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About
Eddie Plum, who insists he's been unjustifiably committed to a California psychiatric hospital, manages to finally escape after fourteen years of incarceration to start his life anew
On the run, he holes up in a sheltered barrio on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean owned by his wealthy but unsympathetic father. Here he meets Sweets, the telepathic dog, laments the loss of Sofia, his madhouse lover, and plays the horses at the Del Mar Racetrack. Eventually he meets up with an old friend, Shelly Hubbard, a fellow horseplayer, record collector/dealer, and hardcore loner, who tells him about his brother, Donny, dead at the age of eighteen from a tragic dive off a thirty-foot La Jolla sea cliff known as the Clam.
Eddie discovers a family secret and wants to help, but by then he's already embroiled in the psychotic incident with the Tijuana prostitutes, the madhouse lover, and the police, who are hot on his tail. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has nothing on Whirlaway, a hilarious novel of escaped mental patients, horseplayers, and record collectors. "Hoping that the secret of Poe Ballantine stays secret no longer." -Scott F. Parker, The Minnesota Star Tribune
"If you see [Poe Ballantine's] name in a byline, read it." -Jack Waters, UVU Review
"Ballantine walks a wry tightrope here, imbuing his debauched characters with the drunken nobility of Steinbeck's 'boys,' not to mention a healthy dose of gonzo angst. What results is a wanton misadventure that often flips from laughter to tears on a dime. Bukowski and his ilk might appreciate this oddball version of the hero's journey, soaked in beer and melancholia." ―Kirkus Reviews
"For readers who prefer madcap to claptrap, quixotic pranks to neurotic angst, Poe Ballantine is a literary tonic: Bittersweet, potent, and peculiarly entertaining. Poe Ballantine is the most soulful, insightful, funny, and altogether luminous 'under-known' writer in America. He knocks my socks off, even when I'm barefoot." -Tom Robbins, author of Tibetan Peach Pie
"Whirlaway is a fever dream of my favorite things: horse racing, records, booze, insanity, and women. What a strange and crazed comedic ride. Ballantine's writing is like no other." -Willy Vlautin, author of The Free
"Like David Sedaris, he is an American outsider with insane comedic and storytelling gifts." -Marion Wink, author of Above Us Only Sky
"Ballantine's writing is secure insecurity at its best, muscular and minimal, self-deprecating on the one hand, full of the self's soul on the other." -Lauren Slater, author of Lying POE BALLANTINE currently lives in Chadron, Nebraska. His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Sun, Kenyon Review, and The Coal City Review. In addition to garnering numerous Pushcart and O. Henry nominations, Mr. Ballantine's work has been included in the anthologies The Best American Short Stories 1998 and The Best American Essays 2006.
On the run, he holes up in a sheltered barrio on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean owned by his wealthy but unsympathetic father. Here he meets Sweets, the telepathic dog, laments the loss of Sofia, his madhouse lover, and plays the horses at the Del Mar Racetrack. Eventually he meets up with an old friend, Shelly Hubbard, a fellow horseplayer, record collector/dealer, and hardcore loner, who tells him about his brother, Donny, dead at the age of eighteen from a tragic dive off a thirty-foot La Jolla sea cliff known as the Clam.
Eddie discovers a family secret and wants to help, but by then he's already embroiled in the psychotic incident with the Tijuana prostitutes, the madhouse lover, and the police, who are hot on his tail. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has nothing on Whirlaway, a hilarious novel of escaped mental patients, horseplayers, and record collectors. "Hoping that the secret of Poe Ballantine stays secret no longer." -Scott F. Parker, The Minnesota Star Tribune
"If you see [Poe Ballantine's] name in a byline, read it." -Jack Waters, UVU Review
"Ballantine walks a wry tightrope here, imbuing his debauched characters with the drunken nobility of Steinbeck's 'boys,' not to mention a healthy dose of gonzo angst. What results is a wanton misadventure that often flips from laughter to tears on a dime. Bukowski and his ilk might appreciate this oddball version of the hero's journey, soaked in beer and melancholia." ―Kirkus Reviews
"For readers who prefer madcap to claptrap, quixotic pranks to neurotic angst, Poe Ballantine is a literary tonic: Bittersweet, potent, and peculiarly entertaining. Poe Ballantine is the most soulful, insightful, funny, and altogether luminous 'under-known' writer in America. He knocks my socks off, even when I'm barefoot." -Tom Robbins, author of Tibetan Peach Pie
"Whirlaway is a fever dream of my favorite things: horse racing, records, booze, insanity, and women. What a strange and crazed comedic ride. Ballantine's writing is like no other." -Willy Vlautin, author of The Free
"Like David Sedaris, he is an American outsider with insane comedic and storytelling gifts." -Marion Wink, author of Above Us Only Sky
"Ballantine's writing is secure insecurity at its best, muscular and minimal, self-deprecating on the one hand, full of the self's soul on the other." -Lauren Slater, author of Lying POE BALLANTINE currently lives in Chadron, Nebraska. His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Sun, Kenyon Review, and The Coal City Review. In addition to garnering numerous Pushcart and O. Henry nominations, Mr. Ballantine's work has been included in the anthologies The Best American Short Stories 1998 and The Best American Essays 2006.