Wouldn't the Wood Weird
a post-existential romantic fantasy
or
Impractical Prayers from the Spindle of the Void
by David J. Keffer

Description:
Reality is defined reluctantly by common consensus. Each of us participates in the process in a unique way and contributes our own idiosyncratic slant to the reality that emerges. The extent to which an individual is willing to deviate from the most representative perception of reality can become the predominant characteristic with which that individual is defined by others. No deviation at all is recognized as an admirable pragmatism or an unappealing conformity, depending upon the disposition of the observer. Some modest level of deviation from the mode is often recognized as panache. A step further away, a refusal to accept a common view of reality is deemed eccentricity. Taken to extremes, the unwillingness to embrace a common consensus of reality is deemed mental illness.

Wouldn't the Wood Weird follows a quartet of individuals who fall at varying places along this spectrum of reality acceptance, but who all have strayed some distance from common consensus. Alienated by a culture to which he cannot connect, Tony considers himself an astronaut on an extended, interplanetary mission. He perceives all his actions through this lens. Samudra finds solace in fantasies of drowning, which help her put the mundane obstacles that distress her in perspective but also have unintended, though not entirely surprising, consequences on her daily habits of living. Ohu has opened herself up to the spirit world; her life balances material and spiritual concerns. Likely there are many readers who would find aspects of themselves in each of these characters. Wouldn't the Wood Weird distrusts human institutions--governments, churches, and the like. Again, this is not all that unusual of a stance for a human being to assume.

These four each engaged their idiosyncrasies to such an extent that they came into contact with public services designed to address psychological ailments. They were each recuperated and returned, ostensibly whole, to society. They maintained their own community and, having overcome their inner demons, join forces to participate in the externally directed enterprise often described as "making the world a better place". This novel follows them on their first adventure in this arena, the search for the astronaut's missing wife.

On the Writing Process:
Narrating a story in which each character perceives events according to their own relative sense of reality results naturally in an exercise in multiplicity. Wouldn't the Wood Weird was generated through an improvisational process rather than a compositional process. For interested parties, the International Journal of Exploratory Meta-Living has reprinted articles discussing a literature of non-idiomatic improvisation at length and in brief. The Poison Pie Publishing House is a champion of post-existential fantasy. Wouldn't the Wood Weird is the most recent example of such a work and the first to explicitly admit a romantic element. Again, The International Journal of Exploratory Meta-Living has published an article discussing post-existential fantasy for interested readers.

February 12, 2016

Promotional Flyer
A promotional flyer for Wouldn't the Wood Weird is available. Many such flyers for books from the Poison Pie Publishing House are collected here.

free, anonymous access to full text online: PPPH
length: 43,000 words (115 pages in paperback)
written: December 15, 2015-March 15, 2016, Knoxville, Tennessee
paperback size: 6 in x 9 in
paperback publication date: August 6, 2016
paperback ISBN-13: 978-1536929140
paperback ISBN: 153692914X
ebook publication date: August 8, 2106
ebook ISBN-13: 978-1370113408
poison pie publishing house catalog number: PP-035-N

buy it in the shop                       promotional flyer