Damon lives a content life, playing video games and dealing drugs from his second-hand store while his girlfriend, Mary, drops constant hints about marriage. If only he could tell her his name isn't really Damon. If only he could tell her who he really is. But after he witnesses a friend's murder, a scarlet woman glides into his life, offering the solution to all of his problems. His carefully constructed existence soon shatters like crystal teardrops and he must determine which ghosts won't stay buried-and which ones are trying to kill him-if he wants to learn why Mary has disappeared. Ages 18+ Thriller Fiction
| |||||||||||||||
Browse the best books of summer including blockbusters, beach reads, and editors' picks in our Summer Reading Store. |
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Nik Korpon is the author of STAY GOD, OLD GHOSTS, BY THE NAILS OF THE WARPRIEST and BALTIMORE STORIES: VOLUMES ONE and TWO. His stories have bloodied the pages and screens of Crime Factory, Shotgun Honey, 3:AM, Out of the Gutter, Everyday Genius, Speedloader, Warmed&Bound and a bunch more. He is an editor for Dirty Noir and Rotten Leaves, and reviews books for Spinetingler, NoirJournal and The Nervous Breakdown. He also co-hosts LAST SUNDAY, LAST RITES, a monthly reading series. He lives in Baltimore.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A neo-noir thriller that grabs you by the throat and never lets go.
December 16, 2010
Format:Hardcover
"Someone stabbed the sun. It's dripping onto Baltimore, seeping through gauze clouds onto the cobblestone street, reflecting off wet tire tracks in pinpoint sparks like the ones that follow a two-by-four across the nose. It's dimming, dying, falling in slow motion, but the city is oblivious. Couples in matching jackets and complementary scarves walk arm-in-arm down Thames and through Fell's Point. They push strollers with babies double-wrapped in winter coats. Share hot chocolate and kiss the dot of whipped cream off their noses. Window-shop the poster place next-door, looking for the perfect thing for the TV room. Happy lives, happily self-contained in their happy little oblivious universes."
I've known of this book for years, been reading it in our Write Club workshop, and was thrilled when it landed with me at Otherworld Publications. Nik is one of my neo-noir brothers, a guy that doesn't mind laying on the mood, the setting, injecting the emotions, slapping you in the face with the harsh Baltimore weather, every grimy cobblestone on top of every chipped brick until you are immersed, a part of it all, trying to keep up, trying to find a way out, holding your breath as you turn the page.
Stay God is a neo-noir thriller, one that isn't afraid to go dark. But it's not one note. He puts your through the wringer, making you laugh, become friends with this cast of miscreants, understand their love, and then shatter it all in the blink of an eye.
Chuck Palahniuk said something like "Teach me something, make laugh, and then break my heart." Nik Korpon does this and more. It is a book I really enjoyed reading, from start to finish.
I've known of this book for years, been reading it in our Write Club workshop, and was thrilled when it landed with me at Otherworld Publications. Nik is one of my neo-noir brothers, a guy that doesn't mind laying on the mood, the setting, injecting the emotions, slapping you in the face with the harsh Baltimore weather, every grimy cobblestone on top of every chipped brick until you are immersed, a part of it all, trying to keep up, trying to find a way out, holding your breath as you turn the page.
Stay God is a neo-noir thriller, one that isn't afraid to go dark. But it's not one note. He puts your through the wringer, making you laugh, become friends with this cast of miscreants, understand their love, and then shatter it all in the blink of an eye.
Chuck Palahniuk said something like "Teach me something, make laugh, and then break my heart." Nik Korpon does this and more. It is a book I really enjoyed reading, from start to finish.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Everybody needs to read Stay Go d. The voice of the journey into drug addiction and paranoia is so genuine and the story writhes with realism and black humor. Korpon is a master at noir prose and his monologue is breathtaking. It is hard to know exactly what to feel when you finish this amazing book, but you know you'll ever be the same.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm never going to Baltimore. The urban decay, the violent crime, the junkies, the music, the Chinese takeout, the neighborhood dives, the loose women . . . okay, book me on the next thing smokin' to Baltimore.
In Korpon's debut novel, a couple runs the namesake pawn shop of the failing neon sign where you can walk in with a vacuum and leave with a Depeche Mode CD case containing enough bug powder to get you through the weekend. As things usually do whenever dealers become addicts, the economics get convoluted, ambitions evolve, and the spiral of paranoia and desperation inspires bad decisions and torches relationships while past skeletons tumble from their closet. But at the end of the day it's all about a girl and a nemesis, and the triangle between. And the movies and tunes through which their lives have been filtered.
