leaps buildings in a single bound.

Not that, you know, it’s a competition or anything.

Click for full view.

Hypothetical question: What happens when you put 23 couches on a shelf?

Answer: Nothing much! The shelves still held, though there was some creaking and groaning. Though that might have been my family.

At any rate, the good folks at Small Beer sent me my very own box. Which is a relief, since the windows have been lacking something to prop them up properly. 

We’re not terribly apt at organizing our shelves. Or are we…

Public service announcement via Delphinas:

Handee Books has a review of Couch in their October newsletter. From what Scott has been reading:

The first is Couch by Benjamin Parzybok, published by Small Beer Press. Small Beer is Kelly Link and Gavin Grant’s company, and they publish nothing but quality work. Take a look at their catalog. You’ll find work by John Crowley, Geoff Ryman, Ellen Kushner, Kate Wilhelm, Carol Emshwiller, John Kessel…and the list goes on. It’s a carefully considered list, and there’s not a dud on it. Parzybok’s book is the first to be plucked from the Small Beer slush pile. Link and Grant have exceptional taste, so you can proceed from the assumption that Couch is going to be good.

And it is.

It has an irresistible premise: three roommates, Thom, Erik and Tree, are forced into homelessness by a waterbed mishap above their apartment. Nearly all their meager possessions are destroyed; the only surviving items are Thom’s laptop, Tree’s wire and pliers (he’s a sculptor), a smattering of clothes and household items and the hideous orange couch that was in place when the three moved in. The trio decide to use their misfortune as the starting point of a journey, at first waffling between trips to Mexico and across the country. When they try to get rid of the couch by donating it to Goodwill, they realize the couch…doesn’t want to go. Thus begins one of the strangest road novels you’ll ever read.

It’s a funny and fun book, and it’s also a very smart book. The story turns on the myths of many cultures and the observations about human nature are substantial. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Thom is forced to use a gun. The experience is completely new to him, and he has absolutely no idea how to use the weapon beyond what he’s seen on TV or in the movies. I could have done without some of the bodily function humor, but I enjoyed spending time with the three slacker heroes and their attempts to unravel the mystery of the ugly orange couch. Fans of Tom Robbins or Christopher Moore should enjoy this.

Thanks, Scott!

Oh noes! They printed the cover on backwards!

Oooh it feels awesome. It weighs 19 pounds. It has the feel of heavy steel machinery, machined perfectly, it’s cold and smooth to the touch. 

It has 280 pages fashioned from aircraft-grade aluminum. They really went all-out on this one. A teardown done by iSuppli reveals that the base cost of components is $183, and so obviously SBP is selling this one as a loss leader.  An incredible bargain for you at only $16.

And inside? There’s a picture of the author that, if you stare deeply into his eyes, will fill you with a mad craving for chocolate chips. Fortunately, there’s a small cache of them on page 47.

Karen Meisner, an editor at Strange Horizons, blogs:

Ben Parzybok also wrote Couch, an amazing debut novel about three roommates who get evicted and take their couch with them on a journey that becomes a epic quest that becomes one of the most truly weird and original books I’ve read in ages.

Thanks, Karen!

Read the full post

And another mention: Couch is in the famed Elliot Bay Book Co.’s Book notes:

When their apartment is unexpectedly flooded, three roommates must move a couch that exerts its will upon them by becoming lighter or heavier depending on the direction they travel; a couch that is unscathed after being hit by a train; a couch that inspires strange people to offer ridiculous sums to buy it; a couch that proves seaworthy and takes them far into the ocean; a couch that demands to be carried through a Central American jungle with armies of trigger-happy bandits in hot pursuit; a couch that may be as old as the world and powerful enough to either annihilate or redeem it. -C. Sabatini

There are a lot of great books in the Fall 2008 Book Notes.

Entitled: Rwriting on School Propty. 

Photographed at Rigler Elementary School.