Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Missing People
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://fictiondoldrums.blogspot.com/
CITY: Chicago
STATE: IL
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.pontas-agency.com/brandon-s-graham-2/ * https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-s-graham-8b5839a/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.:
no2012144211
LCCN Permalink:
https://lccn.loc.gov/no2012144211
HEADING:
Graham, Brandon (Brandon S.)
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1_ |a Graham, Brandon |q (Brandon S.)
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1_ |a Graham, Brandon S.
670
__ |a Cornucopia, 2009: |b verso of sheet (Brandon Graham)
670
__ |a Artist’s blog, Sept. 25, 2012: |b profile page (Brandon S. Graham; lives in Downers Grove, Ill.) |u http://fictiondoldrums.blogspot.com/
670
__ |a Artist’s website, Sept. 25, 2012: |b cv/contact page (attended University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Mo. and Columbia College, Chicago, Ill.; specializes in ceramics, printmaking, and book and paper arts) |u http://gogopilcrow.com/
670
__ |a Missing people, 2017: |b ECIP t.p. (Brandon S. Graham)
670
__ |a Amazon.com, viewed on 09-19-2016: |b (Brandon S. Graham; a Southerner by birth and has lived in eight states and four countries, receiving three university degrees. He worked as a commercial pressman and an adjunct professor in Missouri as a gallery director in Nebraska. He studied in Budapest, Hungary and Dijon, France, with a summer spent as a barman in England. He eventually settled near Chicago, where he studied visual and written narrative at Columbia College for Book and Paper Arts, graduating with his MFA in 2008. He is the author of “Good for Nothing”)
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Attended the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg; Columbia College (Chicago, IL), M.F.A., 2008. Has also studied in Budapest, Hungary and Dijon, France.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Previously, worked as a barman, gallery director, adjunct professor, and commercial pressman.
WRITINGS
Good for Nothing was adapted for film.
SIDELIGHTS
Brandon S. Graham is a writer based in Chicago, Illinois. He holds a master’s degree from Columbia College and has attended the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, as well as schools in Dijon, France and Budapest, Hungary. Previously, Graham has worked as a barman, gallery director, adjunct professor, and commercial pressman.
Good for Nothing
In Good for Nothing, his first novel, Graham tells the story of Flip Mellis, a washed-up man in his middle age. He has recently lost his job, he is overweight and miserable, and his wife has kicked him out of their home. Seemingly unable to do anything right, Flip even tries and fails to kill himself. He eventually moves into a seedy trailer park called the Lakeside Motor Court. Though he has an interview on the horizon, Flip’s life continues to spiral downward.
A Publishers Weekly critic described Good for Nothing as “quirky and grim.” The same critic added: “There is dark humor here, and the story is by turns hilarious and poignant.” Referring to Graham, Jason E. Hodges, reviewer on the Dirt Worker’s Journal website, suggested: “He didn’t miss a beat with his descriptions of Dean. Not one thing was out of place. The main character, Flip was also spot on with his depression, his fears, his doubts, his addictions, and all of his self-loathing. Along with a cast of well thought out everyday folks swimming in a world hammered by a downturned economy, this book is truly a work of art. Brandon spared no expense when it came to pouring himself into writing this book. Good For Nothing is a well written piece of literature. It’s a must read.”
Missing People
In an interview with John B. Valeri, which appeared on Valeri’s self-titled blog, Graham compared his second novel, Missing People, with his first. He stated: “Good for Nothing is a dark social satire while Missing People is a psychological thriller. My intention is not to hop from genre to genre so much as to write a given situation in the way that fits best. There is a lyric from Leonard Cohen’s anthem that goes: ‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.'” In the same interview with Valeri, Graham discussed his intentions for his books, stating: “Creatively speaking, I’m interested in the narratives we try to tell the world, the narratives we tell ourselves to keep us moving day to day, and the secret narratives we don’t want anyone to see. I’m interested in the specific traumas that split us open revealing our gummy center, the way we react to that trauma, and how we put ourselves back together. Both books are about characters that try to cope with trauma.” Regarding the setting of Missing People, Graham told Valeri: “Placing my novel specifically in Chicago and the West Suburbs is a kind of love letter to the place I call home. It is also an important way of anchoring the narrative in reality, which is important for a project that starts as a free-floating concept in my brain.”
