Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Kill Me Now
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://underratedanimals.wordpress.com/
CITY: Baltimore
STATE: MD
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Baltimore, MD.
EDUCATION:University of Baltimore, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Teacher and author. Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, ESL teacher; Community College of Baltimore County, English teacher; Stevenson University, Pikesville, MD, English teacher. Worked previously for Crazyhorse. Baltimore National Heritage Area, Urban Park Ranger; Charm City Food Tour, history and culinary tour guide.
AWARDS:Semmes G. Walsh Award, Baker Artist Awards, 2015.
WRITINGS
Also author of The Ghosts That Surrounded Them, Dig That Book Co., 2015. Contributor to periodicals, including Atticus Review, Necessary Fiction, and Wigleaf.
SIDELIGHTS
Timmy Reed primarily devotes his time to teaching and writing. He works under Morgan State University, where he leads ESL classes, as well as under the Community College of Baltimore County and Stevenson University, where he leads courses in English. His writing can be found in several publications, including Atticus Review and the “Top 50” list published by Wigleaf. Reed has also released his own books, such as The Ghosts That Surrounded Them and Miraculous Fauna.
The novel, Kill Me Now, focuses on Miles Lover, a young man who is deeply troubled and on a self-destructive path. His parents have separated, so he is forced to travel from one home to the other. His bond with his family is fractured as a result. On top of this, Miles is isolated from everyone else around him, giving him no one to truly talk to about his struggles. What few friends he has don’t have any real bond with him. He spends his days hiding out in the house he and his family used to live in, as well as indulging in drugs, fighting, and roaming through the neighborhood on his skateboard. Miles begins to find his situation changing when he encounters Mr. Reese, who lives on the same street Miles previously resided on. Mr. Reese is elderly and lives with the help of a home nurse. Over time, Mr. Reese and Miles begin to form a friendship that involves sharing the weed Miles buys from his dealer, as well as Miles venting to Mr. Reese about his troubles. In the process of getting to know Mr. Reese, Miles begins to learn more about himself as well. Miles details the events of his life through his personal journal, which also serves as the narrative’s framing device.
Voice of Youth Advocates contributor Aileen Valdes remarked: “This is a recommended purchase.” A reviewer in an issue of Publishers Weekly said: “Reed captures all the hilarious grossness of being a teenage boy in this solid coming-of-age story.” In an issue of Booklist, Michael Cart wrote: “Teens will likely be delighted by this appealing coming-of-age story, which could easily have been published as a YA.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called the book “a coming-of-age story capturing male adolescence in all its disgusting, irrational, and messy glory.” Emily Butler, writing in School Library Journal, felt the book was “a solid addition for libraries in need of realistic fiction.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 1, 2017, Michael Cart, review of Kill Me Now, p. 14.
Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2017, review of Kill Me Now.
Publishers Weekly, November 6, 2017, review of Kill Me Now, p. 58.
School Library Journal, December, 2017, Emily Butler, Emily, review of Kill Me Now, p. 112.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2017, Aileen Valdes, review of Kill Me Now, p. 61.
ONLINE
Baltimore Fishbowl, http://baltimorefishbowl.com/ (February 6, 2018), Marion Winik, “Q&A with Baltimore Writer Timmy Reed, Author of ‘Kill Me Now,’” author interview.
JMWW, https://jmwwblog.wordpress.com/ (April 27, 2016), Michael Tager, review of Miraculous Fauna.
Timmy Reed Weblog, https://underratedanimals.wordpress.com (March 28, 2018), author profile.
TIMMY REED is a writer, teacher, and native of Baltimore, Maryland. He received his MFA from University of Baltimore. Reed is the author of the books IRL, Miraculous Fauna, and The Ghosts That Surrounded Them. His short fiction has been featured in the Wigleaf Top 50 on multiple occasions and has appeared in Necessary Fiction and the Atticus Review among other publications. In 2015, he won the Baker Artist Awards Semmes G. Walsh Award. He teaches English at Stevenson University and Community College of Baltimore County and English as a Second Language at Morgan State University.
