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LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION 2023
'Incendiary . . . A uniquely trans story' Dazed
'Gutting and glittery' Nylon
'Eliot Duncan's melancholic transboy swagger sparkles . . . An astonishing first novel' ANDREA LAWLOR
In the first of three acts, Ponyboy's titular narrator - a pill-popping, speed-snorting, trans-masculine lightning bolt - unravels in his Paris apartment. Ponyboy is caught in a messy love triangle between Baby, a lesbian painter who can't see herself being with someone trans, and Toni, a childhood friend who can actually see Ponyboy for who he is.
Strung out, Ponyboy follows Baby to Berlin where he sinks deeper into drugs and falls for Gabriel, all the while pursued by a megalomaniacal photographer hungry for the next hot thing. As his relationships crumble, Ponyboy unexpectedly wakes up alone in Iowa, his childhood home. Now Ponyboy must finally choose a name.
An evocative novel of art and addiction, self-destruction and re-construction, Ponyboy thrums with the joys, aches and pains of becoming who you are meant to be. Eliot Duncan is a writer and artist living in London. He is the co-creator of the international, queer collective Slanted House. He studied philosophy at the American University of Paris and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Ponyboy pops pills, snorts speed, and attempts art as he comes to terms with his transmasculinity and addiction in Paris and Berlin, in the electric debut from Eliot Duncan. A debut novel with real cult potential, perfect for readers of Andrea Lawlor's Paul Takes the form of a Mortal Girl, Torrey Peters' Detransition, Baby and Eliza Clark's Boy Parts A hedonistic coming-of-age story about addiction, recovery and the joys and pains of finding oneself set amid the art scenes of Europe and a rehabilitation clinic in Nebraska While there are a growing number of novels from a trans-feminine perspective, there are very few with a trans-masculine protagonist Word of mouth and buzzy publication and publicity and marketing plan to break this out as a cult novel of the season Eliot is American but based in London so will be available for publicity and events "Eliot Duncan's melancholic transboy swagger sparkles in this classic story of a dissolute bookish Midwesterner who crashes through Europe, falling in and out of love, in and out of despair, adventuring through the nights, and stargazing from the gutter. An astonishing first novel." "A vivid portrayal of the lure of self- abandonment. Duncan shows us what's found in pursuit of it - and what's left in its wake." "Ponyboy reads like one of those unforgettable nights in your twenties. Duncan captures the optimism that accompanies the allure of Paris, the high of substances, and the sense that anything can happen when the sun falls; and he transmogrifies the fear that the worst will happen into the small redemptions that are, in the end, all any of us can hope for. Read this book to relive the hazy hours that you lost to memory and to remember the hope that, no matter how bad the hangover will be, the best is yet to come."
'Incendiary . . . A uniquely trans story' Dazed
'Gutting and glittery' Nylon
'Eliot Duncan's melancholic transboy swagger sparkles . . . An astonishing first novel' ANDREA LAWLOR
In the first of three acts, Ponyboy's titular narrator - a pill-popping, speed-snorting, trans-masculine lightning bolt - unravels in his Paris apartment. Ponyboy is caught in a messy love triangle between Baby, a lesbian painter who can't see herself being with someone trans, and Toni, a childhood friend who can actually see Ponyboy for who he is.
Strung out, Ponyboy follows Baby to Berlin where he sinks deeper into drugs and falls for Gabriel, all the while pursued by a megalomaniacal photographer hungry for the next hot thing. As his relationships crumble, Ponyboy unexpectedly wakes up alone in Iowa, his childhood home. Now Ponyboy must finally choose a name.
An evocative novel of art and addiction, self-destruction and re-construction, Ponyboy thrums with the joys, aches and pains of becoming who you are meant to be. Eliot Duncan is a writer and artist living in London. He is the co-creator of the international, queer collective Slanted House. He studied philosophy at the American University of Paris and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Ponyboy pops pills, snorts speed, and attempts art as he comes to terms with his transmasculinity and addiction in Paris and Berlin, in the electric debut from Eliot Duncan. A debut novel with real cult potential, perfect for readers of Andrea Lawlor's Paul Takes the form of a Mortal Girl, Torrey Peters' Detransition, Baby and Eliza Clark's Boy Parts A hedonistic coming-of-age story about addiction, recovery and the joys and pains of finding oneself set amid the art scenes of Europe and a rehabilitation clinic in Nebraska While there are a growing number of novels from a trans-feminine perspective, there are very few with a trans-masculine protagonist Word of mouth and buzzy publication and publicity and marketing plan to break this out as a cult novel of the season Eliot is American but based in London so will be available for publicity and events "Eliot Duncan's melancholic transboy swagger sparkles in this classic story of a dissolute bookish Midwesterner who crashes through Europe, falling in and out of love, in and out of despair, adventuring through the nights, and stargazing from the gutter. An astonishing first novel." "A vivid portrayal of the lure of self- abandonment. Duncan shows us what's found in pursuit of it - and what's left in its wake." "Ponyboy reads like one of those unforgettable nights in your twenties. Duncan captures the optimism that accompanies the allure of Paris, the high of substances, and the sense that anything can happen when the sun falls; and he transmogrifies the fear that the worst will happen into the small redemptions that are, in the end, all any of us can hope for. Read this book to relive the hazy hours that you lost to memory and to remember the hope that, no matter how bad the hangover will be, the best is yet to come."