Clevenger has produced an utterly persuasive and compelling novel, combining the zest and enthusiasm of a new voice with the craft and the guile of a veteran. Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that Daniel Fletcher is actually John "Johnny" Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before--many, many times. As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past: a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life. Evoking the boulevards and strip bars of 1980s Los Angeles with cinematic intensity, The Contortionist's Handbook is a darkly hypnotic and stunningly original debut.

The Contortionist’s Handbook

Literature & Fiction

Clevenger, Craig

Contemporary

Harper-perennial

A stunningly intense debut novel about a talented young forger who continually reinvents himself to escape the authorities. 'I swear to God this is the best book I have read in easily five years. Easily. Maybe ten years.' Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself, or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that 'Daniel Fletcher' is actually John - Johnny - Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before - many, many times. As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past - a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life. Evoking the boulevards and strip bars of 1980s LA with cinematic intensity, The Contortionist's Handbook is a darkly hypnotic and stunningly original debut.

Contortionist's Handbook, The

Fourth Estate Ltd.

Clandestine chemistry and the LA underworld provide the atmosphere for this kaleidoscopic tale of lost memories and the heartbreak of finding them, from the author of The Contortionists Handbook.When Eric Ashworth wakes in jail, he has no idea how he got there, or why. His only memory is a woman's name: Desiree.Released on bail and holed up in a low-rent motel, Eric starts to piece together his former life as a chemist at the centre of a desert drug ring with the help of a powerful new hallucinogen which simultaneously loosens his grip on the present. As the events of his past begin to emerge from the confusion of his fragmented memory, Eric must contend with a gnawing paranoia and the need for ever-increasing fixes not to mention disturbing visits from an intimidating police detective, his former associate Manhattan White and the ominously named Toe Tag. As his grip on reality becomes more tenuous, past and present, reality and fantasy begin to bleed into each other, bringing this visceral, shifting novel of love and loss to its climax.

Dermaphoria

Clandestine chemistry and the L.A. underworld provide the atmosphere for this tale of painful lost memories and the heartbreak of finding them.Eric Ashworth awakens in jail, unable to remember how he got there or why. His only memory is a woman’s name: Desiree. Bailed out and holed up in a low-rent motel, Eric finds the solution to his amnesia in a strange new hallucinogen. By synthesizing the sense of touch, the drug produces a disjointed series of sensations that slowly allow Eric to remember his former life as a clandestine chemist. With steadily increasing doses, Eric reassembles his past at the expense of his grip on the present, and his distinction between truth and fantasy crumbles as his paranoia grows in tandem with his tolerance. In Dermaphoria Clevenger creates a visceral world where divisions between love and loss, violence and tenderness, and fact and fiction prove to be less discernible than they ought to be.

World Literature

Anchor Canada

Clevenger has produced an utterly persuasive and compelling novel, combining the zest and enthusiasm of a new voice with the craft and the guile of a veteran. Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that Daniel Fletcher is actually John "Johnny" Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before--many, many times. As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past: a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life. Evoking the boulevards and strip bars of 1980s Los Angeles with cinematic intensity, The Contortionist's Handbook is a darkly hypnotic and stunningly original debut.

The Contortionist's Handbook

United States

Blackstone Publishing

STORIES: Ryan Wilson – “American Trash” Stuart Gibbel – “Break on Through” Craig Clevenger – “Obsolescence” Nik Korpon - "South of Thirteen" Dennis Cruz – “Smile Now, Cry Later” Pela Via – “Bathhouse” Stephen Conley – "Don't Feed the Animals" Grigori Black – “This Was Heaven” Doc O’Donnell – “Your Personal Apocalypse” Nikki Guerlain – “Sick Ticket” Patrick Verhagen – “Swim” Craig Wallwork – “El Bordello Alexandra” Nicholas Merlin Karpuk – “Ahm’s Bay” Nik Houser – “Subtitles for a Silent Film” H.R. Tardiff – “Walls in the Sand” Richard Thomas – “The Jenny Store” Bob Pastorella – “Alexandra” Simon West-Bulford – “Project Asmodeus” Jay Slayton-Joslin – “The Fantasy of California vs. The Reality of London” Amanda Gowin – “Gilded Bones” Chris Deal – “Padre Nuestro” Boden Steiner – “Here” Gordon Highland – "Fry Girl" edward j rathke – “All the Dreams You Dreamt Retold” Michael Paul Gonzalez – “Tidal” Victor Bengtsson – “Venice, Forever” ABOUT THE BOOK: Los Angeles is whatever you want it to be, and nothing like you think. I gave these photos to a group of authors and asked them for precisely 1,000 words about what they saw. They didn't disappoint. Dreams, drugs, drama. Fame, famine, and fading glory. Few of the authors in this book have stepped foot in L.A., yet the soul of this city is so invasive and pervasive that the collection embodies everything that makes up this sprawling metropolitan mess. There’s everyday life in Los Angeles, from the shiny dreams of the Hills to the hard realities of life in the Valley and out to the Inland Empire, and even more stories that are purely the stuff of dreams and fantasies, the kinds of worlds that exist only behind giant creaking doors on backlots scattered throughout the Southland. Whether you live here or just want to visit for a few moments, you’re in for one hell of a ride.

