Wobblestrut & Other Proclivities by Leslie Summerfield

A dapper young man fights madness on the brink of existential collapse, treating ego-death with beer bottles. Another grasps the true nature of attraction; only to watch everyone in a high-end restaurant play indulgent children-himself included. A new hire clocks in for a typical first day but quickly suspects a con that may involve trafficking his own organs. Meanwhile, a pimp lives his final day like the king he is, as the hottest gentleman's club on the block whirls into panic. And inside a dank basement, a charismatic bum in a tremendous wig catches spliff-induced clarity so hard it unfurls into a lucid time traveling adventure! Wobblestrut & Other Proclivities is a short-story collection set in a fictional DMV, where the County's comfort and neighboring Buss Ask's chaos blur into a darkly comic ecosystem of hustlers, lovers, weirdos, and emerging sovereigns. In these standalone, yet linked tales, Summerfield alchemizes the strange, tender, dark, with a ridiculous off-kilter approach to the everyday and an unsparing eye for the human condition-where the mundane goes uncanny before landing embarrassingly familiar. Written in the voice of a lovechild between a stand-up folklorist, lyrical witness, and tall-tale prophet, this book may leave readers reeling from thought, feeling, and laughter-all at once, or in a single line where a joke, fresh insight, and old trigger catch them off guard. This is a local mythos of cast-outs and coronations where you'll do just fine; so long as you remember that true self is exposed after life shits on your shoulder... Leslie Summerfield is a DMV born and raised author/poet whose writing style is yours to decide; as an esteemed peer once asked: "What are you feeding your mind to write like this?" Their work blends Black intellectual and liberation traditions (Baldwin, Douglass), relatable yet raw provocative humor (Joey Diaz, the late-great Patrice O'Neal), Kafkaesque circumstance, and an obsessive love for the overlooked — raised on hip-hop, R&B, rock, as well as Neal Peterson, immigrants who carried seeds and cuttings into this country, and fruit hunters still chasing their descendants and rooted clones.

Adult • Contemporary Fiction • Diversity Representation • Anthologies • Literary Fiction • Short Stories

Content Warning: Wobblestrut & Other Proclivities carries a Parental Advisory label on its cover for adult content and social themes, drug and alcohol references, and strong language in dialogue.