Carp Fishing on Valium: stories by Graham Parker

Garden gnomes mysteriously vanish from suburban lawns... a momentous force enters a 13-year-old boy from the third rail of a train line and gives him powers that he uses to harass a local fishwife... Mick Jagger is killed when a bus runs over him and the most unlikely of prospects is interviewed for his replacement. These are just a few of the predicaments in this eccentric collection of tales, placed in the “desolate southern suburbs” of England as well as Morocco, New York, and Cleveland, all featuring the Zelig-like protagonist Brian Porker. First published by St Martin’s Press in 2000, this new edition of Carp Fishing on Valium by rocker Graham Parker now includes “Kernley Days,” an interconnected trilogy of previously unpublished stories. “a splendid literary debut.... Gruesome and laconic in the tradition of Roald Dahl, Parker’s shorts are equal parts wit, invention and sweet cruelty.” -- Publishers Weekly “A book you should read... a rollicking chronicle of one man’s journey from struggling musician to irascible rock’ n’ roll star...” ­ — Esquire