Description
In this taut, beautifully layered novel by Lambda Literary, ReLit, and Ferro-Grumley Award finalist Cox (Shuck, Krakow Melt), Michael-David is a paranoid actor who feels that fame has ruined him. When a film shoot with wolves for co-stars takes a troubling turn, he disappears shortly before the premiere and barricades himself in an L. A. hotel, convinced that he's cursed and must ride it out in hiding. There he befriends a skateboarder whose curious knowledge of chemicals can only mean protection for the both of them. Meanwhile, the film's director, suspicious that Michael-David is having an affair with his ex, is trying to find him in time for the premiere. A long-dormant nicotine addiction leads him closer to the target and into the path of danger, while Michael-David sniffs out the wolves for one final scene.
A work of dream logic, Basement of Wolves is a haunting and cinematic romp through identity crisis.
Reviews
In Basement of Wolves, Daniel's commitment to craft reveals itself the same way as a thief's; you don't notice a thing until suddenly the book is over and your underwear's on backwards.
- Montreal Review of Books
-Montreal Review of Books
Basement of Wolves is reminiscent of another Canadian author (who also happens to be gay), Douglas Copeland, who coined the phrase "Generation X" with his first novel. Cox's characters display that same kind of sarcastic wit and charming cynicism that are characteristic of generations X and Y - and XY for that matter.
- 2B Magazine
-2B Magazine
One of our most original and most interesting writers.
- Band of Thebes
-Band of Thebes
Cox's book is a fever dream of vivid colors and cool, shapely prose.
- EDGE Media
-EDGE Media
This novel, set in the skanky world of Hollywood fame and misfortune, is told through Cox's stylistically risky but scintillatingly successful shift between first-person narration and a free-floating omniscient overview, with prose that is sleek and concise, richly descriptive and lusciously layered.
- Bookmarks
-Richard Labonte, Bookmarks
Cox has a punchy, darkly humorous style that embraces the profane, but is still probing and exciting.
- Publishers Weekly
-Publishers Weekly
A slick, sexy tale about hunger, fame and the lives we live below the surface. Daniel Allen Cox dives deep into the private realms of celebrities and casualties to reveal our appetite for connection.
- Brian Francis
-Brian Francis, author of Fruit and Natural Order
An enjoyable story told by an exceptional writer.
- Vancouver Weekly
-Vancouver Weekly
A dark, twisted look at Hollywood celebrity . .. Cox's portrait of his protagonist is expertly rendered.
- Quill and Quire
-Quill and Quire
Daniel Allen Cox's third novel ushers him into the literary realm of writers, not unlike Dennis Cooper, who tread fearlessly along the fringes of normalcy to deliver hardscrabble stories and their equally scabby characters, all unafraid of getting their hands dirty . .. Cox takes L. A. fiction to new heights (and lows) in this intriguing slice of dark, enticingly gritty fringe fiction.
- Bay Area Reporter
-Bay Area Reporter
An intriguing fantasia of Hollywood noir.
-Sarah Schulman
- Sarah Schulman
A beautifully and hilariously strange novel . .. It's Hollywood Babylon by way of Kafka: delusional, emotional, intriguing, funny and evocatively lush.
- National Post
-National Post
A rollercoaster ride of underground intrigue . .. Cox has composed yet another phenomenal work.
- Liberty Press
-Liberty Press