#gods
ORDER HERE
A RADICAL NEW MYTH ABOUT SEX, FAITH,
AND THOSE OF US WHO WILL NEVER DIE
A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his
sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later,
now working as a New York City homicide
detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he
unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen
is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an
uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient
civilization of gods and the people determined
to bring them back.
In this colossal new novel from the author
of The Metropolis Case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice collides with a new religion founded by three corporate office workers, creating something
beautiful, illogical, and overwhelming. Part sex
manifesto, part religious text, part Manhattan
noir—with a dose of deadly serious, internet inspired satire—#gods is a sprawling inquest
into the nature of faith and resistance in the
modern world. With each turn of the page,
#gods will leave you increasingly reborn.
Praise for #gods
“#gods is a mystery, an excavation of myths, an index of modern life, a gay coming-of-age
story, an office satire, a lyrical fever dream, a conspiracy. One of the most ambitious
novels in recent memory—and a wild, possibly transformative addition to the canon of
gay literature—it contains multitudes, and seethes with brilliance.” —Mark Doten,
author of The Infernal
“Matthew Gallaway’s #gods is a novel so brilliant, so funny, so full of strange and marvelous
things, I couldn’t stop writing OMG WTF I <3 THIS SO MUCH in its margins. It’s rare to
find a novel that so dazzlingly reinvigorates age-old meditations on faith and f&!*ing, art
and eros. Luminous, enterprising, and sublimely cheeky, #gods tells the story, the myth,
the dream of the human soul in all its glorious complexity.” —Suzanne Morrison,
author of Yoga Bitch
“Matthew Gallaway’s storytelling manages to be both dreamy and serious; lean and luxurious.
His words carry an incantatory power of mythic storytelling where beauty and
savagery wrap around each other like bright threads in a gorgeous tapestry.”
—Natasha Vargas-Cooper,
author of Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America
“If the ancient gods were just like us, only more so, then the same could be said for this
strange, wonderful book, in which the mundane sorrows and small triumphs of very
ordinary lives glow ever so slightly around the edges, sometimes quite literally. At once
an oddly romantic send-up of dead-end office culture and an offbeat supernatural procedural,
#gods is terrifically weird, melancholy, sexy, and charming.” —Jacob Bacharach,
author of The Bend of the World
this is what annoys me; a soon as a species becomes successful enough to cope with living in big cities, it gets a tag of pest. but the real pest is human kind flooding all the world with concrete and landfills.
however considering that starling is not native to the america, i may say it is a bit of a junk. but it wouldn't live there if not the 'help' of - again - stupid people.
Posted by: kat | 04/13/2010 at 04:30 AM
Thanks for the comment, Kat--couldnt agree more!
Posted by: Matthew Gallaway | 04/13/2010 at 09:41 AM
I have to disagree with you on this one. I would urge you not to allow any starlings to nest on your property. (ie, undo any nests they may create.) both starlings and house sparrows are aggressive species that displace native songbirds (especially bluebirds, but also wrens and others). some of these native birds are endangered. Starlings will go so far as to kill other birds, destroying their nests, etc, in order to build their nests. it might not seem like a problem to have them nest in washington heights but consider how their offspring (and future generations ad infinitum) will spread beyond washington heights, out of the city, into the suburban and rural areas where birds like robins, wrens, bluebirds, martins, swallows, and others are competing for scarce nesting locations. for more information here is a link to an audubon society website. http://www.tulsaaudubon.org/housesparrow-starlinginfo.htm
Posted by: P Gerlat | 04/14/2010 at 12:38 AM
Thanks for the comment, P. There are no nests on my property (which unfortunately is dominated by pigeons and sparrows), the starling was just passing through...I agree with the commenter who said that we need fewer people and less development so that native songbirds can thrive in more natural habitat!
Posted by: Matthew Gallaway | 04/14/2010 at 10:04 AM
Not to belabor the point, but many native birds would actually be able to live in the urban environment were it not for the aggressive behavior of starlings and house sparrows. here is another audubon society link on this point with suggestions for how to encourage native songbirds in urban settings. In the Northeast, Cardinals and Chimney Swifts seem to be possible options to consider. http://audubonathome.org/birdstohelp/speciesList.php?habitat=urban
As another website explains, Starlings are rather pernicious birds: "Male starlings are especially aggressive in their search for nest sites: They will peck holes in eggs laid by other birds, throw out their nesting material, and kill their young. Starlings will build nests on top of existing nests containing eggs, and can evict the larger wood duck from its nest boxes." Source: http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/living/starlings.htm
Posted by: P gerlat | 04/15/2010 at 07:02 PM