In the book, a teenager named Etta Messenger goes missing. Her boyfriend, her brother, and her parents all try to make sense of the event. Six years later, Etta has still not been found. Her parents grieving processes were incompatible, and they have ended their marriage. Her brother, Townes, consults Eastern religion for help with coping with his guilt surrounding Etta’s disappearance, while Parker, Etta’s former boyfriend, is now an Army vet with addiction issues. A contributor to Publishers Weekly offered a mixed review of Missing People. Though the contributor identified problems with the story, he or she concluded: “This disquieting novel does provide some catharsis for its characters.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, November 28, 2016, review of Good for Nothing, p. 42; November 28, 2016, review of Missing People, p. 50.
ONLINE
Dirt Worker’s Journal, http://jasonehodges.blogspot.com/ (June 23, 2014), Jason E. Hodges, review of Good for Nothing.
Fantastic Fiction, https://www.fantasticfiction.com/ (September 13, 2017), synopsis of Good For Nothing.
John B. Valeri Blog, https://johnbvaleri.wordpress.com/ (January 26, 2017), author interview.
Pontas Agency Website, http://www.pontas-agency.com/ (August 16, 2017), author profile.*
Brandon S. Graham
An unrepentant Southerner by birth, Brandon Graham has lived in eight states and four countries, receiving three university degrees. He worked as a commercial pressman and an adjunct professor in Missouri and as a gallery director in Nebraska. He studied in Budapest, Hungary and Dijon, France, with a summer spent as a barman in Chilham, England. He eventually settled near Chicago where he studied visual and written narrative at Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts, graduating with his MFA in 2008.
QUOTED: "Good for Nothing is a dark social satire while Missing People is a psychological thriller. My intention is not to hop from genre to genre so much as to write a given situation in the way that fits best. There is a lyric from Leonard Cohen’s anthem that goes: 'There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.'"
"Creatively speaking, I’m interested in the narratives we try to tell the world, the narratives we tell ourselves to keep us moving day to day, and the secret narratives we don’t want anyone to see. I’m interested in the specific traumas that split us open revealing our gummy center, the way we react to that trauma, and how we put ourselves back together. Both books are about characters that try to cope with trauma."
"Placing my novel specifically in Chicago and the West Suburbs is a kind of love letter to the place I call home. It is also an important way of anchoring the narrative in reality, which is important for a project that starts as a free-floating concept in my brain."
January 26, 2017
Today, I am joined by Brandon Graham.
Brandon is the author of Good for Nothing and Missing People, both published by Tyrus Books earlier this month. A Southerner by birth, he has lived in eight states and four countries, and currently resides in Chicago. Brandon studied visual and written narrative at Columbia College for Book and Paper Arts, graduating with his MFA in 2008; he has received three university degrees. Brandon’s previous careers include working as a commercial pressman and an adjunct professor in Missouri and as a gallery director in Nebraska. He studied in Budapest, Hungary and Dijon, France, with a summer spent as a barman in England.
Brandon Graham.jpg
Author Brandon Graham.
Praise for the author:
“This book could be the lovechild of Bill Bryson and Martin Amis…. But at its heart is a very serious point. It is about the tsunami of destruction that has hit Middle America since the financial crisis.”—Daily Mail on Good for Nothing
“Set in Chicago, this acute psychological study from Graham examines the devastating impact [of] the inexplicable disappearance of 17-year-old Etta Messenger. This disquieting novel does provide some catharsis for its characters.”—Publishers Weekly on Missing People
Good for Nothing Plot Synopsis:
Flip Mellis believes his recent past would be best described as: a man with his feet planted on terra firma. As a husband and father, he was a consistent breadwinner. As a business professional, he was a go-getter. For twenty years, he did all that was expected of him, if not much more.
But a job loss in his middle years, in the midst of a national economic crisis, has knocked Flip squarely on his big, soft ass, where he has been wallowing for nearly a year.
