The Good Pornographer

A floundering romantasy writer attempts to recover his mojo with help from his friends in the zany latest from Bouldrey (Good in Bed). Having spiraled into drug addiction at Summerhein, a crumbling Xanadu-esque mansion, Walace Weiss invites friends and family to join him on a journey of self-discovery and reinvigoration, hoping their presence will help him complete his long-awaited novel, The Sorrow of the Elves. Along for this epic ride are his drug dealer Cal and Cal’s ex-girlfriend, along with an aging porn star, a stripper and her death-obsessed young son, a recovering teen drug addict, and Walace’s reclusive, agoraphobic twin brother, Wolf. Having assembled this ragtag assortment of characters, whom Walace views as “broken toys at the bottom of a cardboard box,” the novel drags on for a while, without much of a plot, until it climaxes with an ecstatic dance party at Summerhein. Along the way, Bouldrey effortlessly shifts focus among all the assorted personalities. Digressive yet gloriously character-driven, this eccentric narrative will keep the reader’s head spinning. (Mar.)