Q&A with Baltimore Writer Timmy Reed, Author of ‘Kill Me Now’
By Marion Winik -
February 6, 2018
Kill Me Now, by local author Timmy Reed, is the journal of a skateboarder named Miles Lover kept over the summer between 8th grade and high school. Miles has divorced parents who live on opposite ends of Roland Park, younger twin sisters, and no friends — though he does see a fair bit of his pot dealer, whom he calls the Beaster Bunny. Midway through the summer, he develops a relationship with an old guy from the neighborhood named Mister Reese, along with his health aide, Diamontay, and their giant boa constrictor, Tickles.
Though Miles has grown up being called Retard, retarded is the last thing this kid is. He is a philosopher-sage for the ages. Here’s a taste of his life wisdom.
On going to the gym:
“Why don’t people just go DO something once in a while if they want to shed pounds. Explore, Climb a tree. Get in a fistfight. Whatever. What do they need a conveyor belt and a room full of mirrors for?”
On time:
“Time was always cheating me somehow. Holidays never came on time, and they rushed past like airplanes out the sunroof when they did. There was always something like five years between Christmas and my birthday.”
On careerism:
“People’s lives start to suck when they decide they want to BE something. They get stuck. It’s like they BECOME their job. From then on, all their time is for sale. A person’s time on earth is not the best bargaining chip in my opinion. Mostly because you can never replace it. But also because you never know how much time you’ve got left.”
On his mother announcing she is going to relax:
“If you’re really relaxing, you don’t have to talk about it. You don’t even THINK about it. I doubt very much that she’s ever been completely relaxed. Even in sleep.”
On kids at school who say “you can’t do that”:
“I can’t fly or shoot lasers out my eyes or anything gnarly and superhuman like that, but if I want to grab an extra rice pudding at the lunch line or forge a hall pass, then I’m gonna fucking do it. I mean, it is physically possible to steal pudding. School rules aren’t exactly the laws of gravity.”
Nothing much happens to Miles over the summer. He rides through the pouring rain to buy some weed, he argues with a kid named Donald about what vaginas look like, he gets beaten up by a gang of Govans boys at the Dunkin Donuts. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book for local readers will be the avalanche of Baltimore specifics.Many private schools and neighborhoods are mentioned by name, the skate route from Pigtown to Fells Point is laid out in detail, and a secret beauty spot under the JFX called Round Falls is revealed. Perhaps it’s no surprise: Like Miles, Timmy grew up on North Charles St., and he’s a Towson Catholic alum.
We caught up with the author to ask a few questions.
Baltimore Fishbowl: You must have fainted when local literary celebrity Madison Smartt Bell said he wanted to be your agent! Tell us how that happened.
MSB and I knew each other a little bit —
BFB: How did you meet?
We first met a long time ago when I was an undergraduate at College of Charleston and working at Crazyhorse literary journal. He came down and held a reading at the school. Flash forward a number of years and I have moved back home. We met at a reading for this Baltimore LED haiku-project thing it seemed like every writer in town was involved with.
BFB: I was, but my haiku was really embarrassing.
Madison ended up getting a copy of my novel The Ghosts That Surrounded Them, which is a strange, experimental novel full of the ghosts of everyday life and the suburban familial discord that creates them. He enjoyed the book a lot, and after that, he wrote a blurb for my novella, IRL. But it was really great news when he got in touch with me and let me know he was going to be working as an agent and wanted me on the roster. Working with Madison is rewarding and comforting in a way because he is a writer and a real artist first and foremost, which is something I can put a lot of trust in. Plus, he’s just a cool dude.
BFB: It lists here six previous books. You have published six previous books? In like five years or something? How is that?
The first one came out in 2013 when I was finishing graduate school at the University of Baltimore and things just started snowballing after that, I guess. The Ghosts That Surrounded Them came out, then Miraculous Fauna, Stray/Pest, Star Backwards, IRL, now this one, each from a different publishing house. I didn’t write any of them in the order in which they appeared. Two and a half, including Kill Me Now, were drafted before I entered graduate school.
BFB: Were these previous books published locally?