In Search of a City: Los Angeles in 1,000 Words

Wilson, Ryan

Gowin, Amanda

Gonzalez, Michael Paul

Korpon, Nik

Slayton-Joslin, Jay

Cruz, Dennis

Pastorella, Bob

West-Bulford, Simon

Gibbel, Stuart

Short Stories & Anthologies

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Bailed out of jail and holed up in a low-rent motel, amnesiac Eric Ashworth’s only memory is a woman’s name: Desiree. With steadily increasing doses of a strange new hallucinogen, Eric finds that the drug allows him to reassemble his past in broken fragments. But as he begins to lose touch with the present, his distinction between truth and fantasy begins to crumble, creating a world where divisions between love and loss, violence and tenderness, and fact and fiction are less discernible than they ought to be.

Lawson Library

Here, you'll find the downtrodden and dirty. Because it's in the mud, in the dark-in mainlined misery-that truth reveals herself in all her filth-caked, blood-crusted glory.In this volume, you'll find 20 stories that explore the shadow side of humanity. Stories that might disquiet, upset, or even enrage certain readers. Outcast-Press believes that what you need most often lurks in the recesses you least want to tread: taboo topics, disturbing imagery, and that dreaded, murky "gray area." Outcast-Press doesn't cater to cries for censorship because we believe the best art isn't comfortable or comforting. Reading isn't a spectator sport. And since life doesn't come with a trigger warning, neither should literature.

In Filth It Shall Be Found: Outcast Press Anthology #1

Golds, Stephen J.

Broder, Simon

Sapala, Lauren

Johnson, Paige

Vice, Sebastian

McKay, G.C.

Woe, Emily

Russell, Elyse

Witherkeigh, Victory

Literary

Outcast Press LLC

Compelling literary crime that follows the son of a serial murderer who changes his identity in a bid to escape his past.\nSixteen-year-old Lyle Edison recognizes the face of a murder victim on the nightly news – the waitress at his local diner. A place he often frequented with his dad. The following day his father is arrested and charged with her murder. And then eight further bodies are discovered.\nFollowing the revelation that his dad is in fact a serial killer, Lyle is outcast and shunned. Forced to abandon his family, illegally obtaining a new identity, he moves away to start all over again.\nSome years later, Lyle thinks he has finally moved on. But after several brushes with the law, Lyle’s past eventually catches up to him when a mysterious stranger known only as Icarus shows up and seems to know Lyle’s secret...

Mother Howl

Religion & Spirituality

Angry Robot

The Contortionist's Handbook is the story of John Dolan Vincent, an abnromally gifted child with a prclivity for mathematics beyond his years. However, he also bears a rare deformity—polydactylism—and his genius is counterbalanced by a near absence of social skills and episodes of severe migraines. 
As an adult his migraines occur with alarming regularity, and his repeated attempts at self-medication send him over and over to the emergency room. He knows that to visit twice is to risk being institutionalized as a suicide risk. So, following each trip to the hospital, he draws upon his skill as a petty forger, and reinvents a new identity for himself. 
The Contortionist's Handbook is about the lengths people will go to in order to protect themselves from others and ultimately from themselves.

Macadam Cage Pub

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Clevenger, Craig. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Clevenger, Craig