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Smashing Laptops: a Nomad's Romance with Missoula
The world's first pregnant virgin in over 2000 years lives in Missoula, Montana. When old friends return home to witness the miracle, this poetic memoir of a nomad's romance with one small town sparks the rediscovery of a community of guerrilla artists, gnostic magicians, anarchists and fly-fishing enthusiasts. The memories of half a dozen ex-love affairs haunt the narrator on his quest to find stability within wanderlust. SMASHING LAPTOPS evokes the passions and delusions of restless artistic spirits in a frontierless new American West where the quickest way to forge the future lies in tearing the past to shreds.
"A tumbling, unpredictable and hilarious guide for anyone seeking the way back home again." -David Allan Cates; Author of "X out of Wonderland" and "Freeman Walker"
"Wagner's book is beautifully written, and true, and filled with serious tenderness... You can see the words of certain passages scrawled in a notebook before they've been transcribed. It's the sort of writing that can only come from experience, given to us raw and unfiltered with a charm that requires only a little prodding to fall for." -Molly Laich, "Missoula Independent"
"A tumbling, unpredictable and hilarious guide for anyone seeking the way back home again." -David Allan Cates; Author of "X out of Wonderland" and "Freeman Walker"
"Wagner's book is beautifully written, and true, and filled with serious tenderness... You can see the words of certain passages scrawled in a notebook before they've been transcribed. It's the sort of writing that can only come from experience, given to us raw and unfiltered with a charm that requires only a little prodding to fall for." -Molly Laich, "Missoula Independent"
- GenresFiction
220 pages, Paperback
First published November 11, 2011
1 person is currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Josh Wagner
41 books29 followersJosh Wagner was born with a hole in his heart, a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). He’s fine now.
Wagner’s writing has been described as lyrical, whimsical, and incisive. He works primarily in the realm of magical realism and fantastic fiction. Having studied Creative Writing and English literature at the University of Montana, he went on to earn his MSc from the University of Edinburgh.
Wagner has released four novels ("Shapes the Sunlight Takes," "Deadwind Sea", "Smashing Laptops," and "The Adventures of the Imagination of Periphery Stowe"), several stage plays ("Salep & Silk" and the collection "Bleached Bones"), graphic novels ("Fiction Clemens", "Sky Pirates of Neo Terra"), the short story/poetry collection "Nothing in Mind," and the novella "Mystery Mark," collaboratively illustrated by Theo Ellsworth. His short fiction has been published by Cafe Irreal, Not One of Us, Cleaver Magazine, Medulla Review, Lovecraft eZine, and Image Comics.
His first graphic short appeared in Image Comics "24Seven vol. 2", which was nominated for an Eisner award. "Fiction Clemens" won Project Fanboy's 2008 "Best storyline" award. His short play "Bleach Bone" won the 2012 Westcliffe Center's New Rocky Mountain Voices competition.
Wagner spent his formative years close to the ocean and then later in the mountains. Torn between these forces, Josh can’t sit still for very long. He rarely lives anywhere for more than a year, and his constant travels contribute to the particular imaginative flavor of his work.
He is currently living in Ireland working on his PhD and developing a suite of novels called The Changing Things. He is facinated by rhizomes, paradoxes, things left unsaid.
Wagner’s writing has been described as lyrical, whimsical, and incisive. He works primarily in the realm of magical realism and fantastic fiction. Having studied Creative Writing and English literature at the University of Montana, he went on to earn his MSc from the University of Edinburgh.
Wagner has released four novels ("Shapes the Sunlight Takes," "Deadwind Sea", "Smashing Laptops," and "The Adventures of the Imagination of Periphery Stowe"), several stage plays ("Salep & Silk" and the collection "Bleached Bones"), graphic novels ("Fiction Clemens", "Sky Pirates of Neo Terra"), the short story/poetry collection "Nothing in Mind," and the novella "Mystery Mark," collaboratively illustrated by Theo Ellsworth. His short fiction has been published by Cafe Irreal, Not One of Us, Cleaver Magazine, Medulla Review, Lovecraft eZine, and Image Comics.
His first graphic short appeared in Image Comics "24Seven vol. 2", which was nominated for an Eisner award. "Fiction Clemens" won Project Fanboy's 2008 "Best storyline" award. His short play "Bleach Bone" won the 2012 Westcliffe Center's New Rocky Mountain Voices competition.
Wagner spent his formative years close to the ocean and then later in the mountains. Torn between these forces, Josh can’t sit still for very long. He rarely lives anywhere for more than a year, and his constant travels contribute to the particular imaginative flavor of his work.
He is currently living in Ireland working on his PhD and developing a suite of novels called The Changing Things. He is facinated by rhizomes, paradoxes, things left unsaid.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 5, 2017
Smashing Laptops was okay, not bad but not something I would reread either.
I had a hard time getting through it and often set it aside for other books. Mostly, it felt like a bunch of quotable lines stitched together without any real beginning, middle , or end. I'd read a line that would just touch me to the core, keep reading and get bored, then come across another hard hitting line and remember why I was reading.
The ending felt very abrupt and that left me rather bummed, too.
I had a hard time getting through it and often set it aside for other books. Mostly, it felt like a bunch of quotable lines stitched together without any real beginning, middle , or end. I'd read a line that would just touch me to the core, keep reading and get bored, then come across another hard hitting line and remember why I was reading.
The ending felt very abrupt and that left me rather bummed, too.
January 18, 2018
Being a former street urchin and knowing the characters of this book might make my opinion somewhat biased, but I truly love this rollicking tale that speaks to the true Missoula of the 90’s and early 00’s
May 20, 2016
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway. My opinion is just that...mine...and completely unbiased.
Zozezaz! I had so much fun with this cast of weirdly loveable characters. We all know them...sometimes we don't want to admit it, but...... they're there, lurking in the shadows of our life. I will definitely be hunting down Mr. Wagner's other novels!
Zozezaz! I had so much fun with this cast of weirdly loveable characters. We all know them...sometimes we don't want to admit it, but...... they're there, lurking in the shadows of our life. I will definitely be hunting down Mr. Wagner's other novels!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews