Knucklehead

How did Jon Scieszka get so funny, anyway? Growing up as one of six brothers was a good start, but that was just the beginning. Throw in Catholic school, lots of comic books, lazy summers at the lake with time to kill, babysitting misadventures, TV shows, jokes told at family dinner, and the result is Knucklehead. Part memoir, part scrapbook, this hilarious trip down memory lane provides a unique glimpse into the formation of a creative mind and a free spirit. Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book.

These great knock-knock jokes are just what the doctor ordered. One a day will keep the doctor away.

A black law student navigates the era of Rodney King and the Oklahoma City bombing—and his own anger issues—in this “mordantly funny” novel (San Francisco Chronicle). Shortlisted for the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence In Knucklehead we meet Marcus Hayes, a black law student who struggles, sometimes unsuccessfully, with the impulse to respond to everyday bad behavior with swift and antisocial action. The cause of this impulse is unknown to him. When Marcus unexpectedly becomes involved with the brilliant, kind Amalia Stewart, her love and acceptance pacify his demons. But when his demons return, he is no longer inclined to contain them . . . “By setting his novel in the ’90s, Smyer, who lives in Oakland, has crafted some brutal deja vu. As Marcus reflects on Rodney King, the Million Man March and the Oklahoma City bombing, we think of Freddie Gray, Black Lives Matter and school shootings that have become a way of life. And when Marcus laments San Francisco’s dwindling black population, here we are more than twenty years on, and it’s only gotten worse. We should all be furious.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Here is a list of things you'll need to read this book: ample space for stretching out the side stitches you’ll get from laughter; half a box of tissues for the most gripping and harrowing dramas at the heart of the novel; a fresh stress ball for the tense situations the protagonist finds himself in (both of his own doing and not); and just a bit of that space in your heart to see people, in all their complexity, trying to do their best.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Marcus Hayes careens through the racially divisive 1990s while trying to manage his compulsive anger, chaotic love life, and economic misfortunes . . . Smyer gives Marcus a sardonic and hilarious voice reminiscent of a Paul Beatty protagonist and endows him with a troubled psychology that plumbs the nuances of black male identity.” —Kirkus Reviews “While not strictly a crime novel, Smyer’s debut Knucklehead does contain a whole lot of guns, violence, and rage, as well as plenty of love and sadness. A black lawyer in the late ’80s through the mid-’90s deals with micro and macro aggressions from a society determined to treat him as a criminal. Also, there are cats. Lots of cats.” —Literary Hub

Get the full story of the one incredible engine that launched the motorcycle engine to stand up against automotive engines: the Knucklehead.

A debut collection, these stories are set in the corporeal world of adult endeavour: the mall, the office, the subdivision. It's these settings that W. Mark Giles exploits: locking his sights on eerily familiar characters, excavating their fears, intimacies, and the dark machinery behind their actions. He taps into our collective longing for moments of clarity and awe, recognizes our thwarted potential for wonder, and sees our secrets played out in cruelty. A strangely unified collection, unsettling and surprising, 'Knucklehead' resides where the lines between real and imagined blur. Giles's penetrating view and unsentimental honesty shape these stories and push the reader's expectations of the"ordinary." These are mature and compelling narratives that encapsulate everything great about short fiction. They freeze a moment, but upon closer examination reveal something more, a message that resonates long after that story has been read." 'Knucklehead' is a solid debut." - Quill & QuireWinner of the W.O. Mitchell/City of Calgary Award

Fast, funny bristling with intelligence and philosophical insight. Gault traces the antics of the protagonist, Billy Blowe, on a passage by water, stretching from Toronto through New York City, down the eastern seaboard to Miami before falling of the end of the earth. Billy Blowe escapes the suffocating miasma of the culture, goes beyond it, beyond death, to another side of reality. Knucklehead, written with uncompromising candor, is a whirlwind of cataclysmic revelations that keeps your head spinning...