The Rise & Fall Of Third Leg

by Jon Longhi

In a world ravaged by environmental disasters, the remnants of humanity fight to survive. The story follows a young protagonist's quest for survival as they navigate treacherous landscapes and confront the dark secrets of their past.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Mazzeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Rise and Fall of The Third Leg” is a small collection of short stories by John Longhi. The book consists of the novella length title work and a large quantity of flash fiction pieces.

The flash pieces as a collection are okay; individually some are good, some are great, and some are flat. That is one major compliment to the author: I didn’t read any bad stories, just a few uninteresting ones. Around page 45 I got tired of one to three page short-shorts and went to put the book down. This isn’t a reflection on the author. I was really enjoying his work, but I need a little bit more meat, even from short pieces. Then, I decided to read the title piece before stopping.

“The Rise and Fall of The Third Leg” is fantastic. It follows a college punk rock band at the dawn of the era. They aren’t great musicians. They aren’t big men on campus. They aren’t really anything, other than a collection of disaffected youth with musical instruments. The piece doesn’t take itself too serious, and does a good job of conveying the spirit of punk rock. This piece proved to me that Longhi is more than a vignette writer, shooting off good ideas with minimal story content or structure. My only complaint is the mildly sloppy editing, a hazard of reading underground. There are several instances of the wrong word being used. For example, “mike” instead of “mic.” While it’s not the end of the world, I was a little surprised to see those kinds of mistakes in a professionally published book. (If I have any typos in this review it was intentional irony.)

Overall the book is solid a collection and Longhi is a funny and engaging author with an interesting and entertaining prospective. “Wake Up and Smell the Beer,” Longhi’s novel, is in my to-read pile for later this year.

[Clif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming from a disaffected San Francisco ethos, the modern progeny of Robert Crumb, this book delighted me for the cracked mirror it held to my self destruction and to the abandon with which its characters hurtle into the abyss

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just go ahead and read all Longhi's stuff. It's good and good for you.

[Hank Olivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another L.A. Times Festival Of Books acquisition. I got Jon Longhi's The Rise And Fall Of Third Leg on the strength of its bizarrely hilarious Robert Crumb-drawn cover, and I've got to say, the contents complement the packaging perfectly! What we get are 20 short stories packed into 167 pages, ranging in length from a couple of paragraphs to the title story, which takes up half the book. These writings are instilled with an irreverent, punk-rock attitude and are for the most part endearing and just plain funny! For the shorter ones, I found myself taking on the mindset of reading poetry or an extended joke; and indeed I could totally visualize the author reciting them to a captive audience (as he apparently has). My favorites of these are the hyper-sexual “The Tales Of G. Spot Fitzgerald", the punks-going-to-a-wedding mishaps of "Road Trip", the drugged-out "Eddie Blue", the brief and oddly sentimental "Trust" and "The Demise Of The Sizzlin' Androids", about an inept band which can be seen as a sort of dress-rehearsal for the epic "The Rise And Fall Of Third Leg" itself. This last one is exactly what its name implies: a tale documenting the genesis of avant-punk band Third Leg from the sardonic guitar player/narrator's dorm room to it's final chaotic theater gig, opening for an over-the-top rowdy Rocky Horror Picture Show crowd. It's a seedy, shambling sex-and-drugs-and-rock & roll romp, very episodic, filled with a memorable cast of misfit characters and an overall laugh riot! I felt at times that I was reading something written by a friend or peer, which was very cool and really added to the allure of this collection.

[Dana Jerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longhi does it again. A well-wrought sprinkling of flash fiction accompanied by a novella.
May the black-sun-bright days of rock live forever on inside of all of us.

[Hector Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fast and entertaining read. It's not often that I pick up a fiction book I can't put down.