Over the course of one hectic week, replete with a cast of colorful characters, Flip is forced by circumstances of his own invention to finally get his life headed in the right direction. Like a pudgy, irritable toddler, he carefully tests his balance and lurches forward, stumbling around absurd obstacles and grasping for any solid purchase. Ultimately a spark of human resilience locked deep within his core begins to spread. The question becomes: will Flip’s best efforts be enough to lead him safely to redemption or will they merely lead to a futile, purely graceless, and quixotic crash?
good-for-nothing-high-res-cover
Missing People Plot Synopsis:
Six years after the traumatic disappearance of Etta Messenger, it’s clear that none of the members of her middle-class family have finished mourning. Gaping emotional wounds have been poorly addressed. Etta’s mother, Meg, anxious to find closure and make what she can of the rest of her life, has organized a memorial service to mark the painful anniversary. Newton, Etta’s erstwhile high school sweetheart, a disabled Afghanistan veteran with anger issues, uses the impending anniversary as a convenient excuse to spin out of control. Charlie, Etta’s earnest blue-collar father, takes stock of his life and is reminded how he failed to protect his daughter. Her younger brother, Townes, who was the last of them to see Etta and is convinced his emotional outburst drove his sister away, has his fragile hermetic cocoon threatened by the heightened emotions of the day.
On the day of the memorial, a snowstorm threatens the city, and a chance observation on a commuter train entangles Townes in a dangerous situation that recall the events surrounding Etta’s loss. The characters are shaken from their mournful routines by an unrelenting chain of events, including Newton’s arrest, Townes’ dangerous heroics, Charlie’s recognition of his own shortcomings, and Meg’s shocking discovery. The action moves from the seemingly serene suburbs to the heart of a dangerous Chicago neighborhood.
Will this ensemble of damaged characters pull themselves together in time, or will new stresses rip their tattered lives to shreds…
Now, Brandon Graham reveals the unlikely story of his triumphant emergence …
John Valeri: You have two books out from one American publisher on the same day. Tell us: what led to this unlikely occurrence, and how can this both help and hinder branding efforts?
Brandon Graham: I am not particularly versed in the ways of book marketing, and so I won’t predict the relative value of having my first two novels released in North America on the same day. But I can explain briefly how it came to be. I wrote Good for Nothing, wrote a query letter, and found an agency several years ago. My agents went to work. After many (many) months we had an offer from a small UK publisher and interest from both a large US publisher and a smaller, not-for-profit publisher. Each of the interested parties expected us to answer their offers. So we decided to accept the UK deal, reject the smaller US publisher offer, and wait for the larger publisher’s offer to develop. As often happens, the larger publisher passed. So the book was published, reviewed, and sold far away over the pond. It was great to have my book in the world. But it was unreal. I was unable to walk into my local bookshop and see a copy of my work, lift it from the shelf, heft its weight and know it was an actual artifact in the world. So I wrote Missing People. Good for Nothing continued to exist in an alternate reality. This summer my agents contacted me to say 1) Good for Nothing was being optioned for a movie, and 2) Missing People sold to a US publisher. In the weeks that followed, in conversation with my new US publisher, I suggested that Good for Nothing was still available. In short order it was also accepted for US publication and the decision was made to release them simultaneously. Practically speaking, it made the editing process schizophrenia inducing, constantly switching between the two narratives, and it does make readings more complicated. But there may be a synergistic buzz about the two titles. It is, after all, an uncommon situation.
JV: One of your books (Good for Nothing) is a satirical novel while the other (Missing People) is a psychological study. What moved you to write in such different veins – and how do you see human emotion as grounding both, whether it be through humor or heartbreak?
BG: Further complicating the simultaneity of the publication date, Good for Nothing is a dark social satire while Missing People is a psychological thriller. My intention is not to hop from genre to genre so much as to write a given situation in the way that fits best. There is a lyric from Leonard Cohen’s anthem that goes, “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Creatively speaking, I’m interested in the narratives we try to tell the world, the narratives we tell ourselves to keep us moving day to day, and the secret narratives we don’t want anyone to see. I’m interested in the specific traumas that split us open revealing our gummy center, the way we react to that trauma, and how we put ourselves back together. Both books are about characters that try to cope with trauma. Sometimes the trauma, as in Missing People, is an unexpected and unexplainable and feel like an act of god. Other times, as in Good for Nothing, it is largely self-inflicted. But in both the heart of the story is in exploring how the characters respond with strength and grace or with anger and self-abuse. I have a basic understanding that the most impressive of human of characteristics is the ability to get up after having been knocked down. My working theory is that the tropes of genre are mainly an engine to drive the narrative. Though, as I continue to understand the novel as an expressive form, I suspect I’ll find that my interests fit best in a certain category.
