Mad Endeavor Books launches Garbageland today!

Mad Endeavor Books launches Garbageland today!  This debut novel from Todd Wheeler heralds the arrival of a new creative star in the long-fiction universe.  This e-published work of speculative fiction offers readers a delightful full-course banquet from a writer who previously whetted appetites with contest-winning short fiction in Writer's Digest and contributions to several topical anthologies.  Wheeler is an alumnus of the Southern California Writers' Conference in Los Angeles.

Garbageland presents the imaginative story of main character Esteban (Steve) Quiroga in a future America staggering through a "long economic plateau."  As a result of his involuntary civil service assignment to the world's largest waste recovery facility, Steve learns first-hand the consequences of being an indifferent individual detached from larger society.  He also uncovers a stunning confluence of personal greed, corporate malfeasance, and government corruption.

The devolution of a democratic society where government is undermined by nakedly profit-motivated commercial interests would seem less likely to the modern reader if only the impacts of the "too big to fail" world banking crisis were not still echoing.  The frequent mainstream media reports on SuperPac influence in the current presidential campaign might actually be seen as a precursor to Wheeler's dystopia.  Springing organically from a tradition including Orwell, Bradbury, and Vonnegut, Wheeler skillfully deploys satiric humor around the issue of trash versus recycling to critique contemporary consumer consumption culture while still entertaining with a delightfully well-paced story.

It is most appropriate that this work be released exclusively in digital format today.  When a major story question is just how much waste materials can be captured and repurposed on a planet daily carrying more inhabitants, a reader can feel a certain justifiable ecologic smugness in toting an entire novel that didn't destroy a single tree in making the electronic journey from virtual bookstore to e-reader.

Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, I readily acknowledge that the writer of this novel and I have been friends since high school!  On my honor, my unreserved recommendation of Garbageland is based on the compelling characters and excellent story-delivered by a true craftsman.  Please buy this book today, it is available now for the bargain price of $1.99.

Snow Day in San Diego

My best friend and I took a snow day in San Diego.  Not that there was any actual snow; in fact the weather for this late January day would have been perfect in July or August.  But since our weekend calendars are full of important tasks and necessary chores for the next six or seven weeks, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather to be outside and do nothing.  Except read.


On the sundeck of the Hotel Del Coronado, I reached the halfway point of And So It Goes, the biography of Kurt Vonnegut by Charles J. Shields.  The book is well written and thoroughly engaging.  As a Vonnegut fan since the early 1980s it was a treat to get a life at home context for the writing and publication of his novels.  Shields gave new insight into the Vonnegut reaction to critics and fans as each new work was published.  


Even though I've read Slaughterhouse-Five more than a dozen times and Cat's Cradle at least a half-dozen, Shields presented new material around the creation and publication of these masterworks.  He also deepened my understanding of the import of Player Piano and Mother Night to both Vonnegut's career and American fiction of the 20th Century.  


As the anniversary of the firebombing of Dresden in February 1945 approaches, the diligent research Shields put into his book helps readers grasp the role of that event in shaping Vonnegut as a writer and as a man.  I would recommend this biography to anyone interested in reading about Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., or curious about the role of science fiction in critiquing culture.