An eccentric writer and self-proclaimed “socio-anthropo-lingui-loreologist” ventures into the fictional town of Odsburg, Washington, to research the location’s unusual history and residents. Convinced the name of the town is no coincidence, Wallace Jenkins-Ross goes about uncovering its mysteries through shady (and sometimes illegal) means. He discovers one man contending with a family of mountain lions living in his basement, another who can’t stop hallucinating after getting laser eye surgery, and a corporate employee whose skin is gradually receding. Despite his immersion into local traditions of flannel and bar food, the residents prove hesitant to speak on record—particularly within earshot of OdsWellMore Pharmaceutical, whose ominous presence extends not only to call centers and pet parades but to maintaining (and testing) the physical and mental well-being of the community.
In face of this hindrance, Jenkins-Ross persists. He unravels the puzzle of Odsburg through recordings, flyers, radio ads, and his own eye-witness accounts. Absurd and wildly divergent, the tales told are rooted in the town itself and in universal themes of mental health and addiction, mortality and meaning, love and loss. In the end, perhaps the most notable thing about the residents is the familiarity of the feelings they reflect—warped as their lives may be. The stories, while bizarre and unexpected, reveal that—at their core—they’re still mostly human.
Praise
“Odsburg is a novel of wild mystery told with high wit and serious heart. It’s full of the surreal weirdness of actual human existence. Tompkins delivers big fun with insights delicate and strange.” —Michael Bible, author of Empire of Light
“Welcome to Odsburg: a clever mess of pamphlets, menus, ingredient lists, overheard fragment, diaries and stories that exist only in the mind of Matt Tompkins—a collection of ephemera that somehow adds up to a delightful, funny, endlessly entertaining work of fiction.” —Amber Sparks, author of The Unfinished World and Other Stories
About the Author
Matt Tompkins is the author of Souvenirs and Other Stories (Conium Press), Studies in Hybrid Morphology (tNY Press) and Topia (Red Bird Chapbooks). His stories have appeared in the New Haven Review, Post Road, and online at the Carolina Quarterly, Fiction Southeast and Puerto del Sol. He works as a copy editor and lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.
Bookshop Powells Barnes & Noble IndieBound
Odsburg
Start to Finish
The Excitement and Stress of Launching Odsburg The excitement of a book launch is a motivator for a lot of us in the publishing industry. Often years of work go into a book, and the high of finally seeing it out in the world is tough to match in one’s professional life. Yes, there’s a lot of stress that comes with such an occasion, but it’s so very worth it.
