When the body of Harry Injurides - playwright, provocateur and bodybuilder - washes up on a beach, his friends are shocked, but not altogether surprised. But when they meet to mourn Harry, he shows up and says he's been resurrected. Pharoni is the story of those friends. Tommy Pharoni tries to overcome his shock by writing about his friend's resurrection, and accidentally starts a religion. Roy Sudden starts a tech empire based on digital empathy and digital pain, drawing in billionaire investors, femme-fatale programmers, and tsunamis of capital. And, Roy's on-again, off-again girlfriend Maud works in secret to bring radical justice to the most neglected and abused corners of society. As Tommy's religion grows, Roy and his backers try to take control of it. The battle, about more than doctrine, engulfs Tommy's marriage and threatens his life, leading to a conflict with strangely humane results that no one could predict.
Forget This Good Thing I Just Said is a book of 900 aphorisms by Colin Dodds. By turns funny and upsetting, incisive and poignant, they each contain a small world. For best results, flip around the book and seize on a line, think about it or dismiss it, then start flipping and try again. This is a work of literature that lives at the ball-in-socket joint of what the author meant to say, and what he didn't know he meant. Like the cut-ups of William Burroughs, it's an experiment in exposing intentional language to the mysterious dynamics and agendas of so-called randomness. Like the I-Ching, it offers the reader something other than what the reader believes they're looking for, or what the author entirely intends. Like a walk through a city in a strange mood, it is full of messages -some tangential, others meant for exactly where and who you are in that moment.This is philosophy that's closer to first questions than final conclusions, philosophy that springs from the grease on a pizza box, a stranger's glance on a sidewalk, or a child's bedtime negotiations. The aphorism is the unit of meaning because it doesn't leave much room for equivocation or obfuscation. It's also an app for your phone, which you can find at forgetthisgoodthing.com.
"A mesmerizingly fascinating and addictive story," of alternative energy, demonic possession and the second American civil war, WINDFALL follows Seth Tatton, a corporate attorney with a side job as a bespoke hitman for a cabal of politicians, magnates and military leaders. Even under Seth's secret life, things aren't what they seem, because of something inside him - with big plans. And when Seth is assigned to watch a troubled young woman, all of those plans start to fall apart... "WINDFALL, while a mesmerizingly fascinating and addictive story, steps beyond the usual campfire-cum-barbershop tales spread around town or discussed in literary circles... (I) encourage those whose hunger for the new in writing will be stimulated to become submerged in this very contemporary landfall of a book. Colin Dodds has arrived."-Grady Harp, Literary Aficionado"WINDFALL is not your typical political thriller. Dodds deftly weaves in a solid paranormal thread that explores ambition, myth and morality in an indifferent America without resorting to pulpit thumping or cardboard villains."-The New Podler Review of Books"Dodds manages to throw fantasy, horror, and sci-fi into a mixing bowl and stir his readers up a delicious literary cake, cook it, and serve it with a sly and knowing smile. It may be clich to say, but trust me, you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll want more." - AE Stueve, editor, EAB Publishing; author, Former"Smart people compliment the smart and direct narrative in a way that keeps a reader... eager to turn the page to discover the next big move from these compelling leads... (WINDFALL) could easily stand up against the more famous works of the genre."-Rabid Readers Reviews
Hundreds of fleeting and shocking observations, jokes, meditations, riddles and stories from hundreds of baffling days - Good Thing I Said Just Forget This is a continuation of Forget This Good Thing I Just Said, which was named a finalist for the 2022 Big Other Book Award for nonfiction.Good Thing I Said Just Forget This Thing is half of the body of work that, when animated by the software design of Matthew Dublin, uses random-number-generating technology to harness the power of synchronicity to turn every smartphone on the planet into a redolent and unnerving fortune-telling machine with the ability to open new possibilities and reawaken free will among its users.
Originally published in 1979, The Investment Behaviour of British Life Insurance Companies provides a critical analysis of the investment policy of the life insurance industry for the period of 1962-76, and attempts to construct an econometric model of the investment behaviour. It looks at the portfolio composition of life funds and their position in the markets for securities in terms of their gross purchases and sales and net acquisitions. It also considers the principles on which life offices appear to operate the principles on which life offices appear to operate in respect of investing their ‘reserves’ to meet future contingent liabilities. This book will appeal to those working in the field of economic and business.