No, none of them. Do we even have any local presses that publish full-length fiction? One of my books came out in Nashville, another LA, another St. Louis, another San Francisco, another England. Counterpoint is in Berkeley and they are the largest indy publisher in America, which is nice.
BFB: You didn’t have an agent before MSB, right? So how did you make the connections with these presses?
Before Madison approached me, it had never even occurred to me to even want a literary agent to be honest. I had never contacted one and wasn’t even sure who would be the right person to contact if I had wanted to. I had heard so many nightmare stories about agents from other writers, too. My writing had always felt most natural at small, independent presses, which also happen to be the types of presses I most read.
Since small presses don’t often pay very well and they usually accept unsolicited, un-agented submissions during their call periods, it never made sense to reach out to an agent, or at least that’s what I thought. I had already been publishing a lot of short fiction in indy journals and websites, so small press editors were familiar enough with my work that I never really needed an agent until I had one. Of course, now I wish I had had MSB on my team for all of the other books as well! You live and learn and sometimes get lucky.
BFB: Do you write all the time? I mean, I get a lot of work done too, but I have ten books and I’m 60. You’re going to have 100 books by the time you’re my age! Do you have a job? How does it work?
I have too many jobs! I teach English at Stevenson University, University of Baltimore, and CCBC, and some semesters I teach ESL at Morgan State. I also give culinary/history tours for Charm City Food Tours and work as an Urban Park Ranger for Baltimore National Heritage Area. I definitely do not get to write every day anymore, but I am not sure I need to. I find that a lot of writing for me is more about managing my mood/energy than my time. If I can get myself in the mood to write, the time will exist and I will be able to make the most of it. Now, because of how draining an adjunct teaching schedule can be, I find it often comes in short, productive bursts. I also had to learn that writing is often about not writing. In other words, I don’t need to be slaving away in front of the keyboard or notebook to be “working” on a novel.
BFB: I really agree with that! Not writing is also writing! … One of the most moving aspects of the book was Miles’ sympathy for his mother. It is really heartbreakingly sweet, how much he cares about her and sees her as a real person in a way that is very rare for a teenager. Is this relationship autobiographical?
Well, I am not Miles and my mother is not his mother, but do love my mother deeply and am very close to her.
BFB: Well, your mom herself told me that she drinks Bud Lights and smokes Marlboros. I felt like this mom, with her anxiety and her housecleaning and her workaholism might be pretty close to the real thing. No?
They both drink Miller Lite and enjoy a clean house, but my mom has these two guys come over to help her clean. My mom was a career woman, and would probably still like to be one if someone would give her a shot, but she wasn’t the inspiration for Miles’ mother. Only in superficial details. She was more a part of the inspiration for the mother in my mother-daughter saint-zombie road trip novel, Miraculous Fauna, which is dedicated to her.
BFB: Fourteen-year-old Miles smokes both cigarettes and weed, drinks, takes acid, phenobarbital and ketamine… and I’ve probably missed a few substances along the way. He’s kind of like a character from Superbad — a crazy combination of a loser and a badass. Have you gotten any flak about any of this?
Not really. I think the Student Library Journal mentioned it as a kind of caveat but they gave the book a good review. Maybe on Goodreads or some site, I saw somebody complaining that they wished he was a little bit older, which I thought was funny because it is not like they are raising him or whatever, right? But drugs are a part of life and very often are they a part of growing up. Miles is definitely alive and growing and on drugs. To be honest, I don’t think Miles encounters as many drugs in Baltimore as I remember encountering at the same age. I thought I toned that aspect down to an extent. Kids in this town often have seen far more drugs than Miles by his age.
BFB: What are you working on now? Are you working with Madison on it?
Yep. I am working with MSB on all my full-length fiction stuff, which is basically all I am writing these days although I do have a poetry chapbook coming out in England at the end of the month. Right now I am knee-deep into the manuscript for a new novel. It is currently titled The Suicide Button and takes place here in Baltimore. Have you ever wondered why someone might wear a seatbelt to commit suicide by auto? I have. This book looks a little bit into a specific suicide, as well as the issue of suicidal ideation in general. The protagonist and his Saudi ESL student travel around Baltimore playing suicide detective in a way, although nobody asked them too. I’d tell you more, but I need to finish it first. Hell, at this point, for all I know there could be dragons.
