Description
Product Description
What would you write if no one knew who you were? In the spirit of the demolition derby, where drivers take heedless risks with r
...
eckless abandon, welcome to the first convocation of the Secret Society of Demolition Writers. Here is a one-of-a-kind collection by famous authors writing anonymously-and dangerously. With the usual concerns about reputations and renown cast aside, these twelve daredevils have each contributed an extreme, no-holds-barred unsigned story, each shining as brightly and urgently as hazard lights. Unconventional and unapologetic, this publishing equivalent of a whodunit features an eclectic group of fictional characters, including a delusional schizophrenic narrator, an egg donor with second thoughts about her decision, a pharmacist who forms a weird crush on a woman who beat both of her parents to death, and a little girl who understands that an old safe is the threshold to another, ghostly, world. Equally diverse and surprising are the authors themselves: Aimee Bender, Benjamin Cheever, Michael Connelly, Sebastian Junger, Elizabeth McCracken, Rosie O'Donnell, Chris Offutt, Anna Quindlen, John Burnham Schwartz, Alice Sebold, Lauren Slater, and Marc Parent, the editor of the collection. Never before has such a wide-ranging and talented group of authors been assembled to such explosive and entertaining effect. The Secret Society of Demolition Writers is an intriguing puzzle in itself, but it's also an important addition to the careers of some of our finest storytellers-even if we never really know who wrote what. Its boundary-smashing fiction offers exhilarating proof that for an artist, withholding your identity can mean gaining your freedom.
About the Author
Rosie O'Donnell is one of America's favorite celebrities. She was the host of
The Rosie O'Donnell Show, one of the most popular shows of the decade, and has also appeared in numerous movies, television sitcoms, comedy specials and, most recently, on Broadway. She was also co-host of
The View.
Aimee Bender is the author of several novels and story collections. The Butterfly Lampshade was longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Award in 2020. Her works have been widely anthologized and have been translated into sixteen languages.
Benjamin Cheever, son of the novelist John Cheever, is the author of four adult fiction novels, one children's book, and two nonfiction books. He has also been an editor at Reader's Digest and a newspaper reporter for the New York Times, Nation, and New Yorker. He has taught at The New School for Social Research and the Benning MFA program and has hosted a television show called About Writing. He lives in Pleasantville, New York, with his wife and sons.
Sebastian Junger is the New York Times bestselling author of several books. Together with Tim Hetherington, he directed the documentary Restrepo, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has been awarded a National Magazine Award and an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism.
A former Los Angeles Times crime reporter, Michael Connelly is the author of over twenty novels and nonfiction books, including The Overlook, Blood Work, and The Lincoln Lawyer. His familiarity with the seamy side of Los Angeles adds a steamy kind of street cred to his hardboiled, gritty detective novels, especially his bestselling series of mysteries featuring dark detective Hieronymous Harry Bosch.
Read more