Valley (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Like Mike (or Mick) himself, [Valley] is not normal, but, it is indeed, well. Pick it up and it seems ordinary enough... flip through it, on the other hand, and you will do a double take. The mixing of styles from chapter to chapter make it look more like the hodgepodge of an anthology, but the narrative is continuous. -- Lodown Magazine, Germany, January 1999

Mike Daily's sensibility is seriously skewed ... [Valley is] an epic of fragmentation and disjointed thought processes, cutting from genre to genre (screenplay, poetry, journalism, even a college science lecture), with deliberately unrelenting commentary in the form of margin writings, footnotes, snapshots, bludgeoning headline-size type, and illustrations bleeding off the page. It should logically be a jarring, disjointed read. Miraculously it isn't. The reason is Daily's uncanny fluidity and rhythm. -- Level Magazine, UK, March 1999

The book jumps from genre to genre turning the author, Mike Daily, into a young Frankenstein, concocting his own literary monster [by using] a pastiche of journal entries, newspaper clippings, poetry and screenplay scenes ... It is Daily's trade as an editor that allows him the insight of scrutinizing the mundane, turning a bland, everyday occurrence into a profound revelation. By the book's end you're bound to realize that, yes, we are all crazy in our own special way. -- Warp Magazine, Feb. 1999

Product Description

Novel. "...the book jumps from genre to genre, turning the author, Mike Daily, into a young Frankenstein, concocting his own literary monster [by using] a pastiche of journal entries, newspaper clippings, poetry and screenplay scenes..."--Warp Magazine. Daily's novel begins with a list of the zero other books he has written and ends with several blank pages for "notes," and, at points between, touches on topics ranging from Dostoevsky to the absence of the letter "Q" on most soda machines. The book is tentatively set in the post-apocalyptic/ present-day moonscape of the San Fernando Valley, sports chapter-titles such as "long-distance methamphetamine lamentations" and "the bathroom god," and features hand-written marginalia, a burnt page "specially singed [sic] by the poet," and a pervasive sense of aesthetic indeterminacy interrupted regularly by bouts of hilarity: "Freya was making dinner and I was leafing through Gunshot and Stab Wounds, a brochure I must have picked up at the hospital, when someone knocked at the door." Daily lives in the San Fernando Valley, where he edits international BMX magazines.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Bend Press (November 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964359820
• ISBN-13: 978-0964359826
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,703,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outside the Lines, December 1, 1999

By	Oliver Schoolberg (Shreveport, La) - See all my reviews

Mike Daily colors outside the lines. With his book on Bend Press he surpasses the boundaries of conventional novels. He not only does it with form but also subject matter.

If you just pick up valley and flip through it, you might think there had been a malfunction at the printer. Daily uses several different forms to convey his stories. Some of it does look like a regular novel. In other areas it is written like a play. Some of this book is peotry. There is also a part of this book that is written like a film script. But each of the forms work in this book. With the form of this book changing several times, it really keeps you involved. I was asked what is this novel about? I was stumped. This book is about nothing but at the same time this book is about everything. This semi autobiographical novel's main character is Mick O'Grady. Mick thinks. He tries to find rhyme and reason in everyday minutia. It seems that the subject matter is disjointed from chapter to chapter as you read it. After you finish you realize what this book lacks in a coherent linear story line, it makes up for it in its coherence in tonality and overall feeling. It has been awhile since Mike Daily has had the freedom like he did with his old zine Aggro Rag. After seeing what is churned out monthly in BMX Plus, I kind of forgot how well Daily writes. This novel was a breath of fresh air. There is no doubt in my mind that BMX Plus would have the crediblilty it lacks now if Mike Daily were allowed to write with the freedom he had while writing this book. I really liked this book, I haven't enjoyed a book this much since I read Irving Welsh. Valley is more of an experience than a book. Some of the words will stick inside your head like peanut butter to the top of your mouth. Own this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars odd and sweet, September 27, 2000

By	J. T. Towers "author and editor" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this on a recommendation from a friend who's never been wrong, and still isn't. This is an odd little episodic novel about a slacker type dealing with life issues. The deadpan voice may turn some readers off, but I found that the character is emotionally knotted enough that it rings true rather than contrived. It's also a strangely sweet book, incredibly honest, with weird little pomo pieces like poetry and side notes that add rather than detract from the book as a package.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Revolutionary Novel that came from nowhere!, July 12, 1999

By A Customer

For years Mike Daily has been the editor of BMX Plus! magazine, don't look to that magazine for the wonderful writings in Valley though. For readers of the now defunct magazines that Daily worked on, (like Aggro Rag) we are delighted to see that he is still capable of turning out an amazing product. Valley is an amazing book. It reminds me of a very twisted Douglas Coupland. ...which is a very good thing.