BINDLESTIFF

Wayne Holloway (Influx Press)

Film director Wayne Holloway takes a cinematic approach to novel writing. His debut, Bindlestiff, blends prose with screenplay in a tale set in both present-day Hollywood and a dystopian USA in the not-so-far-away future. A metafictional satire of the movie industry, race and identity in contemporary America, Holloway’s style mixes the drug-fuelled escapades of Hunter S. Thompson with the subversive flair of Colson Whitehead. But despite being original and inventive, Bindlestiff is sometimes too ambitious for its own good. The manic mishmash of genres and self-referential flourishes is not executed as adeptly as it could be. Nevertheless, this is a fresh, riotous and innovative novel, published by a small press who clearly have an eye for exciting new ventures in contemporary fiction. 

words Sam Pryce

Price: £9.99. Info: www.influxpress.com