From hitch-hiking across the 49th parallel to plane trips to Montreal, road trips to Halifax, drinking in parkades and jamming in friends' lofts, Unwanted Hopeless Romantic Morons captures the trials and disenchantment of a disconnected generation. Lost in the vastness of Canada, the 'Dead-at-25s' isolated in suburbia are lured somnabulistically to cities where they find further alienation and disappointment. In a touching tale, stark realism, substance abuse and sexual haggling co-exist with the innocent yearnings of youth in this modern struggle of love and idealism seeking its expression in a wasteland of nihilistic greed, narcotic egoism and righteous violence.

Geoffrey Alexander Parsons (or GAP as he likes to sign his manuscripts) was born on Christmas Day, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He's played in a grunge band called P.E.T.M.I.S. (People Escapes That Mental Institution Somehow)-- and lived on various peoples' couches until he came to Montreal at 18. He has been hitch-hiking ever since, and greyhounding back and forth across the country working dishwashing, tree-planting, fruit-picking, telemarketing, home-security system-selling, stadium-set-up-break-down, and garbage-sorter jobs... none of which he's kept longer than two months.

Geoffrey Alexander Parsons' profile page

I love it when a member of the LitKicks writing community makes good. Geoff Alexander Parsons has posted his original work often on this site, and his first book arrives with a gorgeous cover painting that depicts the author exactly as I always imagined him -- drunken, sour and poetically inspired. Unwanted Hopeless Romantic Morons is like Tao Lin crossed with Charles Bukowski (with a little bit of Irvine Welsh thrown in). The story is about a young man and his friends wandering through modern Canada in search of thrills and meaning. The prose flows, liquid with passion:

We broke out a bottle of whisky and started drinking and were tanked by the time the sun came up. I decided around noon that it would be a good idea to buy a camcorder from Radio Shack. We drove along the highway drunk until we found a park area we could go out on and fuck around. I took the camcorder and we recorded each other doing stupid shit.

Jack beating a beer can yelling "What you gonna do? Huh? What you gonna do?" Then starfade to Jack beating a beer can saying, "What you gonna do huh? What? Ya shit heel ..." and starfade to grass starfade to a tree. There really wasn't much out there in that field in the way of props.

Then Jack got that great idea to make interviews. He had a whole premise for a show worked out. It would be called "The Asshole Show". It would be a variety show where he'd have on famous guests and bring them out to a field in the middle of nowhere and ask them to beat a can and say "What you gonna do ..." The day was fun because we were drunk.

Starfade.

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