The Fracking King: A Novel

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, July 2014: James Browning’s debut brings together Scrabble, fracking, and a student at a Pennsylvania boarding school in a delightful mix that touches on environmentalism without ever taking a misstep into diatribe. High school junior Winston Crwth has entered his third school in as many years. A Scrabble obsessive, he attends Hale on a “Dark scholarship,” which pays the bills; but the Darks own the Dark Oil & Gas Company, which runs fracking concerns in the area. Although Scrabble is banned at Hale when Win first arrives, he manages to get the ban repealed so that he can compete in the Pennsylvania State Scrabble Tournament. Once there, he encounters the governor and the president of Dark Oil & Gas. Filled with quirky characters and lively word play (often having to do with Scrabble), The Fracking King is a novel that knows where it stands and what it stands for. --Chris Schluep