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December 2011 Indie Next List
“Joe, an out of work encyclopedia salesman, has a lot of ideas. Most are useless, but he stumbles upon a solution to the problem of sexual harassment and low productivity in the workplace. His unconventional idea is an immediate hit for corporate offices, but Joe is then forced to take on the stigma of being very successful at something that is revolting to most. Reminiscent of the writings of both Shteyngart and Palahniuk, Lightning Rods avoids pretention by being bizarrely funny and satisfyingly sardonic.”
— Rachel Haisley, The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT
Description
""All I want is to be a success. That's all I ask."" Joe fails to sell a single set of the Encyclopedia Britannica in six months. Then he fails to sell a single Electrolux and must eat hundreds of pieces of homemade pie, served up by his would-be customers who feel so sorry for him. Holed up in his trailer, Joe finds an outlet his for frustrations in a series of ingenious sexual fantasies, and at last strikes gold. His brain storm, Lightning Rods, Inc., will take Joe to the very top - and to the very heart of corporate insanity - with an outrageous solution to the spectre of sexual harassment in the modern office.
About the Author
Helen DeWitt is best known for her acclaimed debut novel, The Last Samurai. She held a variety of jobs while struggling to finish a book, including a dictionary text tagger, a copytaker, Dunkin' Donuts employee, and working in a laundry service. During this time she reportedly attempted to finish many novels, before finally completing The Last Samurai, her 50th manuscript, in 1998. She has since written several other novels. She lives in Berlin. READER BIO Dushko Petrovich is a painter and writer who lives in New Haven, Connecticut. He has exhibited his work in the US and Europe, and he contributes regularly to publications such as Slate, the Boston Globe, and Modern Painters. In addition to teaching art at Boston University and the Rhode Island School of Design, he is a founding editor of Paper Monument.