12/12/2024
I wrote the first draft of my first novel Chumpy Walnut long-hand in a binder when I was 16 in 1979, just kicked out of the right-wing guru cult in Jersey, and suddenly on my own in Los Angeles. I was determined to rise above my situation and survive by becoming a successful writer, my one and only dream. I had no backup plans because I didn't have the talent or passion to pursue anything else. I was born to write.
Originally conceived as a talking walnut for a comic strip, Chumpy was now a foot-tall human with mysterious origins being exploited on the nightclub circuit in a Damon Runyonesque world. It was a colorful fantasy augmented by my Thurbereaque illustrations. I typed the final draft while staying with my relatives in Houston at age 19, 1982, before returning to L.A.. I thought it would be my "Catcher in the Rye," but definitely not my "Confederacy of Dunces."
Long story short, those dreams never came to pass, despite many near misses as described in detail in my memoir. But "Chumpy" still had his fans, from Mickey Rourke to Judith Regan to Eddie Muller, and a few in between.
I finally self-published it via Lulu in 2010, then in 2016 republished it for inclusion in "The Thrillville Pulp Fiction Collection, Volume 3" via my own imprint, Thrillville Press.
Again, it attracted a handful of enthusiastic fans, but for some reason, I just couldn't convince more people to even give it a shot and read it. I assumed it was because I was so young when I wrote it, and they assumed it was a children's book. Though it's as innocent as I was when I wrote it, it was not intended for juvenile audiences but whimsical fantasy lovers of all ages. I still feel it deserves to reach a bigger audience someday.
I wrote a sequel called "The Romance of Chumpy Walnut" at age 21 in 1984, forty years ago. I thought I had lost the original manuscript or destroyed it in a forgotten fit of frustration, but while working on my epistolary memoir last year, I dug it out of a box and promised Chumpy in my public letter to him that I would finally get it out in the world, to give his legacy another chance.
And so I have. Though the core character of Chumpy is intact, his world is much darker, funnier, stranger, and s*xier. Retaining a few basic concepts and characters, I reimagined the sequel as a complete reboot. Instead of Damon Runyon, the four-decade follow-up was inspired by Ralph Bakshi, Russ Meyer, Kurt Vonnegut, John Waters, David Lynch, and "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle."
I call it "An Adult Pulp Fairy Tale," or "An Existential Pulp Fable."
Now, in 2024, at age 61, ironically the inverse of the age I was when I wrote that first draft of the original, I just proudly published "The Romance of Chumpy Walnut" in both print and Kindle editions. Links and trailer in comments.
I don't know who will take a chance on it (it's not necessary to read the original first though naturally the sequel will contain spoilers), but if you enjoy my other books, you will dig this one, even though it is rather different from ANY book you've ever read.
Cheers to Chumpy!
