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WORK TITLE: Sommelier of Deformity
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1977
WEBSITE: http://nickyetto.com/
CITY: Albany
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1977; married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Freelance web developer/designer and author.
AVOCATIONS:Antiques, literature, mechanics.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Prior to making his authorial debut, Nick Yetto worked as a freelancer. His specific field of expertise lay in web development and design. However, as he stated in an interview on the Sly Twin Tiger website, he has always held an interest in writing. He spoke further with interviewer Andrew M. Friday about the origins of his novel, Sommelier of Deformity.
“I wanted to write a comedic novel. I created this ugly, arrogant little man,” he said. “The parameters of his life began to take shape.” From there, the main character of Yetto’s book began to come to life. “You have these little epiphanies—each one, informing the last—and the character grows in your mind, to the point where you’re able to see the world through his eyes.”
Sommelier of Deformity stars Buddy Hayes, a man who considers himself “ugly” and chooses to isolate himself from those around him. His only companionship comes from his family or, more specifically, his grandfather and mother. Buddy spends his days managing his own virtual company and having online affairs with various women. Part of Buddy’s refusal to interact with the outside world comes from his disability; he was born with scoliosis that has stunted his height and, as he believes, greatly lends to his ugliness. Yet everything changes for Buddy when his grandfather, who is also disabled, attains a new nurse. The nurse is a black man by the name of Terrence Johnson, and he seems to be Buddy’s complete opposite. Terrence is charming, adept musically, physically attractive, and willing to reach out to Buddy in a way very few people have. Buddy is resistant toward Terrence initially. However, he cannot avoid the man for long. Over time, the two become close friends, and it is through his blossoming friendship with Terrence that Buddy is able to work toward developing a better life for himself. He begins exploring life outside of the isolation he has imposed upon himself in order to forge his own real place in the world. “His loyalty and sense of wonder make Buddy engaging, but Yetto’s toying with problematic language and tropes … soils that enjoyment,” said a reviewer in an issue of Publishers Weekly. Other reviewers expressed all-around praise for the work. “For all of its tawdry and graphic language, Sommelier of Deformity is in the end a sympathetic, touching story of healing, community, and self-acceptance,” remarked Kristen Rabe, a contributor to ForeWord.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
ForeWord, June 27, 2018, Kristen Rabe, review of Sommelier of Deformity.
Publishers Weekly, May 28, 2018, review of Sommelier of Deformity, p. 70.
ONLINE
Nick Yetto website, http://nickyetto.com (October 24, 2018), author profile.
Parade, https://parade.com/ (July 24, 2017), M.B. Roberts, “Book Trailer: Nick Yetto’s Sommelier of Deformity.”
Sly Twin Tiger, https://slytwintiger.wordpress.com/ (June 12, 2018), Andrew M. Friday, author interview.
Nick Yetto is:
A soon-to-be novelist. Sommelier of Deformity, publishing July 2018.
A freelance web person, fifteen years and counting.
A man with theories, but no opinions.
Mechanically able, mechanically eager, but not mechanically gifted.
A lover of literature.
A lover of well-executed trash.
A lover of antiques.
A guy who got an iron cauldron for Christmas, so that he can cook rustic stews outside.
An enthusiastic participant, but a poor athlete.
Someone who wishes he could call himself “a fisherman,” but can never find time to get out in the canoe.
Bad at parties.
6’3”, bald, forty years old.
A husband, and father of two.
Is that enough? There’s some stuff on YouTube as well. If there’s something you’re dying to know, send an email to conversation@nickyetto.com.
Author Interview: Nick Yetto
andrewmfridayJune 12, 2018Author interview, fantasy, fiction writing, reading, writing, writing tips
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1804_coverNick Yetto and I follow each other on Twitter and I couldn’t help noticing the unusual cover design of his book Sommelier of Deformity. The book is coming out in July and is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
How did you decide to become an author?
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be one. In elementary school, I’d write adventure stories in serial and pass them around to my classmates. They seemed to like them and kept asking for more, and that feeling isn’t something that ever leaves you. I was always a “writer kid,” always a reader, and by way of these things, a little theater ham. Writing is a compulsion for me. I’d feel empty without it.
How does your professional background help with your writing?
I’m a freelance web designer/developer. The work itself doesn’t inform the writing—not in any ways I can think of—but the lifestyle does. Writing is a freelance occupation, and I’ve been operating in the freelance world for almost fifteen years. Self-starting, project-based, 1099-MISC, yadda yadda yadda. I always looked at the book as another project. When work was light, I’d open Word and plug away at the dream.
Can you tell us more about why you wrote your latest books?
I didn’t write it. My main character did. That sounds glib, but it’s true. I worked on the novel for eleven years. It took the first two to get Buddy right. I think my theater ham childhood played a part here. I wanted to write a comedic novel. I created this ugly, arrogant little man. The parameters of his life began to take shape. “Oh, he lives with his mother and grandfather.” “Oh oh—he’s got the body of Quasimodo, but the heart of Don Juan!” You have these little epiphanies—each one, informing the last—and the character grows in your mind, to the point where you’re able to see the world through his eyes. What would this guy think? What would he do? You build from there.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
View your writing as a part-time job, and not as “the expression of my soul’s song” or whatever. If you’re working a 40-hour week, guess what? Now you’ve got a 20-hour moonlighting gig! It’s a hard way to have fun, but this is the life we’ve chosen. Don’t view “the dream” as a dream. View it was “the boss” and the writing as your “shift.”
