nadon (who doubles as a character in Confusion...yes, this is that sort of book), expressed an interest in being "the next Bret Easton Ellis." To say that he fails at this is rather to praise the book; whatever his merits, Ellis would never have been able to pull off the level of Kenneth Grant-derived insanity present here (think: starfish-headed extradimensional monsters and gay basketball coaches making satanic deals with their own HIV-infected cells).
The book takes place against the backdrop of the 1980s and is in some ways intended as an overview of the decade, although that's really the least interesting thing happening here. The writing style veers wildly between Young Adult easy read (the generally sympathetic introductions of all the characters and potted histories of their backgrounds) and graphically avant-garde (cum-drenched erotica, random violence and some Ellis-style first person chapters from Sypha's perspective that read like a mashup of Glamorama and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City). Champagne has since detoured into Weird Fiction with a capital W and F, but it'd be a mistake to think of Confusion as juvenilia or a false start: this is a fully-formed, tightly constructed novel with a strong sense of humour; in other words a prime candidate for republication for a more informed audience.
Displaying 1 of 1 review