Meet The Gorgons The Legionnaires Chicken Treblinka The Statistics... Meet Dee, Gordyn, Em, and Jay, indecisive members of the greatest New Wave band to ever spring from River Bend City. Before they graduate from high school and flee a mill town that’s seen better days, these ambitious friends (two sets of siblings) aim to make something from nothing as a test-run for planned careers of total glamour in New York City. Set between Labour Day 1980 and a Battle of the Bands contest in February 1981, From Up River and for One Night Only traces the unsure but determined steps of the gang’s hopeful act of creation. The darkly comic and autobiographical story memorably captures the detours, setbacks, compromises, ethical quandaries, and illicit opportunities encountered along the twisty highway to the band’s fifteen-and-a half minutes of fame.
“From Up River and For One Night Only is not your typical rock 'n roll novel. Sure, it's full of wild misfits, day job drudgery, and dreams of stardom. But the real headliner here is Grubisic's intoxicating, immersive language. It's a cacophony of linguistic power chords, a picaresque road trip with no particular place to go. We have never seen a coming-of-age story quite like this one.” —Mark Sampson, author Sad Peninsula and The Secrets Men Keep
From Up River and for One Night Only is now available in bookstores and online.
A lecturer of English literature residing in Vancouver, Brett Josef Grubisic is the author of the novels The Age of Cities and This Location of Unknown Possibilities. Previous publications include Understanding Beryl Bainbridge, Contra/diction, Carnal Nation (co-edited with Carellin Brooks), American Hunks (co-authored with David L. Chapman), National Plots (co-edited with Andrea Cabajsky), and Blast, Corrupt, Dismantle, Erase (co-edited with Giséle M. Baxter and Tara Lee).
To read an interview with Brett, click here.
Contact Brett directly at bjosefg@hotmail.com.
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