Originally published in 1979, The Investment Behaviour of British Life Insurance Companies provides a critical analysis of the investment policy of the life insurance industry for the period of 1962-76, and attempts to construct an econometric model of the investment behaviour. It looks at the portfolio composition of life funds and their position in the markets for securities in terms of their gross purchases and sales and net acquisitions. It also considers the principles on which life offices appear to operate the principles on which life offices appear to operate in respect of investing their ‘reserves’ to meet future contingent liabilities. This book will appeal to those working in the field of economic and business.
Jim Monaghan really didn't want to go back to Worcester. But his father's open-heart surgery and Jim's sudden unemployment forced his hand. Making daily trips from the hospital to his father's empty apartment, Jim seeks out his childhood best friend, Joe Rousseau. But Joe has problems-a feud with a local gang. And Joe's plan to resolve the matter only makes things worse. Tending to his father and embarking on an ICU romance in the day, Jim tries to help his friend. He follows Joe into Worcester nights defined by drugs, guns and fistfights. As the danger escalates, Jim makes a painful choice to save his friend, and then has to live with the consequences. Another Broken Wizard is a book about straddling childhood and adulthood, straddling a fading industrial home town and the information-economy world of our attenuated aspirations, straddling the love for a friend and self preservation. It is an evocative portrait of Worcester, Massachusetts-both its place in the 21st century and its past."Dodds gets Worcester and shows it in all of its glories and cracks...He runs through the streets of the city and nearby towns and takes the reader with him...Dodds is a master of writing the town life and capturing all of the said and unsaid. His characters are so full of waiting, of pain, and of hope that never reaches past the next day."-Worcester Pulse Magazine"Masterfully written with all the grit and grisly humor of returning to one's dingy blue collar hometown, Another Broken Wizard is the compelling, tightly-woven story of a couple of 30-year old boyhood chums who don't grow up until it's too late."-Boston Literary Magazine "It kept me nostalgic for something that isn't my story, isn't my town, and I got really emotionally involved. I may have shed a tear at the beautifully foreshadowed climax, and I do not cry easily Seriously. Give it a read." - Illiterarty.com"Another Broken Wizard is a terrific coming-of-age tale that rings utterly true. Dodds has a gift for conveying the sounds of his people and their world. He can make highway hypnosis as fascinating as a gang brawl. And he has a natural radar for locating the perfect detail to evoke the sense of what it feels like to be caught between the past and the future, between loyalty and logic, and between the security of the known and the impulse to evolve. Though I came of age in the primordial mists, it somehow felt like he was giving me a tour of my own past. Another Broken Wizard is compulsively readable. I'll be giving this book to some of my friends."- Jack O'Connell, author of The Resurrectionist, and Box Nine "Dodds has written a fine novel. He has a voice wholly his own, and he captures the elemental good and bad in the American male. Joe's recklessness and gang feud creates a looming peril that keeps the reader on edge." -Kevin Kosar, author of Whiskey: A Global History
"Characters speak like prophets," (Kirkus) in this early 21st century road trip, murder mystery and love triangle. "Watching them ignore their better instincts-especially concerning women... makes the characters more endearing..." One night far from home, a mix of alcohol, recklessness and coincidence reunite childhood friends Lynn and Marv with Caroline, the beautiful and unpredictable object of their desires. When Caroline is arrested for the murder of her husband and child, Marv and Lynn find themselves entangled in a mystery. The question that pursues the two friends through their searches for love, stabs at success and self-destructive lapses is: Will they bother to solve it?Praise for What Smiled at Him"The novel has an angry edge to it, recalling the spirit of the Beats. Many of the peripheral characters speak like prophets... Marv and Lynn are just as self-aware as their supporting cast, and their abundance of wisdom sometimes stretches believability; it's tempered, however, by the flaw of their continually self-destructive behavior. Watching them ignore their better instincts... makes the characters more endearing." -Kirkus ReviewsLynn and Marv, now in their late twenties, are beginning to question the choices they've made. One is a struggling musician, the other a salesman. One night, far from home, alcohol, irresponsibility and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv. A few weeks later, she's arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son. As her trial nears, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death.Praise for Colin Dodds' Another Broken Wizard"Dodds gets Worcester and shows it in all of its glories and cracks...He runs through the streets of the city and nearby towns and takes the reader with him...Dodds is a master of writing the town life and capturing all of the said and unsaid. His characters are so full of waiting, of pain, and of hope that never reaches past the next day."