"They Really Were Outsiders" is a work of the imagination
that turns the celebrity biography and memoir into the Great
American Novel gone haywire.In the first novel - "No Drugs Or
Alcohol Involved: Another American Pastoral" - we learn about
the consequences of a failed politician becoming a subversive
writer. The results aren't pretty, but they're wildly
entertaining, with huge doses of offbeat humor and philosophical
insight tailor-made to help take the edge off our highly corrupted
age. Locales include Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Houston,
Southern California, Miami Beach, Ypsilanti, and Thailand.In the
second novel - "Goddamit Goldsmith My Real Name's
Rosenberg! - A Tenderloin Tale" - we go in the reverse
direction and learn about the consequences of a failed writer
becoming a radical politician. The results are even less pretty
than in the first tale. The humor turns darker, more devastating.
The characters become more desperate, more willing to mix virtue
and vice, less able to separate provocation from civility - until a
narrative twist occurs that is impossible to anticipate unless the
reader knows a thing or two about stepping outside himself. Locales
include San Francisco, Reno, and Tel Aviv.
