Drumroll, please! Thank you! And the title is: Your Body is Changing by Jack Pendarvis. Published in 2007 by MacAdam/Cage, “Jack Pendarvis’s latest collection introduces readers to a world of losers poised on the brink of all sorts of disaster – a world only a wink and a nod away from our own. In the title novella a fundamentalist teenager must single-handedly confront the horrors of a spiritual quest filled with secular humanists, an apocalyptic folk artist, and a malfunctioning breast. The other stories deal poignantly with – among other things – a young millionaire pretending to be a detective, the good folks who invented the diarrhea-inducing chewing gum, and a tollbooth operator who becomes an impromptu drug mule. Underlying each comedic gem and neurotic twist is an intelligence and empathy rarely found in modern satire.”

So, what is the Dissident Book Club? It’s a group of readers dedicated to the promotion of small press titles and authors. Why? Because mainstream media isn’t all there is. Because small presses see art, and not profit, as the bottom line. Because the content coming out of small presses is original, often daring, broader in scope (they publish more short story collections, poetry titles, and non-classifiable work) and high in quality. Also, because I like being a rebel, in a social acceptable way.

Stay tuned for the Dissident Book Club’s thoughts, and hopefully more, on Your Body is Changing.

Peace.