Fiddlesticks

WINNER OF THE 26TH INTERNATIONAL THREE DAY NOVEL CONTEST.

The first draft of the book you are holding between your hopefully well-washed hands was the winner of the 26th Annual International 3-day Novel Contest. As the name suggests, this is held every year, with over 400 entries at a time.

You can find out more about this estimable competition at www.bluelakebooks.com.

Naturally we would not dream of asking you to buy a novel that only took three days to write. How could it possibly be any good?

So while the bones of the book were constructed over three heart-wrenching days, let us assure you that the flesh was lovingly and artfully constructed word by sweat-induced word over a period of years while the author struggled for scraps in the streets, writing with the blood that welled from his chewn fingers because he couldn’t afford a pen.

The tiny proportion of the proceeds from the publication of this book that he receives will be passed on to his ailing family, not blown on booze and broads.

We hope this makes you feel a little better about your impending purchase decision.

So what's it all about?

Bemused by the end of his marriage, the narrator is tricked by his imaginary horse into travelling to legendary Frisco, where he can pretend to be a bohemian writer. There he learns to fly, becomes invisible, falls into a toilet, makes lots of lists and discovers something very strange about a certain part of his anatomy.

But most importantly, he meets a girl with black holes instead of eyes, and discovers love or something scarily like it.

Not quite fiction, not quite a memoir, Fiddlesticks combines absurdist humor with moments of strange sadness.