BookLife Editors Pick
Gross’s lively debut takes a dip into the chaos of 1970s New York, when “those twin evils, inflation and depression, worked their ever-nastier magic on the streets” and the papers’ “daily dose of robbery, rape, rioting, arson, assassination, suicide, infanticide, and homicide” is enough to jolt East Village news-junkie Eliot from his habit. In Gross’s vivid imagining, the city’s last flicker of hope hinges on its World Series-bound Yankees, led by the “season-long heroics” of rookie star Nick “The Swan” Spillage. But even baseball’s not immune from the city’s travails, as the diabolical revolutionary group Satanic Vanguard kidnaps Mayor Lightly at a “Save the Cities” rally and threatens further violence, entangling a young couple (Joan and Elliot) and even The Swan himself.
This saga of urbane comic deviltry unfolds at a fast pace, with disjointed scenes and multiple characters crossing paths at several junctions heightening the boisterous New York-ness of the narrative. Gross masterfully employs the character arcs of Joan and Elliot to paint a rich picture of 1960s counterculture stalwarts—they tripped at Woodstock and have busked as a folk duo on the subway—facing the hard 1970s hangover. Joan’s obsession with The Swan leads her to strike a Faustian deal, setting the stage for a twisty love story intertwined with a search for identity as Joan and Elliot both face crises of the soul.
Gross’s potent blend of garbage strike-era New York portraiture, brisk comic dialogue (“Satan’s not so scary. He just don’t conform to bourgeois norms”), yellow-tabloid press accounts, earnest belief in baseball, and incisive socio-cultural and political explorations power a wild story rich with wicked humor but also a sense of humane street poetry. At its core, Spillage is an ornate portrait of New York, still vital at its lowest ebb: its politics, its neighborhoods, its diversity, and the abiding belief of the Flatbush Faithful. This is a crackerjack novel of love and self discovery that echoes themes of resilience and of redemption.
Takeaway: Faustian comedy of 1970s New York, the counterculture, and the Yankees.
Comparable Titles: Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, Philip Roth’s The Great American Novel.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
EIN Presswire | Newsmatics
SPILLAGE Launches Today as Yankees Open Season
NEWS PROVIDED BY
EIN Presswire
Mar 28, 2024, 8:30 AM ET
Spillage book cover
Debut Novel by Michael Gross Takes Damn Yankees to New Level in Devilishly Fun Throwback to 70s New York
Faustian comedy of 1970s New York, the counterculture, and the Yankees... rich in wicked humor... a crackerjack novel of love and self-discovery.”
— - Publishers Weekly BookLife Editor’s Pick
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, March 28, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Michael Gross's rollicking debut novel Spillage, a fantastical love story featuring rookie pitching phenom and would-be NY-savior Nick "The Swan" Spillage, launches today as the real-life Yankees begin their 2024 baseball season.
Spillage is a wild play on the Faustian musical Damn Yankees, a rock and roll romance and a wickedly comic throwback to the chaos of New York City’s darkest days. The novel has won early critical acclaim with reviewers praising its originality, authenticity, charm, humor, prose style, characters, and plot.
● "Wildly creative... Gross provides such a juicy, unusual plot that readers will be riveted."
- Kirkus Reviews
● "A raucous rendition of '70s New York... intriguing and unique... unforgettable."
- Independent Book Review
● "An infectiously entertaining comic novel, charming and delightfully confusing."
- Indie Reader "IR Approved"
● "A must-read for anyone seeking an immersive literary experience rooted in the heart of one of America's most iconic cities."
- BookView Review "Five Stars"
Set in 1976, the novel takes place when the Big Apple is in sorry shape. Besieged on all sides, the city has become a graffiti-coated, garbage-filled, crime-ridden cauldron teetering on the edge of total collapse. Adding to New York’s towering woes, a revolutionary group called the Satanic Vanguard has kidnapped the mayor, set fire to Coney Island, and threatened further mayhem. All that Gotham has to hope for are its resurgent Yankees, who’ve come back from the dead to reach the World Series by riding the arm of their rookie pitching phenom Nick Spillage. But Satan and his Vanguard plan to snuff that hope out too. They’ve targeted a young, rock-and-roll loving East Village couple to help with their diabolic scheme. That leads to the Faustian bargain at the center of the story.
The novel is nearly 50 years in the making. Seventy-two-year-old debut novelist Gross began writing Spillage the year the story takes place and returned to the manuscript decades later with more mature eyes after a successful career as CEO of a leading strategic communications firm. As Indie Reader put it, “One of the strengths of the book is the verisimilitude of its setting, New York (especially the East Village), captured as a time capsule of on-the-spot reportage rather than retrospective imagination. The period detail is impeccable, the mise-on-scene utterly convincing.”
According to BookView, “Gross expertly weaves together elements of 1960s counterculture, political commentary, and romance to create a gritty yet poetic portrayal of New York City. With engaging dialogue and vibrant descriptions, the novel is both an ode to the city’s resilience and a powerful exploration of redemption.”
Spillage is now available for purchase at Amazon. For more information about the story and author, please visit SpillageBook.com
About the Author
Michael Gross began writing Spillage in 1976, while working as managing editor of Fiction magazine, teaching, and earning his MFA at New York’s City College. Gross holds a BA from Trinity College and an MBA from New York University and received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. In 1978, he embarked on a forty-five-year career in crisis communications, culminating in his serving as CEO of Finsbury (now FGS Global). He is married with three children and three grandchildren and divides his time between Brooklyn and Fire Island, New York. To learn more, please follow him on Facebook @michaeljongross, Instagram @michaeljongross and X @spillageauthor.
About the Book
Title: Spillage
Author: Michael Gross
Release Date: March 28, 2024
Publisher: Raab & Co.
Price $9.99 (Kindle Edition)
ASIN: B0CQPB9IXH
Price: $14.99 (Paperback)
ISBN: 979-8865879305
Pages: 290
Catherine Kennedy
CK Publicity
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