Honk if you Love Boise Hafter

by John Wallace

One out of 500,000 persons borne into existence has the singular distinction of being out of synchronization. Out of sync if you will with Time, Space, Linear Insanity and 499,999 other persons. You out of syncs know who you are.Professor PR Riffling noted authority on Olivetti, unknown Italian madrigalist, discovers the posthumous papers of one Professor Boise Hafter, an astral misfit, responsible for the first wide open classroom, pioneer in sousaphonic turning forked brain rythm research, and founder of Hafterism, that scientific discipline which divides the earth's population into four categories, the Straights, the Far Outs, the out of sights, and last but not least the Out of Syncs.

235 pages

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

I'm an author illustrator. My books are inspired by the gooniness of children. I have always loved drawing

I am a self taught as an illustrator and studied Theology at Cambridge. I learned the tricks of the trade by drawing objects to scale for the Oriental Galleries of the British Museum, and then later working on newspapers.

My books have been widely translated, and one, The Twins, was adapted for a cartoon series.

Reviews

[Benjamin Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story and feel of this tale is something like "Harold and Maude" meets "Celestine Prophecy" but without the strange meanness and over-simplification of "Harold and Maude" (with the exception of this books rather heavy-handed treatment of psychotherapists) and without the horrid pot-boiler writing of Celestine Prophecy. Here is a well-worked out philosophy about the different degrees of non-conformity that I have never seen elsewhere--and the sense of fun is something like Tom Robbins or earlier Kurt Vonnegut. What this book has to offer persons who truly don't fit in anywhere, would by itself make it worth reading and passing on.

Yet there is more than that: the writing is poetic, even lyrical in most places; and it only improves when they meet the madman/oracle Fairweather. Entire sections of this book could be extracted and broken into free-verse style stanzas and not only stand, but amaze, on their own.

The poetry of this book is a notch above even the best-written examples of approximately similar books.