Friday Freebie: Tim Sandlin's GroVont Trilogy

Congratulations to Andrew Beck, winner of last week's Friday Freebie, Panopticon by David Bajo, courtesy of Unbridled Books.

This week's book giveaway is all three volumes of Tim Sandlin's GroVont triology: Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders.  These will come direct from Tim himself and maybe I can convince him to sign them for the winner.  Sandlin's next book, Lydia, will be published in April 2011 and will make the GroVont trilogy a quartet.  Read the three earlier novels now to fully appreciate Lydia.

I feel a special connection to Sandlin since he lived in Jackson, Wyoming, at the same time I was growing up there.  He was a dishwasher at the best Chinese joint in town, The Lame Duck; I was a dishwasher at the best hot dog joint in town, the dearly-departed Happy Hound.  I guess that makes us Brothers in Suds.  Tim has always been a busy guy--according to his Wikipedia page, he's "worked over 40 entry-level jobs including driving an ice cream truck, skinning elk, cooking in a Chinese restaurant, trail inventory for the Forest Service, caretaker of rental cabins, gardener for the Rockefellers, pizza parlor manager, belt buckle buffer, and multiple dishwashing jobs."

Belt buckle buffer?  That sounds a bit dirty.

Sandlin's writing has been compared to John Irving, Jack Kerouac, J. D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan, Joseph Heller, and Tom Robbins.  From that list, you get the idea that Sandlin is an irreverent, funny writer.  It's true; Tim Sandlin will bust your gut in the space of a single sentence.  While I have yet to read his GroVont trilogy (sorry for that, Brother Suds), I loved his non-Wyoming sex-and-politics satire Honey Don't.  The three earlier novels are set in the fictional Wyoming town of GroVont and follow transplanted Southern teen Sam Callahan and his fumbling attempts to woo Maurey Pierce, "the smartest kid in town."  The books are full of sex, road trips, and--I'm guessing--some dishwashing.  This winter, I'll be reading Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders right along with the winner of this week's Friday Freebie.  The dark of December is always a good time for laughs.

If you want a chance to win copies of the newly-reissued Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders, all you have to do is answer this question:

According to Sandlin's blog*, to what writer did Sandlin once write a letter "in a fit of pique" complaining about the publishing industry's lack of interest in his novels?

Email your answer to thequiveringpen@gmail.com

Put FRIDAY FREEBIE in the e-mail subject line.  One entry per person, please.  In order to give everyone a fair shake in the contest, please e-mail the answer, rather than posting it in the comments section.  The contest closes at midnight on Oct. 28, at which time I'll draw the winning name.  I'll announce the lucky reader on Oct. 29.
 
 
*Sadly, Sandlin hasn't updated his blog in about three years, but there's some pretty damn good writing to be found there.  A list of blog entries can be found at Sandlin's website.