Timmy Reed is appearing in conversation with me at Bird in Hand on Thursday, February 8th at 7 pm. He’ll be at the JHU Barnes and Noble, 3330 St. Paul, on March 8th at 7 pm.
Biography
Timmy Reed is a writer and teacher from Baltimore, Maryland. He spends a lot of his free time dreaming because its mostly what he can afford. Go to the Publications page or any of the book pages (they are marked by title) and start clicking on links to read and/or purchase things. You can be confident he probably loves you. Represented by Madison Smartt Bell at Pande Literary: http://pandeliterary.com/pl_author/timmy-reed/
Reed, Timmy. Kill Me Now
Aileen Valdes
Voice of Youth Advocates. 40.5 (Dec. 2017): p61.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
Reed, Timmy. Kill Me Now. Counterpoint/ Perseus, January 2018. 240p. $26. 978-1-61902-537-0.
1Q * 2P * S * A/YA
Troubled Baltimore teen Miles Lover is ambling away his summer. On probation for being caught at a fight, Miles would rather spend his days (and nights) doing drugs and drinking, fantasizing about girls, and skateboarding. He shuffles back and forth between his mother and father, in the middle of a bitter divorce, and receives no true support or guidance from anyone. The only constant in his life is the journal in which he confesses all of his thoughts. That is, until he meets his odd, elderly neighbor Mr. Reese, the first person not only to give Miles advice about life, but also to actually listen to him and treat him like a person.
Author and teacher Reed, a Baltimore native, presents a novel about a lost teen through a stream-of-consciousness journal. Although full of relatable feelings for teens--rebelling against parents and authority, dealing with siblings, and wading through different kinds of relationships--the amount of derogatory stereotypes, profanity, and sexual content on every page does not move the plot along. While the journal is Miles's confessional, he never seems to grow or change as a character, especially because the plotline with Mr. Reese, one of the few redeeming points of the novel, does not begin until the last quarter of the book. Teens looking for stream-of-consciousness-style books can turn to authors like Patrick Ness and Tahereh Mafi; those interested in gritty, urban fiction would be better served by Ellen Hopkins, Jason Reynolds, or Kwame Alexander. This is a recommended purchase.--Aileen Valdes.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Valdes, Aileen. "Reed, Timmy. Kill Me Now." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2017, p. 61. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522759434/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bf5a8c26. Accessed 20 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522759434
Kill Me Now
Publishers Weekly. 264.45 (Nov. 6, 2017): p58+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Kill Me Now
Timmy Reed. Counterpoint (PGW, dist.), $26
(240p) ISBN 978-1-61902-537-0
The funny if inconsistent latest from Reed (IRL) follows 14-year-old Miles Lover, nicknamed "Retard," through the summer before he begins high school in Baltimore. Though he has a summer assignment to write an essay about him self, he is distracted by skateboarding, brawling, and obsessing about body parts and effluvia. Meanwhile, his former, empty house offers refuge from his parents' bitter divorce and the torture inflicted upon him by his younger twin sisters. If it weren't for Mister Reese, the old man down the street with whom he smokes weed, he'd have no nurturing at all. Miles's narrative voice is neurotic and funny, but as summer drags on, he has little to do but get in trouble, which can grow tedious. Luckily, his friendship with Mister Reese and Resee's home health aide, Nurse Brown, adds necessary warmth and provides him with sources of wisdom. Reed captures all the hilarious grossness of being a teenage boy in this solid coming-of-age story. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kill Me Now." Publishers Weekly, 6 Nov. 2017, p. 58+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514056583/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=aa549220. Accessed 20 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514056583
Kill Me Now
Booklist. 114.5 (Nov. 1, 2017): p14.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Kill Me Now.
By Timmy Reed.
Jan. 2018. 240p. Counterpoint, $26 (9781619025370).
