DORK by Will
Winkle
Genre - New Adult,
Contemporary, Humor
Synopsis -
Charlie Brown meets The Catcher in the Rye in this humorous novel following a neurotic economics major weeks from graduation. Ray Cooper is graduating from college and doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life – stop me if you’ve heard this before. Besides his impending graduation, Coop also has the problem of trying to start a new relationship in the shadow of his last one. Plus, his term project is due in two weeks. He’s also losing his hair. Alright, he has a few problems. Over a weekend, Ray attends the birthday party of a girl he isn't sure if he knows, meets odd people at bars, and looks forward to the last hurrah he and his friends have planned for Saturday when the local bars are offering discounts to anyone with wristbands sold for charity. There’s no way any of this could go wrong.
Excerpt -
You’re supposed to run going with traffic, but the other side of the
street lacked a sidewalk for that particular section of my route. Instead,
there was a dirt trail lined on both sides by patches of tall grass. Whenever I
ran on that side a clutch of small rocks would magically appear inside of my
shoes, and it was the time of year when snakes and lizards were starting to be
out and about. I’m not afraid of snakes, I’ve been startled more times by
sticks that looked like snakes than actual snakes. As long as I see one soon
enough, I’m fine with it, but I’m markedly less fine with unexpectedly
colliding with a living creature that has so much in common with a rope.
It’s
not like they can deftly avoid an impending running shoe, so if I spot it too
late there’s nothing either of us can do. Snakes can become tangled around your
legs, their only choice of action being to writhe around, which wouldn’t make
matters better for either of us. I don’t like octopi for the same reason, them
being the small net to the snakes' rope. My world changed the first time I saw
a bird carrying a snake while flying. Implying that at any moment my day can be
ruined in a way that I hadn’t even considered possible. I’m happy that I don’t
live by the sea or a large open-air aquarium, because if I ever saw a bird
flying with an octopus, I doubt I would ever go outside again.
About the Author -
Will Winkle graduated from the University of Idaho with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in economics, so naturally, he’s decided to become a novelist. While in college Will wrote comedy segments for the show he hosted on the university’s radio station, KUOI 89.3 FM Moscow, Idaho. Currently, he is writing short stories and co-writing a one-man-show with a graduate theater student at the University of Alabama.
Links -
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dork-will-winkle/1136057074?ean=9781647181468
Website (The first chapter can be read here): https://willwinkle.com/
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