DOCTOR BRAIN BOOK LAUNCH TONIGHT! Assemble!


After two and a half years, I finally have a new novel out! It's called From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain, and it’s a self-help book for superheroes. Well, okay, not really, it’s a satire about psychology and office politics. Well, okay, not really... it’s actually about the Bush administration. Check out below to find out what critics and writers are saying.



When: Friday, Feb. 2, 7:30 pm at Audrey's Books, 10702 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, (780) 423-3487



PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW): “[S]harp satire of caped crusaders hides a deeper critique of individual treatment versus social injustice.... Faust's well-aimed jabs spare no super sacred cows nor many pop idols and psychobabbling media stars. Underneath the humor, careful readers will find uncomfortable parallels to real-world urban tragedies in the novel's 'July 16 Attacks,' where Faust gives a double meaning to the 'Crisis of Infinite Dearths.'"



BOOKLIST: ”[An] excellent superhero comedy as well as an unsettling satire.”



ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: “Entertaining... saavy.”



BOOKPAGE: “[M]ight be one of the most entertaining books to cross your path this year.... Faust is an original writer with a passionate interest in people—be they crazy or “normal”—and his pulpy satire takes accurate swings at our me-first society and the pop culture idols who have floated to the top.”



SCIFI.COM: “[Minister Faust’s] insane fecundity and jazzy verbal dexterity, his sheer brio and exuberance... reminds me of Ishmael Reed or Steve Aylett... plenty of moments in this novel where I laughed out loud.”



ROBERT J. SAWYER, Hugo Award-winning author of Hominids: “Minister Faust does it again: an outlandish, outrageous tour de force by the most innovative prose stylist in the field, bar none. From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain is a super-powered novel, a high-speed romp that should leap right onto the bestsellers’ list.”



EDEN ROBINSON, Giller Award-nominated author of Monkey Beach: “Minister Faust’s gleefully surreal approach to storylines, wonderful wordplay and offbeat, faster-than-speeding-bullet wit, make From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain a marvellous read.”



ERNEST DICKERSON, Director, Juice, Never Die Alone, The Wire: “Minister Faust is Samuel Delaney, Harlan Ellison and Ishmael Reed all rolled into one. His writing is biting, insightful and hugely entertaining.”



And get this! Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela himself, did not proclaim in front of the General Assembly of the United freakin' Nations:


“FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DOCTOR BRAIN is a superhero satire savagely skewering self-help books, pop-psychology, corporate media, the cult of celebrity, ‘reality TV,’ and the mad-dogs in power who style themselves the heroes of our age while destroying the very freedom they claim to champion.


“FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DOCTOR BRAIN may not help you solve your problems... but it may bring you closer to knowing who’s causing them.”

Comments

The Cougar said…
I REALLY wanted to go to the launch tonight. Like, REALLY. But, life kinda got in the way and had other plans for me. :-P So, please let us all know if you'll be doing any other readings in the area. THANKS!
Mau said…
Congrats, Minister!

I've been anxiously awaiting your second novel!

Please let me know if you have any copies to personally sell. I'd prefer to give you my money, rather than any of the big stores...
Cheryl Tardif said…
Congratulations on your new book!!!I wish you the best in success! I didn't get a chance to talk to you at the screening of the 3-Day Novel Contest, but I wanted to.

I'm an Edmonton mystery author with a new novel launching April 7th at South Point Chapters from 7:00 - 9:30 pm; please come down. Whale Song has also received rave reviews. :)

I'm also the creator of Authors' Row, which is featured at the Edmonton Woman's Show each year. I hope you'll consider maybe joining us for the Fall Show in October. It's a terrific opportunity to showcase your work, sell lots of books and get your name out to thousands of people. :) http://www.authorsrow.com

All the best!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
author of Whale Song, Divine Intervention and The River
http://www.whalesongbook.com
http://www.cherylktardif.com
Anonymous said…
Congrats on the new book! I definitely have to feature this on InkNoire in the coming weeks. Hope the launch was a smashing success. :)
Anonymous said…
By the way, the book cover looks fantastic. I'll search for excerpts online until I can purchase a copy of my own.
Scott said…
Haven't read your first novel yet, but read 'Dr. Brain' over the last several days, and I must say it's brilliant. Great sendup of classic comic tropes, with a really nicely subversive (and topical) subtext.

It occurs to me that a sequel of some kind would actually work. One, Festus and Kareem surely cannot have been the only FOOJsters (or LAB or Soul Sisters) with some detective skills; there's surely a Rorschach equivalent out there ready to get to the bottom of things. Actually, Wally might be smart enough to see through things now that his personalities have integrated, and Inga certainly seems to have her doubts - and she can certainly play a long game if necessary, keeping her head down in the meantime.

Secondly, it's not really a perfect parallel to certain real-world institutions until Festus finds that the war against L-Raunzenu or some other manufactured menace is not going so well, and comes back to bite him in the ass, politically if not literally speaking.

Anyway, I guess it's a testament to your skill in engaging the reader with the characters that I find myself this interested in seeing certain of them receive their comeuppance...
Scott said…
Minister - got your anonymous comments back on Vitruvian in Virtua. Hope you'll look around and comment on some of my other posts - particularly the one about the whitewash effect in Zoom.

Anyway, long as I'm here - have you heard about good old Luke Cage, Maximus Security's inspiration, becoming the leader of one of two Avengers teams in the near future? Of course, he doesn't wear the canary yellow shirt any longer, but maybe he'll get another chance at beating the crap out of Dr. Doom. Of course, it probably won't be over $200 this time...
Anonymous said…
Well, I really enjoyed your book so far; have been too busy working to read much more, but I have enjoyed it quite a bit! In fact, I'm lending Coyote Kings to a friend this weekend, and lending her the new one soon as I'm finished it.

I enjoyed getting to speak with you for a bit and getting my book signed, and thank you very much for the e-mail invitation! I hope this book makes it big, because it's fantastic!

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