Memorabilia
A.S. Coomer
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR MEMORABILIA
“[Memorabilia] reads like a poetic autopsy of the creative process” — Andersen Prunty, author of Neon Dies At Dawn
“a deeply unsettling monograph of psychological disturbance” — James Nulick, author of Haunted Girlfriend and Valencia
“The reader is not allowed to get comfortable” — Clifford Brooks, Pulitzer nominated poet & Editor-in-Chief of the Blue Mountain Review
"The images of Memorabilia linger long after the book's conclusion." — Mike Corrao, author of Gut Text
When adjunct professor Stephen Paul accidentally discovers the suicide note of his recently deceased friend, he unwittingly trips a wire into his own enigmatic madness. Within hours, the basic characteristics of his life rupture and are transformed by incarceration and psychiatric chaos. As a prisoner of the state and of his own body, Stephen's existence appears absurd, ruthless, and barely stitched together. He must come to embrace that the only way out is through an associative mind, one that is as much invisible as it is material.
Memorabilia is a Kafkaesque narrative driven by the existential nature of creation. It’s a novel of self-discovery, exploration, and understanding, risking more and more as it progresses. A.S. Coomer questions the nature of reality and the reliability of the mind.
Interview in the Blue Mountain Review
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Advance Praise for Memorabilia
“Coomer is one of those rare newer writers who seems to have emerged
fully formed. In Memorabilia, he uses the archetype of a modern
American author to filter loneliness, fading dreams, mental illness, grief,
bemusement, and an endless search for meaning that all but promises
to remain elusive. The book evoked a feeling similar to reading John
Williams’ Stoner and Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes. Smart, dark, and
seductively compelling, it reads like a poetic autopsy of the creative
process.”
— Andersen Prunty, author of Neon Dies At Dawn
“A.S. Coomer’s Memorabilia is a deeply unsettling monograph of
psychological disturbance. The inscrutability of a friend’s suicide, jostled
with Professor Stephen Paul’s lacunae nights and days of unmoored
aimlessness, remind us that mental health is often nothing more than a
polite veneer against an ever-degrading society.”
— James Nulick, author of Haunted Girlfriend and Valencia
“Memorabilia doesn’t remain in the unconscious. The often unforgiving
livelihood of an adjunct professor, the harsh realities of loneliness,
incarceration, and America’s mental health system all make their presence
known throughout the novel. The elastic nature of time and memory
leave you questioning how much is the ranting of a madman, and what
is stark, sad truth.”
— Clifford Brooks, Pulitzer nominated poet & Editor-in-Chief of the
Blue Mountain Review
“A.S. Coomer’s Memorabilia is a fragmented journey through the
structures of the mind. Navigating neural pathways in search of source
traumas and psychogenic triggers. When the body is incapacitated, the
mind wanders. Memories become unstable. Memorabilia reorients the
position of the writer, rendering Coomer’s Stephen Paul the subject of
jarring and ever-changing narrative threads. Haunted by the poetry of a
time he cannot remember. The images of Memorabilia linger long after
the book’s conclusion.”
— Mike Corrao, author of Gut Text
ISBN: 978-1-948687-11-9 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-948687-10-2 (paperback)