totemjoupub writer

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.

Vahmroh Tamer: Volume 1 by Freemi-Ya

Talovarios is a quiet young Imp and just one of billions of hominids across a land barely stitched together who have chased the boundless wonders of Vahmrohs — magnificent, geometric monsters that mirror the appearance and abilities of real-world taxa — for millennia. The only difference is that he has a Tamer’s heart that’s far larger than his wallet or support system. When a fateful encounter leaves him bonded to a stray, young Vahmroh marked by an undesired “cracked star,” his childhood dream detonates into something far greater—just as the local haven of folk-Tamer culture falls before the smile of a corporate buyout. Now, Talovarios is torn between four factions clawing for control of tamership itself: the privileged who hoard power, outlaws thriving in chaos, sentinels enforcing peace, and an ancient way fiercely rallying around the everyman—each desperate to gatekeep who can command the limitless potential of Vahmrohs. The Core within his Tamer's device thrums with both promise and peril as the bond Talovarios forges with this unwanted creature ignites a relentless journey of discovery and defiance. One that teaches this generation of Tamers that a fulfilling path can be one you walk alone—at first. Dedicated to creature-collecting aficionados worldwide — as well as Eiichiro Oda and Hiro Mashima — this charged tale of diaspora, collaborative freedom, and found family channels shōnen energy into a modern odyssey about ownership, identity, and the adventure of forging your own legend.