A young freedom fighter struggles with his humanity in this dystopian sci-fi satire.
Gather round all you tattooed, lost soul wandering, Wi-Fi/Lo-Fi mutants! Come! Come listen to the hypnotic beat of my drum! Join me on trip to the Village, a strange and surreal place, where an epic battle will determine the fate of the human race! The GENERAL is determined to win this war as the insane clown insurgent wants to settle a score! He’s got a bone to pick with his nemesis the KING, the mad ruler of the Village who only cares about celebrity status and bling! You will meet a young SOLDIER, who fights to survive the melee, as he loses his humanity along the way!
Leather to the Corinthians is an absurd postmodern fable that defiantly flips a middle finger at modern American life. Through the perspectives of its multiple characters, it explores the absurdities of organized religion, the military, big business, fast food, advertising, sex, and the media. Witty, with bitter undertones, its story possesses a satirical spirit as it plays with traditional story structure, phrasing and cultural references. Its multiple layers encourage return visits as its characters have many more unique tales to tell.
Excerpt
Excerpts:
“The King untied his cheesy cape and removed his fake beard. Strangely, suspenseful music began playing through the castle's public address system. Stripping down to his fresh underwear, the King then bolted down the dimly lit hall to the escape pod at its end. Popping the pod's stay-fresh seal, the King snuggled into its cockpit. Years of preparation led him through the launch procedures and soon the pod was airborne, flying through the hazy sky.”
“With the high holiday of Yeaster quickly approaching, Father Everhard contacted his publicist in order to promote his latest production of The Passion Play of the Red J. As the highest ranking local representative of the faith, it was Everhard's job to create big attendance numbers for a stellar performance…. Father Everhard stood up in the green room of the Village's favorite religious squawk shows, From Nuts to God. Each week several handfuls of viewers tuned in for redemption and other valuable prizes.”
“ConPollo held a meeting with his new team. As he sat before his troops, he pondered the mission that they were about to undertake…The screaming throng of actors who, of course, really wanted to direct, stormed off towards their target. ConPollo sprinted after them to keep up. It was all he could do to follow his highly energized method actor army.”
“The Soldier was now truly sentient...His brain was flooded with sensory information. His eyes viewed an H.U.D. that provided him with layer upon layer of information….His mind seemed to move more quickly, its ability to analyze stimulus was far beyond its normal scope. In what would have taken minutes to sort out before, occurred in milliseconds for him now.”
“The Sixth and final Seal is the big doozy, the ultimate kick in the pants: the Take-Me-Away-Born-Again Rapture Fiesta. At this point nothing matters— steal a TV…return your movies late…eat fatty foods…act like Scott Baio in the morning… the President will announce full disclosure…there is a freaking meteor about to hit Earth and life expectancy has gone from 74.5 years to roughly ten minutes or so.”
Professional Reviews
A Book Review: Leather to the Corinthians
In the wee hours of this morning, I finished Leather to the Corinthians, by Tom Lucas. I fell asleep thinking, “how in Big J’s name am I going to review something like this?” It was unlike any other book I have ever read: fresh, raw, daring, and different (with a Stanley Cup reference). As I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts turned to some of the punk bands I discovered when I was a kid. Oh how I loved introducing my buds to new bands. That was our thing: we discovered bands and then showed them off.
This is exactly how I feel about Tom Lucas’s novel – it’s like I found a new record that I’m eager to share. If it fit into a genre, for me, it would be literary punk rock. And it is good, damn good. Don’t be fooled by the use of words like raw, daring, and different – true, these characteristics made me work a little bit, but it was well worth it. This book was laugh-in-my-sleepy-time-tea funny (literally and figuratively), imaginative, and more than anything, thought provoking.
Yes, there are more than a few explicit scenes (an apocalyptic loss of virginity had me really thinking), raving interludes, and a whole lot of death and destruction. But if I learned anything from Tom Lucas, we can’t take life too seriously and sometimes it’s okay to sit back and laugh at the mess we have created. Tom Lucas wrote one heck of a book, I am so happy to have discovered it. I feel like a kid again, ready to show this book off to my friends and thirsty for more. Now if I could only find my Fugazi shirt and Nofx hoodie…
--Eternaldomnation.com
If You Want to Buy Me a Book for Christmas
You probably won’t guess what I like. So here are some instructions.
I have a very particular taste when it comes to books. So far, I’ve received at least twenty novels that failed to make me jump into their world. Sometimes even I make the same mistake – I pick something up that seems interesting and end up disappointed.
In order for me to love a book, it must read like a comic. You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you? Let me explain.
Each and every one of us has a certain way of envisioning a story – some see the novel as a movie, some see the novel world through the eyes of the lead character, and some novels show themselves in the form of a comic book (speech bubbles and all).
As a girl who’s grown up in the company of Modesty Blaise, Alan Ford, Discworld and Zaphod Beeblebrox it’s not a surprise the novels I love are all strange in their own way. I feel at home with chaos, satire, absurdity, bizarre artwork and strange narration.
My all time favourites are Alice in Wonderland, A Clockwork Orange, Transmetropoliten, Gaiman’s short stories (they all have that dark atmosphere, in my opinion), and, of course, Pratchett’s Discworld.
I could never find anything similar to them. Until now.
“Leather to the Corinthians” by Tom Lucas has the colourful chaos of Discworld, the anger and filth of Transmetro, the absurdity and speed of Alice in Wonderland, and the sharpness of A Clockwork Orange.
For some reason reading it feels like being at a punk gig (which I absolutely love). The characters and the entire story-world pop up drawn and with speech and thought bubbles. And they all yell. A lot. And they make me laugh. While reading it in a cafe I laughed so hard the manager approached me and asked if anything was wrong. Seriously, they thought I was mental.
Corinthians can be a fun action novel or it can be pure satire. It can be taken lightly or it can be taken seriously. I guarantee Tom’s words will stay in your mind long after you finish the book.
The intermezzos found in-between chapters are particularly interesting. They are merely our “modern marvels” stripped to their bones and parading around without their pretty package, showing the reader the truth and nothing but the truth (that’s how I see them).
I love it.
--Ramblings of an Aspiring Writer
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