Missing People High Res Cover.jpg
JV: You currently make your home in Chicago, which is also the setting for Missing People. Does your backdrop acts as its own character within a story? Also, in what ways does place influence the ambiance of a narrative?
BG: A few years before I began writing Missing People, I read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It is set in post WWII Barcelona and the city itself is so visceral it becomes an important character (for lack of a better word) in the telling of the story. As someone who spent most of my early life as a nomad, the idea of place felt particularly powerful, important, and even magical. I moved to the Chicago area with my family eleven years ago. We fully expected to relocate after a few years. But it felt like a good place to stick. Now I’ve spent a quarter of my life here, it is as much a home as I have ever known. Novels are long projects, and staying put has had something to do with my ability to write longer pieces. Placing my novel specifically in Chicago and the West Suburbs is a kind of love letter to the place I call home. It is also an important way of anchoring the narrative in reality, which is important for a project that starts as a free-floating concept in my brain.
JV: You have traveled extensively. How have those experiences influenced your worldview – and in what ways do they inform your fiction?
BG: While staying put has helped me write, there is no doubt that my travels have informed my worldview and the issues I chose to highlight, the characters I populate my world with. As a boy I lived all over the south. I knew generous, warm, religious communities. I also knew violent, racist, angry hateful people. Sometimes those qualities lived in the same person. Later, when I traveled in Europe I adopted a Universalist philosophy. I believe humans are all interconnected; given the right circumstances we are strong or vulnerable, generous or defensive, capable of tremendous selflessness and unfathomable evil. There is a definition of art that says great art can hold opposing concepts in a kind of beautiful balance. I believe that. Further, I believe that expression of artistic perfect is a reflection of the human condition. Life is simple and complicated, as are we all.
JV: You studied visual and written narrative. In your opinion, what of these disciplines can be learned? Also, how do you view intrinsic talent and resilience as playing into a writer’s chances for success?
BG: Because of my background as a visual artist I have a unique perspective on writing. If I call myself a novelist, that brings to my mind the work of William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, Anne Beattie, Harry Crews, and Sandra Cisneros. These are giants in my mind. People I could never stand next to. But, I know how to make things. On any given day I may not have faith in my own ability, but do have an almost religious reverence for the creative process and my ability to participate in a process of making. In that way, when I sit down to write, I am able to swerve around the field of literature and think of what I’m doing as a kind of extended text art. Facing the blank page is, after all, just head game.
JV: Leave us with a teaser: what comes next?
BG: And so I write on. A couple of pages a day. I’m uncomfortable calling the new manuscript sequel to Missing People. Admittedly it is similar in tone, setting and structure. But it is largely a group of new characters I am getting to know, with the exception of one crotchety detective that plays a subordinate role in both stories. My intention is to finish the new book (with a working title of Half Dead) by the end of summer. Though I’m finding novels tend to have ideas of their own about schedule and content.
***
With thanks to Brandon Graham for his generosity of time and thought and to Bethany Carland-Adams, Publicity Manager at Adams Media, for facilitating this interview.
QUOTED: "quirky and grim"
"There is dark humor here, and the story is by turns hilarious and poignant."
7/28/17, 8(30 AM
Print Marked Items
Good for Nothing
Publishers Weekly.