Surround yourself with loving people. Writing is brain work. A cluttered mind can’t produce. Life will throw plenty at us, and we’ll never fully be able to escape the cares of the day, but we can choose our friends, our partners. I’ve been lucky in these areas. It could have been otherwise. If it had, I don’t think I would have ever finished the book.
What are some upcoming publishing projects you are working on?
I’m working on the screenplay for Sommelier of Deformity. There’s been… interest. “All things in Hollywood are longshots,” and my case is no different. I’m just trying to write the best screenplay I can. Lofty stuff, and a challenge for sure—but it’s the same approach I took with the novel. “Work hard, get it to the point where ‘I can do different, but I can’t do better,’ and then let the cards fall where they may.” I’m enjoying it, and thankful for the opportunity.
Visit Nick Yetto’s author website.
Sommelier of Deformity
Kristen Rabe
ForeWord.
(June 27, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 ForeWord http://www.forewordmagazine.com
Full Text:
Nick Yetto; SOMMELIER OF DEFORMITY; Turner (Fiction: Literary) 17.99 ISBN: 9781684421442
Byline: Kristen Rabe
Intensely dark and sardonic, Sommelier of Deformity is also, paradoxically, an uplifting and redemptive story.
Buddy Hayes, a self-described troll who spends most of his time alone, is both arrogant and self- deprecating. He limits his human contact mostly to his mother and paraplegic grandfather, Puppa, who live downstairs.
The local librarian is alluring to him, and he has covert sexual liaisons with women he meets online. He obsesses over his own ugliness: "In x-ray, you might mistake me for the missing link; in the flesh, for a human prototype that was deemed unworthy of production."
While his physical world is narrow, Buddy's imagination is wide-ranging, and his internal monologues are rollicking. His well-armored life changes when he meets Terrance, a strikingly handsome man and gifted banjo player, who is Puppa's new home nurse. Buddy and Terrance forge an unlikely, sometimes awkward friendship that is transformational. Haltingly, Buddy is drawn out of the shadows. He risks friendships and works to uncover the mystery of what he can offer.
Compelling and accomplished, Nick Yetto's debut novel sparkles with vivid characters, startling twists, and outrageously comedic dialogue. He hews an especially strong sense of place through Buddy's moldering upstate New York town: "a tangle of alleyways, one-way streets, vacant lots, cars on cinderblocks South Ilium is brick, and it is rust."
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While the author describes this work as absurdist fiction, it is not a story of a hopeless protagonist battling a meaningless world. Instead, Buddy is a flawed but steely Hephaestus on a quest for meaning who tentatively begins shaping a new life. For all of its tawdry and graphic language, Sommelier of Deformity is in the end a sympathetic, touching story of healing, community, and self-acceptance.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Rabe, Kristen. "Sommelier of Deformity." ForeWord, 27 June 2018. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A545055586/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=9a724cc6. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A545055586
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Sommelier of Deformity
Publishers Weekly.
265.22 (May 28, 2018): p70. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Sommelier of Deformity
Nick Yetto.Turner, $17.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-68442-144-2
A young man's world is upended by the unexpected force of friendship in this uneven, id-fueled debut. Narrator Charles "Buddy" Hayes is built to offend with grotesque humor, self- aggrandizement, and sexual perversions. He revels in his fear and hate of the world, but takes refuge in his mother's love, his grandfather's mentorship, his booming email marketing business, and an array of anonymous sexual encounters. Suffering from scoliosis and standing at 4'9" (scoliosis-related pain is never mentioned, oddly), Buddy describes himself as "Quasimodo," "visually poisonous," and a "gremlin." He is also a petulant housemate, self-avowed racist, and "connoisseur of the unwanted," cultivating in himself sexual desire for women he believes other men pointedly ignore. Enter Terrence Johnson, an empathetic black nurse whose role caring for Charles's mother threatens Buddy's sense of self-sufficiency and staunch prejudices. Terrence drags an unwilling Buddy into the real world, and Buddy begins a raucous discovery of self and solidarity with his new friend. Throughout, Buddy tells his story with the affect of a well-aged alcohol spokesperson in a smoker's jacket. "She had large dark eyes; thick, Athenian brows; a strong, slightly aquiline nose. Her mouth was my greatest challenge." His loyalty and sense of wonder make Buddy engaging, but Yetto's toying with problematic language and tropes seems meant to simply offend and soils that enjoyment, resulting in a bizarre, disconcerting buddy comedy. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sommelier of Deformity." Publishers Weekly, 28 May 2018, p. 70. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541638775/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=3e6fafdd. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A541638775
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Book Trailer: Nick Yetto's Sommelier of Deformity
July 24, 2018 – 5:39 PM – 0 Comments
M.B. Roberts
By M.B. Roberts @@roberts_mb
sommelier-of-deformity-nick-yetto-ftr
(Rob Hammer, robhammerphotography.com)
The debut novel from former Car and Driver web producer-turned novelist Nick Yetto’s Sommelier of Deformity (Turner) has a lot of moving parts—a would-be Don Juan trapped inside a short, deformed, ugly body as the main character; his mother, who’s distinguishing characteristic is a color-changing, mood-indicating scar—so dig in if you dare and try to keep up.
Jonathan Ames, the author of Wake Up, Sir! and the creator of the television series Bored to Death calls the novel “the best book I’ve read in years.” He also says it’s the first time a book has made him laugh in a long, long time.
For a peek into the wild ride of Sommelier of Deformity, check out this trailer.