A book about someone who grew up a little too late for the Sixties but then couldn't get over them... The restless rueful protagonist and narrator, Felix Skidwell, wants to, and does, escape from Minnesota, the 1970s and his conservative roots. The result is a poignant, but fitful, episodical tale that stretches from the virtual eve of an Upper Midwest high school graduation and a mind-blowing Des Moines Iowa Open Air Grateful Dead concert through programming artsy game software for, and a brief association with, Sixties guru Timothy O'Berry in Southern California. A year or so into his new life in California, Felix takes a few moments to reflect back while socializing at a posh Orange County barbeque. Check out ZZDave Menacing BBQ, prose set to music by no less than his high school buddy from the Midwest, Lonesome Dave Wasted. A continually entertaining, often uproarious, coming-of-age story filled with hope and longing, "Go west, young man," it is neither the malaise of being frozen permanently into the tundra or that of sinking helplessly into the creosote pit.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Alan Mark Train is the author of Strawberry Fairchild And The Green Flame, an illustrated color fable for adults, as well as The Psychedelic Slacker coming-of-age novel. A murder mystery from the perspective of a technical support engineer is in progress. His prose, fiction and poetry have appeared in literary magazines (The Underground Rag Mag, Slick Press) and in the Santa Cruz Good Times entertainment weekly where he was one of the winners of a short story contest. His writings appear online on Associated Content, Buzzle.com and Constant Content. Train has an English B.A. from the University of Minnesota and was an ace feature writer on his high school newspaper many eons ago in the Upper Midwest, where he, like Felix Skidwell, the protagonist of The Psychedelic Slacker, "grew up just a little too late for the Sixties and then couldn't get over them." His daytime career as a software-oriented technical writer leverages experience gained during some years spent as a mediocre computer programmer. Interests Reading, studying and memorizing literature running the gamut from Chaucer and Shakespeare to James Bond, James Joyce and Thomas Pynchon is second nature. Habitat The author lives in Santa Cruz by the ocean with the marine layer, the fog, the seabirds, the seals and the nearby redwoods. Website http://fablepower.org
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Extraordinary First Novel,
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This review is from: The Psychedelic Slacker: Felix Skidwell And The Pothead's Stone (Paperback)
Reading Train's novel set in the midwest in the 1970s was like revisiting my own misspent youth. Perfectly capturing the time and place, Train creates a sort of Lake Wobegon on acid. Those of us who grew up in this landscape will recognize the characters whom Train so tenderly portrays, and some of their stories may remind you of your own crazy, fretful, and sweet youth. How many of us drove a car like the Blatz Can, hung out in a house like the Dupont Hotel and slung hamburgers at a restaurant like The Snag? We were young, idealistic, reckless and lost. Train's narrator, Felix Skidwell, tells it like it was and how it shaped his life.
But that's not all. Train is a poetic and literary man and his mind seems to be an infinite treasure chest of artists and thinkers. The way in which Train weaves references to film, theater, poetry, literature, art, dance, and music into his coming of age tale is pure genius. Not only do we get to meet Felix Skidwell and his cohorts, we meet up with luminaries from the past, from William Shakespeare to Jerry Garcia. The Psychedelic Slacker is perhaps a brand new literary form. It strikes a perfect balance between entertainment and erudition. Train begins his novel in the 1970s but it ends on the cutting edge. Bravo!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The PSYCHEDELIC SLACKER is a wildly entertaining book,
By
This review is from: The Psychedelic Slacker: Felix Skidwell And The Pothead's Stone (Paperback)
The PSYCHEDELIC SLACKER is a wildly entertaining book full of wit, humor, satire and unique images of the human experience seen through the eyes of an extremely bright observer and participant of the final times of the 60's and early 70's. It is a book of insight and entertainment. I recommend that you get it and see for yourself.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WELL WORTH THE READ,
By
This review is from: The Psychedelic Slacker: Felix Skidwell And The Pothead's Stone (Paperback)
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THE PSYCHEDELIC SLACKER is a book I've been looking forward to for quite some time. Alan Mark Train, the witty, erudite author, has compiled a deeply personal yet forthcoming honest look at a time that many of us lived through and with near photographic recall he lived to share the tale. The prose is extraordinary with nary a wasted word and like the works of Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, Richard Farina and Thomas Pynchon, requires more than one reading to comprehend and enjoy the references. Some might consider it difficult and obtuse, but at all times on the money and extremely humorous. The author is a gifted poet worth remembering and has a bright future in literature, and this extraordinary first novel is well worth the first second and third read. Like his namesake, he utilizes the English language like few others, and I encourage you to take the time to explore it's fascintating labyrinth, and share the journey few of us were lucky enough to take with him.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs):
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The Psychedelic Slacker, The Snag, Vera Jane, The Thins, Dupont Hotel, Des Moines, Grateful Dead, Eric Evans, Bluish Park, Ice Nine Publishing, David Porter, Marie Elizabeth Pirelli, Bob Dylan, Lonesome Duane, Steve Bogen, Southern California, Jerry Garcia, Blatz Can, The Dead, Reality Bites, West Coast, The Back Row Boys, Special Rider Music, The Lobby, Purple Rain Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The Psychedelic Slacker, The Snag, Vera Jane, The Thins, Dupont Hotel, Des Moines, Grateful Dead, Eric Evans, Bluish Park, Ice Nine Publishing, David Porter, Marie Elizabeth Pirelli, Bob Dylan, Lonesome Duane, Steve Bogen, Southern California, Jerry Garcia, Blatz Can, The Dead, Reality Bites, West Coast, The Back Row Boys, Special Rider Music, The Lobby, Purple Rain Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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