The author describes his battle with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare and untreatable genetic disease that results in blindness, and an inoperable brain leasion, in a memoir that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit.

Slackjaw

Biographies & Memoirs

Knipfel, Jim

Arts & Literature

Berkley Trade

Quitting the Nairobi Trio

The author of Slackjaw chronicles six months spent by the author in a Minneapolis psychiatric ward following another failed suicide attempt, during which he observes the failings of modern mental health practices and shares the insights of fellow patients. Reprint.

Literature & Fiction

Ned "Noogie" Krapczak grew up in rough circumstances in Jersey City where movies and dreams of becoming a filmmaker were his only escape. But by the time he turns 30, things aren't working out the way they were supposed to. Instead of making movies, Noogie has a job restocking ATM machines in delis and drugstores. One day he sees a way out of it all in the form of a slow-motion heist, siphoning $20 bills a few at a time out of the machines he is supposed to be filling. When his scheme is finally uncovered, he hits the road with his Siamese cat, Dillinger, and 350 pounds of $20 bills, totaling nearly $5 million. In that instant, Noogie finds himself not watching movies but living them. He's pulled off a great caper and is on the lam cross-country, a life worthy of Edward G. Robinson or Steve McQueen. Noogie works his way down the East Coast on this great escape, disguising himself by using the names of characters from some of his favorite movies. In telling the stories of Noogie's final days, Jim Knipfel's novel captures the tragic end of a broken man who, however briefly and unseemly, managed to live the American dream by starring in his own movie.

Noogie's Time to Shine

United States

Virgin Pub

A staff writer and columnist with the New York Press describes his battle with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare and untreatable genetic disease that results in blindness, and an inoperable brain lesion, in a memoir that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit and determination. 15,000 first printing.

Tarcher

Professionals & Academics

Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam

Meet Roscoe Baragon–crack reporter at a major (well, maybe not that major) metropolitan newspaper. Baragon covers what is affectionately called the Kook Beat–where the loonies call and tell him in meticulously deranged detail what it’s like to live in their bizarre and lonely world. Lately Baragon’s been writing stories about voodoo curses and alien abductions; about fungus-riddled satellites falling to earth and thefts of plumbing fixtures from SRO hotels by strange aquatic-looking creatures. Not exactly New York Times material. Maybe it’s the radioactive corpse that puts him over the edge. Or maybe it’s the guy who claims to have been kidnapped by the state of Alaska! But Baragon is now convinced that a vast conspiracy is under way that could take the whole city down–something so deeply strange that it could be straight out of one of the old Japanese monster movies that he watches every night before he goes to sleep. But stuff like this only happens in the movies. Right? The Buzzing marks the fictional debut of the acclaimed author of Slackjaw. It is a novel of deep paranoia and startling originality. And it could certainly never happen. Right? Right?

The Buzzing

Dramas & Plays

Vintage

Wally Philco is a gentle, midlevel insurance industry operative living with his wife, Margie, in Brooklyn. In the years since those terrible events took place in Tupelo, Mississippi, though, the world -- and Brooklyn, too -- has become a very different place. Nobody's sure exactly what happened on the day now known as Horribleness Day, but it became pretty clear afterward that the Australians were involved somehow. Long after all the initial craziness has petered out, the Horribleness is still being used as an excuse for everything, from insomnia and lower back pain to joblessness, bank robbery, higher taxes, drunk driving, and murder. Likewise, everything from icy sidewalks to earthquakes to casino bus accidents is being cited as the work of terrorists. Now it's every Mutual Citizen's job to keep an eye on his neighbor and to report anything amiss. Wally's neighbor, Whit Chambers, has been busy practically setting a world record for turning in suspicious characters and Unmutuals to the local authorities and, in fact, Whit's had his eye and his telescope trained on Wally for some time now. When Wally finally snaps, he finds refuge with the Unpluggers, an underground movement fighting for just a few minutes of peace and quiet. With a cast of Dickensian characters, from stroller-wielding Brooklyn mothers to former Kennedy spooks and Norwegian cowboys, Jim Knipfel's Unplugging Philco is a wildly funny look at our life and times, filled with sharp cultural references and vivid, witty prose that testifies to a dangerously perceptive mind behind the madness.

Unplugging Philco: A Novel

Humor & Satire

Simon&Schuster

From the irresistibly droll mind of Jim Knipfel comes These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales, a series of twisted fables that echo with pinpoint acuity. A masterful storyteller whose memoirs and novels have earned him widespread acclaim, this is Knipfel’s first foray into the short story, and he delivers in spades: this wickedly dark satire on the notion of happily ever after turns the traditional fairy tale on its head. Among the array of lonely losers wallowing in discontent, the enterprising reader of this volume may meet a talking chicken who learns the world has little patience for intelligence, a foul-mouthed gnome set on world domination, and a magical snowman wrestling with the horror of being alive. In These Children Who Come at You with Knives, Knipfel’s singular and brilliantly funny mind reinvents the bedtime story and offers up a wildly entertaining meditation on the perils of human nature.

These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories

Monster Stalks NYC When a local drunk is mugged near the toxic Gowanus Canal by “a hulking, hairy beast who smells really bad,” Hank Kalabander thinks nothing of blaming the assault on the legendary Bigfoot. His sardonic crime blotter for The Hornet, a local Brooklyn rag, often gleefully recounts the tragedies that befall the borough’s dimmer residents. But when an upstart reporter from The Eagle, a tabloid paper, lifts his piece and implicates Bigfoot in two more attacks, the crimes become local news fodder and the hunt for the “Gowanus Beast” takes off. Pretty soon the G.B. is to blame for everything from murder and robberies to playground scuffles and a pie’s disappearance—and neighborhood watch patrols have taken to the streets. Alarmed by the populace’s response, Hank decides it’s his responsibility to disprove the existence of this menacing beast and, with the help of an old carny colleague, put an end to the growing hysteria. In The Blow-off, acclaimed writer Jim Knipfel has crafted an astoundingly funny send-up of our current times—an intoxicating blend of sharp cultural references, wildly comical scenes, discerning commentary, and unforgettable characters.

The Blow-off: A Novel

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Chronicles six months spent by the author in a Minneapolis psychiatric ward following another failed suicide attempt, during which he observes the failings of modern mental health practices and shares the insights of fellow patients. 17,500 first printing.

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

Books by Knipfel, Jim

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

Slackjaw

Quitting the Nairobi Trio

Noogie's Time to Shine

Slackjaw

Quitting the Nairobi Trio

The Buzzing

Unplugging Philco: A Novel

These Children Who Come at You with Knives, and Other Fairy Tales: Stories

The Blow-off: A Novel

Quitting the Nairobi Trio