Californium: A Novel of Punk Rock, Growing Up, and Other Dangerous Things

Author: Johnson, R. Dean

Color: Orange

Number Of Pages: 352

Details:

A coming-of-age crossover novel about growing up, selling out, and fitting in. It's late summer 1982 when the Houghton family uproots from Paterson, New Jersey and moves to Yorba Linda, California—the self-anointed "Land of Gracious Living." Fourteen year-old Reece is trying his best to believe his family has come to California for the opportunities it affords and not to outrun a shared family secret, but he's beginning to realize that even his heroes have flaws, everybody lies, and starting a band may be his only chance at salvation.  With a bullhorn, a borrowed guitar, and his new best friends—Keith, a know-it-all who knows very little; and Treat, a mohawked kid obsessed with obscure albums—Reece starts a punk group of his own. While Reece's relationship with his parents suffers under the strain of new jobs, new friends, new crushes, and old secrets, his confidence soars. Even without a gig or a song they can play the same way twice, the buzz about the band is swirling, and it's not until the night of the band's first gig that Reece will fully understand how much of his new home is authentic, how much is artificial, and how some things, like the chemical element Californium, can be both at the same time.

Reviews:

“Johnson has written a new rites of passage in the Golden State. The boys in Californium are full of American hope and their reckoning is written with vivid care.”

— Ron Carlson, author of Return to Oakpine

“ Californium comes alive through its obsession with detail—not simply in how precisely Johnson evokes the era and locale, but in how details are vitally important to every single character.”

— Paul Fuhr, The Live Oak Review

About the Author:

R. Dean Johnson grew up in Anaheim, California and now lives in Kentucky with his wife, the writer Julie Hensley, and their two children. An Associate Professor at Eastern Kentucky University, he is Director of the Bluegrass Writers Studio Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing program. His stories and essays have appeared in several journals, including  Ascent, Natural Bridge, New Orleans Review, Slice, and  The Southern Review. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. ***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof*** Copyright © 2016 R. Dean Johnson [Opening Act] In the dark, my popcorn ceiling looked like one of those old black-and-white pictures of the moon—all shadowy and imperfect and so real it seemed fake. It didn’t make sense to suddenly be awake in the quiet of the house, and I knew my clock must be in single digits, later than late but still too early to be early. Then the voices came back. They’d hiss like waves at the beach and fade into the dark before I could make out what they were saying. That’s what woke me up. That’s how it all started. For a second, I wondered if I was dreaming. But if it was all a dream, the voices would have faces or bodies; something would be chasing me through quicksand or across a field of wet grass and I’d have no shoes on, just soda bread strapped to my feet and a backpack full of bricks. Nobody dreams boring stuff. That’s why the sheets were up to my chin while I stared at the dark side of the moon, waiting for I don’t know what. The voices to come back, I guess. Then it hit me: If it was half past infinity, why would there be any light at all on my ceiling? So I followed the glow across the room, down the wall, and to my door, which was mostly closed except for a crack just big enough to let in the light that was sneaking down the hallway. I was ready when the voices came back, staring at my door, the hiss louder this time. “Go,” a voice said. “You have to go.” Then, a different voice, softer, like air leaking out of a pipe: “Where can I go, Packy? Tell me.” “Home,” the first voice said. My dad’s voice. “You know the trouble that’ll bring.” “So you bring the trouble to me?” my dad said, louder, almost like he was in the room with me and not just on the other side of my do...

EAN: 9780143128779

Release Date: 19-07-2016

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Paperback Used - Very Good Ships fast! 2016

Item Condition: UsedVeryGood

Binding: Paperback