American Whiskey Bar is a remarkable faux memoir about the un-making of a film—a film which Michael Turner was commissioned to write. However, whether or not this film was ever “made” is debatable. And only one print is said to exist. Nevertheless, American Whiskey Bar, a film seen by only a handful of people, is well on its way to becoming a curious footnote to cinematic history.
American Whiskey Bar, the book, is an attempt to set the record straight—a story of sex, violence, lies, ambition, power, paradox, dreams, and regret. Consider yourself warned.
First published in Canada in 1997, this new edition, which features a foreword by William Gibson (Neuromancer, Pattern Recognition), is the first edition ever available in the U.S.
Praise for American Whiskey Bar:
“Tightly packed . . . the book weaves its way in and out of various levels of reality. . . . There’s a bright, playful mind at work here.”—Toronto Star
“Turner constructs an intense, intelligent, and darkly humorous satire. . . . Too original to be nominated for awards.”—Quill & Quire
“Brilliant . . . a dazzling, dizzying multilayered blend of fact and fiction, of the plausible and the preposterous, of the real and the hyper-real. It is also screamingly funny.”—Globe & Mail
Globe & Mail Notable Book, 1997
Quill & Quire Best Book of 1997
Coolest Canadian Book of the Year, Chapters
Michael Turner lives in Vancouver, where, in addition to books and screenplays, he writes art essays and edits ArsenalAdvance, a literary/visual art imprint. He has won a BC Book Prize for fiction and a Genie Award for Original Song. Recently, he has collaborated with artist Stan Douglas and filmmaker Bruce LaBruce. His novel The Pornographer’s Poem was published this year by Soft Skull.
