BLACK FRIDAY SALE! — Two-pack SIGNED PBs: Striking Out & Foul Territory
BLACK FRIDAY SALE! — Two-pack SIGNED PBs: Striking Out & Foul Territory
Wanna be like the cool kids and read Foul Territory but you missed the first volume in the chronicle? Score BOTH novels in this two-pack, both signed by the author, and save!
You receive:
1) A paperback copy of the 2024 remastered edition of Striking Out, the first volume in The Chronicle of Calvin Connor. This new version has a lovely font and corrected text.
2) A paperback copy of Foul Territory, the second volume in The Chronicle of Calvin Connor.
Both books will be personally signed by the author in his beloved red Sharpie, made out to any name you designate and with any inscription you desire (within reason).
No work of fiction has ever captured the awkwardness of growing up, the delight of having a crush, the stank of a camp latrine broiling in the summer sun, the rivalry of teen boys, the agony of Algebra tests, and the intoxicating sting of a hit of Binaca right before you put a move on a girl quite like these two.
FREE SHIPPING within the USA.
Striking Out details:
THE CHRONICLE STARTS IN 1987
Calvin Connor III, a fourteen-year-old Irish immigrant stuck in rural Pennsylvania, heads to summer camp with Troop 666. Calvin and his friends Sandy, Art, Ryan, and Spazz, encounter disaster and delight — and an endless line of stupid grown-ups.
CALVIN LEAVES HIS MARK, LIFE LEAVES ONE BACK.
Calvin also meets a deliciously yummy young girl who is more than his match. This is the week that changes everything in Calvin's life. The awkward boy who leaves for Connecticut is not the young man who returns home.
TROOP 666 PITCHES TENTS …
… and blows up the latrine.
Unlike their wishy-washy take on Foul Territory (q.v. below), the U.S. Review of Books recommended Striking Out in a glowing write-up, calling it “a unique coming-of-age story” replete with “comedic roughhousing and [a] continual bag of tricks.”
Praise is heaped on the novel’s “action-packed summer camp scene” with the “thought-provoking themes” including “race and ethnicity (especially with Calvin's Irish roots), religion, [and] teen romance.”
They even hilariously claimed the book has “silver screen potential.”
Well. All that is true, of course. But the reviewer neglected comment on the boner foibles and crudeness quotient: 190 instances of fuck, 17 of pussy, 16 of cunt, 237 shits/shites … it’s a novel about fourteen-year-old boys, if you couldn’t tell!
Foul Territory details:
THE CHRONICLE CONTINUES in 1989
Putting Camp Souviens (and the demise of Troop 666) behind him, Calvin Connor focuses on finishing high school. But his latest choices pull him back into the spotlight, like that one time on Sean Corgan’s front yard ...
FALLING IN, FALLING OUT
Calvin falls in love with Kitty Howe, the only blind student at Axsubeen High, creating a celebrity couple that’s the talk of the town. His friendship/rivalry with Art Maguire reaches a fulcrum point over (of all things) vocabulary. And Calvin’s destiny as a major league sensation begins in earnest after a heated moment in the high school cafeteria.
HANGING CURVEBALLS, LOW-HANGING FRUIT
If only the little wanker hadn't brought an orange in for lunch that day ...
The U.S. Review of Books recommended Striking Out but couldn’t quite bring itself to do so with Foul Territory, claiming that while the book was “engaging [and] often hilarious” and “sure to titillate many readers,” its content was “longer on vulgarity than a hard-edged plot” and that there isn’t “much on the mind of Calvin other than sex.”
Were they right?
Foul Territory isn’t just boner foibles and crudeness. Calvin goes to Mass. He does confession. Sure, his rock-hard flute ends up in a Mall Chick’s hand that one time, but he was a victim of circumstance!
As for “vulgarity,” that’s some bullshit. There’s only 175 instances of fuck, just the 15 occurrences each of cunt and pussy …
Maybe the reviewer sat at the Proverbs Patrol lunch table with all the other prudes!
WHAT YOU WILL RECEIVE:
The author will sign both 6x9" trade paperbacks in his beloved red Sharpie to any name you designate and add a mom-joke or any inscription you desire (subject to the author’s approval). Just fill out the little form when you make the purchase. You will get bookmarks too! Payments accepted by PayPal or credit card.
Ships free via USPS Media Mail to anywhere in the United States. Overseas shipping is possible but not free, set by the actual cost of USPS Int'l Shipping.
Striking Out © 2016, 2024 Christopher M. Morlock. Foul Territory © 2024 Christopher M. Morlock. All rights reserved.
