My Booty Novel

by Bill Campbell

Thirty-two-year-old Damian Cross has just returned from a disastrous first book tour only to be dumped by his fiancee. Now, newly-single for the first time in seven years, he has to pick up the pieces, start his life all over again, and write a second novel.

Genres: Fiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Bill Campbell is a native Pittsburgher. Throughout his varied and illustrious career, he has done everything from assembling Christmas toys in Cleveland; loading trucks, bookkeeping, and being an AmeriCorps volunteer in Atlanta; coordinating an elementary school literacy program in D.C. to teaching English as a second language in the Czech Republic. He's also the former publisher of the independent magazine, Contraband, and the music trade magazine, CD Revolutions.

Bill came out with Sunshine Patriots, a semi-satirical, military sf novel, back in 2004. My Booty Novel, which he likes to call "fluff for nerds," came out in 2007. His new book, Pop Culture: Politics, Puns, and "Poohbutt" from a Liberal Stay-at-Home Dad was released in September, 2010.



Bill lives in Washington, DC, where he has worked as a music critic for www.ink19.com and currently works for a company that produces books for the blind for the Library of Congress.

Reviews

[Geordie Korper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is exactly what it says it is; which is really all we can ask for. Is this a momentous work of literature? No, but it is an entertaining way to spend a few hours.

[Gracie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(c) August 2008 Gracie C. McKeever

Damien Rene Cross is a sci-fi writer who has just returned from a disastrous book-signing tour only to be dumped by his fiancee and girlfriend of seven years. His best and long-time friend, a moderately successful jazz musician and a lady's man, Kevin, adivses Damien to write a booty novel--basically to sell out. What's a self-respecting, blocked writer to do?

If you're one Damien Cross you slowly but surely get back on the dating and relationship horse, reconnecting with old friends and making some new ones while your cousin and friends play matchmaker and you try to finish your second novel.

Damien is a colorful and compelling character, simultaneously exasperating and sympathetic as the reader gradually gets beneath the surface of his twisted sense of humor, irreverence and non-chalant facade to learn he has some serious and painful demons in his past, much more emotionally damaging and serious than a fiancee who has left him with a case of clap and his self-esteem battered almost beyond repair.

Though Campbell had a tendency to go off on tangents that I didn't always find that interesting (I have to admit I skipped over these parts to get back to the meat-and-potatoes story and characters, especially in the first part of the book), for the most part the story was absorbing, humorous and entertaining. Campbell has a gift for fresh and snappy dialogue and seemed to hit his stride with a sharper, focused and smooth-flowing narrative in the second half of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed My Booty Novel. The main and secondary characters were charmingly flawed, quirky, multi-dimensional and full of depth, all the driving forces behind this mainstream read full of the minefields and controversies of trying to navigate through contemporary relationships and the modern dating world.

For a romance fan like myself, the ending was especially satisfactory and sweet without being too sappy and unrealistic.”