It’s 1979, and Simon’s life is unraveling before his very eyes. He doesn’t get along with his father, his girlfriend has just dumped him, he’s in trouble with the school authorities, and he’s been arrested for underage drinking and smoking pot — not to mention selling the stuff. And to top it off, he’s adopted, and his parents act like it’s something shameful. He wrestles open his parents’ lockbox, finds the names and last known location of his birth parents, and decides to leave Mansfield, Iowa, and head to Texas in search of his origins. His encounters with an Elvis impersonator (who may just be the missing man himself) along with a young woman on the lam and two hapless drifters add up to a picaresque road-trip tale that is not only very funny but honest in the telling. My Road Trip to the Pretty Girl Capital of the World is a debut novel that perfectly captures the flavor of the post-hippie grit, post-slacker cool, and weird-techno wealth of Austin.
A lot of people think writers just write about themselves.
Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't.
Here are my facts: I am not an alien though my novel, ALIEN INVASION & OTHER INCONVENIENCES, certainly has a lot about aliens in it. I've never experienced an alien invasion either, but aliens take over the world in ten seconds in ALIEN INVASION & OTHER INCONVENIENCES.
I am from Iowa and one of my novels, MY ROAD TRIP TO THE PRETTY GIRL CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, is about a character who was born in Iowa. This character goes and looks for his birth parents in Texas. I have lived in Texas for many, many years and I am adopted. I've never looked for birth parents though.
My second novel, WONDERS OF THE WORLD, is about street kids. I've never been a street kid, but I did hitchhike all over America and parts of Mexico and Europe when I was younger. I met a lot of interesting people and learned a lot. I got an education that was much cheaper and more scenic than the one I got in college. I do have a couple of degrees, a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Writing, and I teach writing at Austin Community College, so I will say I learned some skills in college, too.
Writing, for me, is always a weird mix of autobiography and imagination. But, really, I'm not an alien. I am a writer though. Many people seem to think that is almost as strange as being an alien.