-Worcester Pulse Magazine"Masterfully written with all the grit and grisly humor of returning to one's dingy blue collar hometown, Another Broken Wizard is the compelling, tightly-woven story of a couple of 30-year old boyhood chums who don't grow up until it's too late."-Boston Literary Magazine "It kept me nostalgic for something that isn't my story, isn't my town, and I got really emotionally involved. I may have shed a tear at the beautifully foreshadowed climax, and I do not cry easily Seriously. Give it a read." - Illiterarty.com"Another Broken Wizard is a terrific coming-of-age tale that rings utterly true. Dodds has a gift for conveying the sounds of his people and their world. He can make highway hypnosis as fascinating as a gang brawl. And he has a natural radar for locating the perfect detail to evoke the sense of what it feels like to be caught between the past and the future, between loyalty and logic, and between the security of the known and the impulse to evolve. Though I came of age in the primordial mists, it somehow felt like he was giving me a tour of my own past. Another Broken Wizard is compulsively readable. I'll be giving this book to some of my friends."- Jack O'Connell, author of The Resurrectionist, and Box Nine "Dodds has written a fine novel. He has a voice wholly his own, and he captures the elemental good and bad in the American male. Joe's recklessness and gang feud creates a looming peril that keeps the reader on edge." -Kevin Kosar, author of Whiskey: A Global History
"(O)ne of the most interesting books you'll read this year," WATERSHED is a thriller about a pregnant woman, and the two men-one a snake dealer with a sideline in secret messages and a billionaire living under an alias-who pursue her through a near-future America of anti-technology neighborhoods and illegal hospitals, where stockbrokers moonlight as assassins, nurses procure obscure pleasures, and the powers that be blow up the new World Trade Center to goose tourism. WATERSHED was named a Book of the Month by The Association of Independent Authors and recognized in Kirkus Reviews' Stars & Recommendations section as "an appealing mix of adventure and contemplation."WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING"A highly readable, quirkily creative alternate reality that comes frighteningly close to real life... the present taken to its logical extreme... much more than social commentary. It's a genuinely captivating edge-of-your-seat thriller, which kept me reading from beginning to end, looking forward to each new chapter." - The Lost Coast Review"The world of WATERSHED is a vibrant one, packed to the gills with absurd and yet oddly-believable detail - everything from a September 11th memorial service that involves a full-scale recreation of the original terrorist attack, to a man who gets off on being locked in a coffin with a bag full of cats... Dodds manages to make all this and more seem not just possible, but vivid and tangible too.... It's the real deal...a strong contender to be one of the most interesting books you'll read this year." - IndieReader Reviews (4.7/5 Stars)"This cynical and surreal vision of a near-future America is intriguing and there is some genuine dark humor in the story... The use of language is interesting and the ideas are expressed thoughtfully, with attention to each word... unusual in both ideas and expression, blending elements of a suspense thriller with hints of paranormal fiction and a fair portion of social commentary to create a unique feel." - Publishers Weekly, BookLife Prize Review "Readers will never be quite sure what lurks around the next corner... An appealing mix of adventure and contemplation." - Kirkus Reviews"Watershed is a unique book, and one that will grip you from the first page... exceptionally well-written, unique, and an overall brilliant ride... unlike any you've seen before, and which is rife with fascinating ideas played out to gleeful excess." (5/5 Stars) - The Indie Book Journal"The masterfully dystopian WATERSHED unpacks the future of a modern America that, while spectacular, nobody was expecting... It's a future that, as Leonard Cohen sang, is murder. The revelations of prose in WATERSHED makes that murder enjoyable... one of the few things worth believing in." - Two Thirds North"The style is simple, uncluttered, but the writer has a gift for magical turns of phrase as well as a natural ear for rhythm... the reader feels as though they have opened a door onto another world." - Bluepepper"All the elements of good storytelling line up in this work. The narrative is crisp, the premise is unique, the description and characterizations are well-drawn and compelling... Dodds deserves your attention - there is excitement in the style and insight in the exposition" - Blognostics"I read this book in one day... striking and clearly not for the faint-hearted... a good read, full of imagination and surprises." - Scarlet Leaf Review (5/5 Stars)"Watershed is a fun read for fans of thrillers and dystopian futures alike... unexpected twists and turns will hold your attention from start to finish." - Furious Gazelle"...a masterful job of weaving in and out of the converging story lines... the ending is satisfyingly explosive." - Miller's Pond Poetry Magazine