263.48 (Nov. 28, 2016): p42. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Good for Nothing
Brandon S. Graham. Tyrus (F + W Media, dist.), $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5072-0162-6
Flip Mellis is a hapless middle-age man, fat and lazy, fired from his job, kicked out by his fed-up wife, and wallowing in self-pity and failure. He can't even commit suicide. Graham's second novel (after Missing People) is a quirky and grim portrayal of a man's life circling the drain; he knows it but is powerless to change anything, despite his empty words of hope. There is dark humor here, and the story is by turns hilarious and poignant. Flip stumbles from one goofy misunderstanding to another, chowing down on Lucky Charms and beer for breakfast, and burgers and glazed- donut shakes for lunch, convinced that "thinking never helped anything." He ends up living at the dumpy Lakeside Motor Court (the location is unspecified), planning for a job interview he knows he will blow, and promising his shrink that he won't try to kill himself for at least one more week. Flip's other dilemmas include deliberately damaging a police car, shoplifting, exposing himself in a bar, and making bad deals in a pawn shop. In this tragic comedy, nothing Flip does or says turns out well for him, and the laughs are all at his expense. Graham's message is clear: don't be like Flip. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Good for Nothing." Publishers Weekly, 28 Nov. 2016, p. 42+. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA473149879&it=r&asid=1d30fb12317eaba704385e3fa701da5f. Accessed 28 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A473149879
QUOTED: "This disquieting novel does provide some catharsis for its characters."
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7/28/17, 8(30 AM
Missing People
Publishers Weekly.
263.48 (Nov. 28, 2016): p50. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Missing People
Brandon S. Graham. Tyrus, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5072-0052-0
Set in Chicago, this acute psychological study from Graham (Good for Nothing) examines the devastating impact that the inexplicable disappearance of 17-year-old Etta Messenger has on her parents, Meg and Charlie; her brother, Townes; and her boyfriend, Newton Parker. Six years have passed, and Etta remains missing. Time has not been kind to those who cared for her. Meg and Charlie are divorced, both having absorbed the loss in their own way. The diffident Townes, who still lives with his mother, struggles with feelings of guilt and seeks guidance in Taoist teachings. Parker, who enlisted in the Army right after Etta disappeared, lost a leg in Afghanistan and now leads a life fueled by anger, alcohol, and drugs. Meg plans a memorial for Etta, and Townes decides to try to thwart an attempted abduction of a girl who reminds him of Etta. Readers expecting a conventional murder mystery may be disappointed, but this disquieting novel does provide some catharsis for its characters. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Missing People." Publishers Weekly, 28 Nov. 2016, p. 50. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA473149903&it=r&asid=74c8efad29d37bb1c05673d7a991cdc5. Accessed 28 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A473149903
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Good for Nothing (2017)
A novel by Brandon S Graham
"...Very funny, painfully observant, no-holds-barred...A brilliant book..."
Audrey Niffenegger
"Enchanted by Good For Nothing..." --Stephen Fry
"This book could be the lovechild of Bill Bryson and Martin Amis.... But at its heart is a very serious point. It is about the tsunami of destruction that has hit Middle America since the financial crisis." --Daily Mail
Flip Mellis believes his recent past would be best described as: a man with his feet planted on terra firma. As a husband and father, he was a consistent breadwinner. As a business professional, he was a go-getter. For twenty years, he did all that was expected of him, if not much more.
But a job loss in his middle years, in the midst of a national economic crisis, has knocked Flip squarely on his big, soft ass, where he has been wallowing for nearly a year.
Over the course of one hectic week, replete with a cast of colorful characters, Flip is forced by circumstances of his own invention to finally get his life headed in the right direction. Like a pudgy, irritable toddler, he carefully tests his balance and lurches forward, stumbling around absurd obstacles and grasping for any solid purchase. Ultimately a spark of human resilience locked deep within his core begins to spread. The question becomes: will Flip's best efforts be enough to lead him safely to redemption or will they merely lead to a futile, purely graceless, and quixotic crash?
QUOTED: "He didn’t miss a beat with his descriptions of Dean. Not one thing was out of place. The main character, Flip was also spot on with his depression, his fears, his doubts, his addictions, and all of his self-loathing. Along with a cast of well thought out everyday folks swimming in a world hammered by a downturned economy, this book is truly a work of art. Brandon spared no expense when it came to pouring himself into writing this book. Good For Nothing is a well written piece of literature. It’s a must read."
Larry Brown once said, “You take what you're given, whether it's the cornfields of the Midwest or the coal mines of West Virginia, and you make your fiction out of it. It's all you have. And somehow, wherever you are, it always seems to be enough.”