Fourteen-year-old Miles has an unfortunate nickname: Retard. He's not quite sure how he got it, but he accepts it, as he acknowledges in the journal he's keeping, which provides the text of this charming novel. In it, he admits to his habit of getting in trouble at school and getting arrested twice. But he's a good kid. It's the summer before high school, and nothing of particular note is happening. Oh, he develops a crush on a 12-year-old girl who is a friend of his twin sisters, watches a ton of TV, smokes a boatload of pot, pops the occasional pill, and hangs out with guys his age who aren't really friends--just, well, guys. He does make one true friend, though: an elderly neighbor named Mr. Reese, whom his sisters insist is a serial killer but who is, instead, a retired magician. So, pretty ordinary, right? What distinguishes the book is Miles' voice: introspective, self-aware, wry, and honest. Miles never kids himself or the reader or his journal, for that matter. The result is a delightful coming-of-age story that repays the reading.--Michael Cart
YA: Teens will likely be delighted by this appealing coming-of-age story, which could easily have been published as a YA. MC.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kill Me Now." Booklist, 1 Nov. 2017, p. 14. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515382908/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=07644947. Accessed 20 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A515382908
Reed, Timmy: KILL ME NOW
Kirkus Reviews. (Oct. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Reed, Timmy KILL ME NOW Counterpoint (Adult Fiction) $26.00 1, 23 ISBN: 978-1-61902-537-0
In the summer before high school, a down-on-his-luck outsider turns to the only thing he trusts: his journal.
Miles Lover--or Retard, as his "friends" have dubbed him--hates a lot of things: school, his parents, his younger twin sisters, his old house, his neighbors, bodily functions, death, and seemingly everything in between. He takes too many drugs, drinks too much, and skates too hard. The diary structure--and lack of dated entries--evokes the feeling of endless summer that Miles hates so much. The book meanders and unfolds based on whatever Miles feels compelled to divulge at the moment, the short vignettes swinging rapidly from honesty to bluster in true teenage fashion. Sometimes he writes about his recent crush or ruminates on innocuous idioms, and other times he contemplates his parents' divorce and his own mortality. Though Miles loses his temper and never seems to do anything right, Reed (Miraculous Fauna, 2016, etc.) offers empathetic glimpses into his psyche, including his incessant worrying about his mother and tenderness toward animals and nature. Reed convincingly writes a three-dimensional teenager whose self-consciousness, emotions, and hormones threaten to crush him. What Miles wants to do and what he does are constantly at odds; for a boy who always fights with his mother, he surprises himself throughout the book with his caring ("Sometimes after my mother goes to bed, I come and tuck her in for the night"). Near the end of the summer, Miles' luck seems to change when his path crosses with that of his new elderly neighbor, Mister Reese, who his sisters believe is a murderer. The newfound friendship provides some of the most self-aware moments of his summer, which feel not only earned, but necessary.
A coming-of-age story capturing male adolescence in all its disgusting, irrational, and messy glory.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Reed, Timmy: KILL ME NOW." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509244106/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c9a0f7fd. Accessed 20 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509244106
REED, Timmy. Kill Me Now
Emily Butler
School Library Journal. 63.12 (Dec. 2017): p112.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
REED, Timmy. Kill Me Now. 240p. Counterpoint. Jan. 2018. Tr $26. ISBN 9781619025370.
Gr 9 Up-The summer before he begins high school, Miles Lover struggles with his parents' divorce, his relationship with twin sisters, crushes, and his less-than-enviable reputation. His parents' old house has not yet been sold and it becomes a place for Miles to escape. A friendly older neighbor at his mother's condo befriends Miles and gives him advice that leads him to rethink who his true friends are. Written in the form of a journal, this novel is highly realistic and will be relatable for many teens. Reed's highly descriptive writing style fully immerses readers in the often gross yet sometimes profound perspective of a 14-year-old boy. While the book certainly does not seem to advocate drug abuse, some readers may be frustrated that Miles's addiction struggles (as well as his mother's) are not adequately addressed within the story. There are several loose ends left dangling and Miles has a lot of growing left to do. Still, this is part of what makes this book unflinchingly realistic. Readers who like fast-paced, plot-driven novels with neat endings should look elsewhere, but those who crave a believable story will not be disappointed. VERDICT A solid addition for libraries in need of realistic fiction.--Emily Butler, Deerfield Academy, MA
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Butler, Emily. "REED, Timmy. Kill Me Now." School Library Journal, Dec. 2017, p. 112. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A516634129/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=215bf6ec. Accessed 20 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A516634129
Review: Miraculous Fauna by Timmy Reed (reviewed by Michael Tager)
April 27, 2016 · by jmwwblog · in Reviews. ·
Miraculous Fauna
by Timmy Reed
228 Pages
Underground Voices, 2016
Softcover, $10.99
ISBN: 0990433153
There’s a scene in the middle of Miraculous Fauna where Bobbi and her teen-aged zombie daughter come across an abandoned amusement park in the middle of the desert. Instead of despairing or embracing disappointment, the mother and daughter ignore the barren waste and instead accept the reality and attempt to find the good. When the lights come on and broken, atonal music plays, Bobbi finds the joy in half of a small miracle. She’s long-suffering, long-lonely. And she smiles at misery.