With prose sharper than a broken bottle of Natty Boh, Korpon's street-smarts bleed through every line. Visceral, exhilarating descriptions breathe life into his doomed characters and the city they inhabit -- every snort, thrust, and sucker-punch. I've been following his short stories for years, and for my money, this is some of the best neo-noir out there.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see a man about a Duran Duran EP. That one they did for PolyGram records. (Get it? Gram? Eh. . .)
In Korpon's debut novel, a couple runs the namesake pawn shop of the failing neon sign where you can walk in with a vacuum and leave with a Depeche Mode CD case containing enough bug powder to get you through the weekend. As things usually do whenever dealers become addicts, the economics get convoluted, ambitions evolve, and the spiral of paranoia and desperation inspires bad decisions and torches relationships while past skeletons tumble from their closet. But at the end of the day it's all about a girl and a nemesis, and the triangle between. And the movies and tunes through which their lives have been filtered.
With prose sharper than a broken bottle of Natty Boh, Korpon's street-smarts bleed through every line. Visceral, exhilarating descriptions breathe life into his doomed characters and the city they inhabit -- every snort, thrust, and sucker-punch. I've been following his short stories for years, and for my money, this is some of the best neo-noir out there.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see a man about a Duran Duran EP. That one they did for PolyGram records. (Get it? Gram? Eh. . .)
By OzNoir
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
'Tiny spiders crawled in my throat and I tried to swallow them down to the acid and whiskey in my stomach'
`Stay Go D' is almost literary in its poetic prose and nihilistic narrative. Korpon, romanticises while inking the backdrop against Baltimore's seedy streets and chilling settings. Taking a minimalist approach in creating his vision of Bmore serves the bar-room-dwellers and pawn shop entrepreneurs well. The foreground compliments the changing character landscape allowing those central to the plot to take centre stage.
The protagonist of sorts, Damon, doesn't dabble in recreational drug abuse, preferring to feed his habit in monolithic proportion.The fiend-like behaviour is reflected in the novels' portrayal of his drug addled paranoia and almost liquid state of mind. Locations and personal interaction alike slide by one another as Korpon delivers Damon and his environs through wave-like lenses. You get the feeling solid ground is but a myth on account of Damon's daze of delusion and misfortune, as he butchers his body and soul for a future vision shared only by him.
Despite the obvious generalisation as this being a novel in line with the neo noir sub genre, at its core, 'Stay Go D' is really a confused love story hampered by the allure of cash and drugs. Damon's infatuation with his coworker, Mary, and obvious puppy love is paramount to the story's overall theme (notably the drug connection). In putting Mary on a pedestal, she assumes almost a mythical aura in light of Damon's misfiring synapse - I liked this, given Damon's rather skewed perspective - it worked rather well.
A portion of the ending felt like it was written for another book - the speed was consistent with the slow burn leading to the conclusion.... Read more ›
`Stay Go D' is almost literary in its poetic prose and nihilistic narrative. Korpon, romanticises while inking the backdrop against Baltimore's seedy streets and chilling settings. Taking a minimalist approach in creating his vision of Bmore serves the bar-room-dwellers and pawn shop entrepreneurs well. The foreground compliments the changing character landscape allowing those central to the plot to take centre stage.
The protagonist of sorts, Damon, doesn't dabble in recreational drug abuse, preferring to feed his habit in monolithic proportion.The fiend-like behaviour is reflected in the novels' portrayal of his drug addled paranoia and almost liquid state of mind. Locations and personal interaction alike slide by one another as Korpon delivers Damon and his environs through wave-like lenses. You get the feeling solid ground is but a myth on account of Damon's daze of delusion and misfortune, as he butchers his body and soul for a future vision shared only by him.
Despite the obvious generalisation as this being a novel in line with the neo noir sub genre, at its core, 'Stay Go D' is really a confused love story hampered by the allure of cash and drugs. Damon's infatuation with his coworker, Mary, and obvious puppy love is paramount to the story's overall theme (notably the drug connection). In putting Mary on a pedestal, she assumes almost a mythical aura in light of Damon's misfiring synapse - I liked this, given Damon's rather skewed perspective - it worked rather well.
A portion of the ending felt like it was written for another book - the speed was consistent with the slow burn leading to the conclusion.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific!
It's been a couple months since I read Stay God but I clearly remember a terrific debut from a talented writer. Nik Korpon writes the kind of noir that I love. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Edward V.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive . . .
Impressive . . . the one word that sums up what I think about Nik Korpon's debut. I was completely blown away with some of the descriptive passages in this book. Read more
Published on March 3, 2011 by Clark
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