Brandon Graham’s book, Good For Nothing, is an incredible read. Like Brown, he has an uncanny ability to sculpt his writing from the world he sees every day. His words are strong and drowning in truth.
Book Description from Amazon: “In Flip Mellis's recent past he had, by his own assessment, his feet planted squarely on terra firma. As a husband and father he was a consistent breadwinner. As a business professional, he was a go-getter. For twenty years he did all that was expected of him, if not much more. But a job loss in his middle years, in the midst of a national economic crisis, knocked Flip squarely on his big, soft ass where he has been wallowing for nearly a year. Over the course of one hectic week, replete with a cast of colourful characters, Flip is forced by circumstances of his own invention to finally get his life headed in the right direction. Like a pudgy, irritable toddler he carefully tests his balance and lurches forward, stumbling around absurd obstacles and grasping for any solid purchase. Good For Nothing is told with dark and sometimes macbre tone that is lifted by its fast pace and quick verbal wit. Ultimately a spark of human resilience locked deep within the core of this deeply flawed protagonist begins to spread. The question becomes: will Flip's best efforts be enough to lead him safely to redemption or will they merely lead to a futile, purely graceless and quixotic crash.”
Before we get into my review of his book we have to go back to the beginning. The reasons I bought his book in the first place and believe in Brandon as a writer. For me, everything starts a few years before Good For Nothing ever existed.
I got an email from Brandon introducing himself as a fellow writer. He had run across my bio on the web and read I had once interviewed Harry Crews. Brandon, being a fan of Crews, was intrigued by this and reached out to me. We exchanged a few emails back and forth over the next few days talking about Crews and other writers that had inspired us along the way. At some point I mentioned how I had first wanted to become a writer after discovering William S. Burroughs in the late nineteen eighties. He wrote back saying he once sat beside Burroughs in a Kansas City diner. A place where hardcore drinkers, homeless men, and drag queens have a big cheap short order breakfast. Brandon was there drinking loads of coffee around five thirty a.m. when Burroughs walked in and sat beside him. He would go on to say he had a second encounter with Burroughs. One of Brandon’s friends told him that during the first week of each month Burroughs would show up to a local convenience store where his friend worked and buy the newest issue of Guns and Ammo and Soldier of Fortune. Two months later Brandon took a chance and hung out with his friend at work. The second day, Burroughs came in, went to the Magazine rack and bought the titles his friend had described. Brandon walked over, told Burroughs he was a fan and that they had sat together at the Kansas City Dinner sometime earlier.
After looking over his bio, I knew Brandon had attended Columbia and was an educated man. Don’t get me wrong. An education is always a good thing for an author to have, but life experiences are equally important. After reading these stories about Brandon’s interaction with Burroughs, I was more than intrigued by the possibilities of what he might write. I knew if he was hanging out in a diner that Burroughs would frequent along with drag queens and homeless folks, Brandon would have plenty of interesting subject matter to work with. He would learn things about human behavior, things you just can’t be taught in school. Material that later in his book would become descriptive jewels that would outshine a lot of the literature printed today.
I’ve always felt any good storyteller pulls from his or her own experiences to paint their picture. What they’ve lived through and been a part of. Like Larry Brown, Brandon is one of these storytellers. When you read his work you feel his words are heavy with life’s hard lessons. Yet, there’s another side to his characters that are so lifelike and caring, you have to remind yourself you are still reading fiction.
In Good For Nothing, Brandon’s character Dean was so wise and so hauntingly real I felt Brandon had more than likely written, and rewritten himself into exhaustion to bring him to life. He didn’t miss a beat with his descriptions of Dean. Not one thing was out of place. The main character, Flip was also spot on with his depression, his fears, his doubts, his addictions, and all of his self-loathing. Along with a cast of well thought out everyday folks swimming in a world hammered by a downturned economy, this book is truly a work of art.
Brandon spared no expense when it came to pouring himself into writing this book. Good For Nothing is a well written piece of literature.
It’s a must read that will have you yearning for what will come next. Well worth every cent and then some. Get a copy today.