E Payton

Speech-Writer E Payton

Here, at last, is E. Payton's long-rumored, long-awaited novel. A taut psychological exploration of the inner life and demons haunting an alcoholic working writer, a speechwriter by trade. Harrowing at times in its depiction of encroaching madness and its deep roots in childhood, but leavened with humor throughout - especially its hilarious side-excursions into the book's self-contained novella. The book-within-a-book veers off into the chaotic life of a fictional alter-ego who presides over a redneck Southern menagerie of flawed but all-too-human characters. A very literary but also very readable book that defies easy characterization. Recovering English majors who once dreamed of a writing life; readers who enjoy a laugh and a challenge; and anyone existentially adrift in this unmoored age will find Payton's first book resonant.