Scandalocity

by Coerte V.W. Felske

"Tom Wolfe rewrites American Gigolo." - Kirkus ReviewsAuthor Coerte V.W. Felske's Scandalocity comes on the heels of his highly-acclaimed "dolce vita fiction" The Shallow Man, Word, and The Millennium Girl. Zeitgeist for the Information Age, the novel is set against the backdrop of the starry lights and glamorous nights of New York City. Defined as "The speed at which scandal, measured in velocity, can turn you into a star," Scandalocity is a sexy, ADHD psychological thriller, and the master of guilty pleasure prose takes on our technology-driven, media-consumed, and celebrity-obsessed culture in a taut, explosive narrative. Protagonist Harry Starslinger is a neurologically disordered online gossip columnist who becomes embroiled in the police investigation of his girlfriend's murder. Like Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground, the book takes off in roaring first-person as we ride Harry's spontaneous, insightful thoughts. One of the most connected men in the City, where his high-profile position as a purveyor of celebrity gossip offers him access anywhere, anytime, "Slinger" finds it difficult to founder life-sustaining connections in a rocket-paced world of IMs, iPods and e-mails, social networking sites, and hand-held techie toys. The story unfolds in parallel between the ongoing murder investigation and the burgeoning romance with the victim in the past. There's more murder, a manhunt, and Harry becomes the hunted one. A pulsating page-turner, the novel combines the scalding thematic tones of Odets and Lehman's The Sweet Smell of Success with the suspense and dramatic twists of Kasden's erotic cinema thriller Body Heat. Felske's fourth installment in his "dolce vita fiction" series, Scandalocity crackles with razor sharp vernacular and a lexicon's worth of bleeding edge phraseologies, hallmarks of the author's inimitable life-in-the-fast-lane literature. (The Dolce Vita Press, 2010)Front and back covers by Peter Beard featuring supermodel Irina Shayk on double-exposed Giant Polaroids, 2009---------------------------------------------ACCLAIM FOR THE WORKS OF COERTE V.W. FELSKE"The Shallow Man novel is crass, entertaining, slangy, and reeking of sun bronze and the fresh turnover of fleshy delights makes the narrator's decision to become an aging roué instead of a responsible adult seem like an honest, admirable choice. Felske writes like a gigolo and treats seduction as a dirty sport." -- James Wolcott, Vanity Fair"Model the story of a man who never met a beautiful woman he didn't like." -- David Kelley, The New York Times Book Review"Favorite The Shallow Man by Coerte Felske which begins with the line 'I never met a model I didn't like.'"-- Candace Bushnell, Vogue"Coerte V.W. Felske’s novel The Shallow Man turned the fashion world on its head—and introduced the term 'modelizer' into the collective consciousness."-- Detour"A Model Wordsmith."-- New York Magazine"In his first novel, The Shallow Man, Coerte V.W. Felske spins a clever tale of the narcissistic world of fashion modeling. Nick reminds us, “Never judge a book by its contents.” Certainly not this book. It's fun, flash, and filigree--a sexy, witty spoof of the Nineties.”–- Digby Diehl, Playboy“Shallow waters run deep. This stunning unreflective man knows more than you think. Reading the quick-witted prose one begins to think Nick Laws is like Hamlet without the mental baggage, tumbling Ophelia by Act II. Felske’s The Shallow Man makes a case for the unexamined life.”–- Esquire“Spiked with original Nickspeak and hilarious dialogue, Felske’s depiction of the physically elite is so clever in its anthropological detail that we can forgive his protagonist for just about anything.”-- People“PLAYBOY CENTERFOLD DATA SHEET, 'Favorite “The Shallow Man” by Coerte Felske. It’s about a very shallow man and his involvements with models.'”-–Priscilla Lee Taylor, Miss March, 1996, Playboy

430 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 2010

About the author

Coerte V.W. Felske was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan
and Quogue, Long Island. He attended Bronxville High School and received
his Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College. He did his graduate
work in film directing and screenwriting at Columbia University. The Shallow
Man, originally published in 1995, was his first novel. His second novel, Word,
came out in 1998 followed by The Millennium Girl in 2000 and Scandalocity in 2010. (For in-depth biography go to coertefelske.com) In 2008, the author established his independent online literary imprint, The Dolce Vita Press, founded in conjunction with Amazon.com, to publish and distribute his books. The imprint's inaugural publication was The Shallow Man: 15th Anniversary Edition released in September, 2009 followed by the author's first new novel in eight years, Scandalocity, released in May, 2010. Both are now available on Kindle.

Scandalocity (defined as "the speed at which scandal measured in velocity can turn you into a star,") is a sexy psychological thriller for the social network generation. With Scandalocity Felske, known for his Zeitgeist fiction, takes on the Information Age, scandal sheets, and our tech-driven, media-consumed and celebrity-obsessed culture. His protagonist, Harry Starslinger, is an ADHD-addled online gossip reporter who gets embroiled in the investigation of his girlfriend's murder. There more passion and murder and Harry becomes the hunted one. The book has been termed "The Sweet Smell of Success" meets "Body Heat," and is a dramatic, twisting and turning, page-turner which includes all the new and fresh language, a veritable lexicon's worth, which have been the hallmarks of the author's inimitable life-in-the-fast-lane literature (like "scandalocity," he coined and brought the term "modelizer" into the daily vernacular). Scandalocity is the author's second Dolce Vita Press release. The Ivory Stretch, Felske's fifth novel, a blazing, fastastical road book which takes place in the American southwest, will be released by the DVP in May, 2011.

Though Felske had been writing extensively in the years since his last original publication he held off going to marketplace with the new material. The Dolce Vita Press was the reason. The author launched the DVP to have significant contact with readership, exercise creative control over his work, and to have the freedom to incorporate the talents of top photographers, graphic artists, and book jacket designers. (World renowned photographers and artists Peter Beard and Ellen von Unwerth shoot Felske's memorable covers, featuring supermodels Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Irina Shayk.)

The Dolce Vita Press label derives from the Italian term "dolce vita," which translates to the "sweet life." Felske was influenced by Federico Fellini's cinematic masterwork, La Dolce Vita, which tells the tale of a carefree, decadent group of seemingly glamorous partiers, nightclubbers, and exotic women as they navigate their way through Rome's high society, all pursued by a dashing playboy paparazzo. The author has often referred to his literature as "dolce vita fiction," stories about nightclub impresarios, serial womanizers, fashionistas, fortunehunting women, entertainment business hopefuls, and scandal sheet writers, entrenched in a similar dolce vita circuitry; in essence, characters living modern versions of that illusory sweet life depicted in Fellini's film.

Felske has three more new works completed and coming soon from the DVP. His next, The Ivory Stretch, will be released in May, 2011, followed by Chemical/Animal, his second written in first person as a woman, in the spring of 2012, and the A Touch of Noir in 2013 (go to coertefelske.com for details). All Coerte V.W. Felske titles for The Dolce Vita Press are available at the author's Web site coertefelske.com, thedolcevitapress.com, as well as Amazon.com. To contact the DVP, request a review copy, or write to the author, pleas

Reviews

[Read.This.Not.That]

I have yet to be disappointed by the genius that is this author. If you’ve not read any of his work, I highly encourage you to do so. Each so different from the other, raw and impeccably written!