Miraculous Fauna, the newest novel by Timmy Reed, is a road trip in the manner of an American Job, if Job was a single mother with a vaguely demonic Immaculate Conception baby. Bobbi meets a handsome man in a graveyard who may or may not be the devil. She is impregnated and the result is a zombie baby who grows but fails to mature. Bobbi hits the road, abandoning her foster mother, the US government (who are obviously interested in the baby) and searches for enlightenment. She dreams of becoming a normal girl, of Rachel outgrowing her zombie nature, of becoming a saint. She doesn’t ask for too much.
“Anyone who lives a good life is going to be tested by the devil. That doesn’t make them special. It just means they belong to the devil like everyone else.”
Instead of a series of misadventures, Reed writes of brief encounters, almost-hits in Americana. For a time Bobbi and Rachel stay on a park with a park ranger friend; they befriend a YouTube persona and sleep on a couch; they stay with a preacher. Each time Bobbi dreams of becoming accepted and belonging before moving on again. Some of the vignettes are funny, some are sad. No, all are funny and all are sad. It’s the way of life.
Throughout the story are flashes of saints’ lives. Bobbi is obsessed with sainthood and reads from a book she carries with her. She is aware of her suffering and how it dovetails with the sainthood of those that precede her. Does she hope that by silently accepting her fate, the burden she has to bear with her feral, unteachable daughter, she will be raised to the mantle of sainthood? Maybe. By whom, though? Her hopes and dreams are not complex, not well-thought out. In that way, she’s just like every other teenager in America. She does not think deeply, she is narcissistic like everyone else, but she has uncommon clarity from time to time, able to pierce through to what’s not so apparent. “The whole room, Bobbi thought, had a single idea among them. She wasn’t sure it mattered what that idea was.”
Being discovered is a common theme these days. We all think that we have special talent and that with just the right exposure, we’ll find our natural place in the world: at the top. Of course, we’re not all special snowflakes and the crème de la crème rises for a reason; the ones at the top, be they celebrities or saints, rise because they have an overwhelming drive or overwhelming talent. Bobbi, like so many deluded children of the modern era, has neither. She’s ordinary in all ways but one. And when she gets a taste of fame through video exploitation, she realizes it’s not her that’s special, but her daughter.
Despite her desire to be sanctified and accepted, or maybe because, Bobbi of course is in touch with the bleak nature of reality and Timmy Reed, wisely, dips into nihilism only occasionally. Miraculous Fauna is a sad book, but it isn’t humorless, and there are moments of beauty, even in its most cynical. “Life is full of dead things, they should say. It is your fault for participating.” There’s nothing more existential than an educated teenager. And through her journey and through her daughter’s lack of a journey, Bobbi grows.
Countless movies and books have been created detailing the metaphorical journey of self. The road is how characters evolve. From On the Road to the wandering warrior in Kung Fu, they meet people and get in adventures. From there, growth. In Miraculous Fauna, the road is a barometer and a spark plug and a means of escape from reality. Bobbi can’t escape her situation; wherever she goes, her problems follow her. But she grows, slowly, learning how best to accept her life. And in Miraculous Fauna, Timmy Reed has given us a parable of our zombified lives.
Michael Tager