The quintessential tortured artist, Vincent Spinetti falls prey to poverty, illness, alienation, parental neglect, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love, unaware that these torments are caused by the secret manipulations of New Renaissance, an organization testing the idea that art results from suffering. By the author of Anomalies. Reprint.

Torture the Artist

Literature & Fiction

Goebel, Joey

United States

Macadam Cage Pub

Commonwealth

From the author of the internationally acclaimed Torture the Artist, a fiercely funny novel about red-state politics, family traditions, and a common man who decides to fight back. Somewhere in the middle of America dwells Blue Gene Mapother, a mullet-headed patriot who staunchly supports the American war effort without question. Besides his patriotism, little enlivens him except for pro wrestling, cigarettes, and any instance in which he thinks his masculinity is at stake. And though you wouldn’t know it, Blue Gene hails from one of the wealthiest families in the country. His mother, a fanatical Christian socialite, has a dream in which she sees Blue Gene’s older brother, the handsome but anxious John Hustbourne Mapother, becoming an apocalyptic world savior. Eager to fulfill his mother’s prophecy, John runs for Congress but finds that as a corporate executive, he’s not very popular with his largely working-class constituents. And so, after years of estrangement, the Mapothers reach out to Blue Gene, realizing that they need his common-man touch in order to cast their family name in a more favorable light with voters. With absurd humor and poignant wit, this timely, small-town epic takes us from flea markets to mansions to abandoned Wal-Mart buildings, all the while examining the bizarre relationship between the “high” and “low” classes of America.

MACADAM/CAGE.

Joey Goebel s biggest and funniest novel yet, about red state politics, family traditions, and what happens when the common man fights back. Somewhere in the middle of America dwells Blue Gene Mapother, a trashy, mullet-headed Wal-Mart stockboy-turned-flea-marketer who staunchly supports any American war effort without question. Besides patriotism, little enlivens him except pro wrestling, cigarette breaks, and any instance in which he thinks his masculinity is at stake. 
 Curiously, he is also a member of one of the wealthiest families in the country; brother to John Hurstbourne Mapother, an up-and-coming politician who decides that Blue Gene's low-class style could be useful, not harmful to his Congressional campaign. 
 Through dark humor and cinematic story-telling, this small-town epic winds through flea markets to mansions to abandoned Wal-Mart buildings, all the while dramatizing the deranged, absurd relationship between the high and low class of America.

Torture The Artist

Old Street Publishing Limited

The quintessential tortured artist, Vincent Spinetti falls prey to poverty, illness, alienation, parental neglect, alcoholism, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love, unaware that these torments are caused by the secret manipulations of New Renaissance, an organization testing the idea that art results from suffering. By the author of Anomalies.

The Anomalies is the story of five quirky nonconformists who come together to make sweet rock music in their small Midwestern town primarily inhabited by tiny-minded, walking stereotypes. 
Luster wants the ultimate form of the American dream—rock stardom—despite being a twenty-four-year-old man living in the ghetto with his crack-dealing brothers. Opal is a sex-crazed party machine despite being an eighty-year-old woman. Ember hates the world and wants to destroy it despite being an eight-year-old girl. Ray loves America and all of its inhabitants despite being a middle-aged, effeminate Iraqi soldier. Aurora is frigid and deplores young people despite being a sexy, Satan-worshiping teenager. 
And now these misfits have formed a band—a band so different, so utterly unpredictable that they might just be able to slip between a crack, rise above their small-town existence, tour the world, and in the process make us all reconsider our stale old conventions. 
Author bio(s) (up to 500 words or 4,000 characters): 
Joey Goebel was born and raised in Henderson, Kentucky. He has a BA in English from Brescia University and his short stories have appeared in two anthologies. He is the former lead singer of the punk band The Mullets (Higher Step Records) that toured for five years in the Midwest. The Anomalies is his first novel.

The Anomalies

Vincent

Diogenes Verlag AG

Contemporary

Freaks

Heartland

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Books by Goebel, Joey

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

Torture the Artist

Commonwealth

Commonwealth

Torture the Artist

Torture The Artist

The Anomalies

Vincent

Vincent

Freaks

Heartland