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Ovenman

About Me


"You can get a job anywhere in America if you can handle a grill."
—Harry Crews
Ovenman is a comic skateboarder/kitchen worker novel by Jeff Parker. There is a website with video blackout scenes by designer Ryan Molloy and songs by Bradley Armstrong @ www.iamovenman.com
"Jeff Parker is a writer who understands that voice is the doorway to all true beauty in fiction. Tight, wry, dark, and deeply funny—he is a master of the hyper-compressed sentence that explodes with more meaning and nuance than should be possible. Ovenman is a welcome addition to the literature of the lovably hapless by a young writer with talent to burn."
—George Saunders, author of Pastoralia and In Persuasion Nation
"Funny, soulful, and energetic, Ovenman is wonderful."
—Mary Gaitskill, author of Veronica
"Rarely are mopping and pizza dough so pleasingly rendered. Even inside When's world of chaos, Parker's novel pushes forward with grace. This is a delight of a debut."
—Aimee Bender, author of Willful Creatures and An Invisible Sign of My Own
"Mr. Parker has written a weirdly attractive life of people one thought had no life, the pierced and tatted Xtremes. Creepy, convincing, hooty, and fun. The movie will be scary."
—Padgett Powell, author of Edisto
"In his utterly original Ovenman, Parker has created a time capsule of the nineties in Central Florida and an ode to the mysteries and hopes and acrobatics of youth. When Thinfinger, the skateboarding philosopher at the heart of this terrific novel, is brilliantly acerbic and uncommonly insightful. And awfully, awfully funny. Here's a brief note of which I hope he'd approve: This novel really cooks. Read it tonight."
—Bret Anthony Johnston, Director of Creative Writing, Harvard University
Also by Jeff Parker: The Back of the Line

My Blog

reviews

Diagram"Parker riffs on the brilliant, bombastic language of one When Thinfinger, pizza cook and then night manager at Gainesville, FL's Piecemeal Pizza by the Slice. When is a skater, which is a mili...
Posted by on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:30:00 GMT

OVENMAN READINGS:

Toronto - Sunday, Nov. 25, 7:30pm - The Fictitious Reading Series @ This Ain't the Rosedale Library, 483 Church Street, 416-929-9912Ypsilanti, Michigan  Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 5pm  Bathhouse Rea...
Posted by on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:52:00 GMT

the good word on ovenman

"Jeff Parker is a writer who understands that voice is the doorway to all true beauty in fiction. Tight, wry, dark, and deeply funny--he is a master of the hyper-compressed sentence that explodes with...
Posted by on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:01:00 GMT

the back of the line--out now!

The Back of the Line, a collaboration with artist William Powhida, is out now from Decode. It's four stories interwoven with tons of Bill's images. Read more about it here and here.
Posted by on Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:08:00 GMT

coming later

Ovenman is coming out sometime between June and Sept. 2007.The artist Bill Powhida is designing the cover. He'll have a final draft at some point in December. I'll post it and any other info as I know...
Posted by on Mon, 20 Nov 2006 07:13:00 GMT