Whores of Lost Atlantis: A Novel - Softcover

Busch, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140243917 ISBN 13: 9780140243918

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1995

Synopsis

A side-splitting, gender-bending novel from the author of Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, the longest-running play in Off-Broadway history--a high-octane farce with unbuttoned sensibility, larger-than-life characters, and breakneck plot variations. "One of the funniest and raciest show-business books in recent memory."--USA Today.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Camp playwright and drag actor Busch debuts with a fictional re-creation of his off-Broadway career--a success story that's part middle-brow Oscar Wilde and very much a gay soap opera. Struggling solo performer and incipient drag queen Julian Young has one theatrical ambition: ``to be Sarah Bernhardt.'' Raised by his rich Aunt Jennie and inspired by her bizarre wardrobe, Julian seeks stardom at any cost. He is, as his best friend says, ``flamboyant, outrageous, emotional, obsessed with artifice but also tough, gritty, totally self-absorbed, a survivor, and very seductive.'' When he happens upon an East Village performance space called Golgotha, Julian decides to give his fading career a final chance, and arranges to put on a play he hasn't yet written. Composed during his job as an office temp, Whores of Lost Atlantis is a melodrama that draws from the clich‚s of trash movie classics. And to perform it, Julian assembles a ``borderline crazy'' cast made up of his oddball friends: Gary, the hunky children's magician and New Age channeler; Joel, the drama- school buddy who's threatening to go to law school; Camille, the 40-ish, ex-disco queen stage-manager; Perry, the manic-depressive; Buster, the bimbo male stripper; Zoe, the waif-like mystery girl; and Kiko, the crabby performance artist whose show involves uncooked eggs and her private parts. Everything comes together for the troupe when the humorless Kiko is replaced by Roxie, a brassy Eve Arden type. Soon the show draws a cult crowd; Julian follows up with such plays as Sex Kittens Go to Outer Space and I Married a Fairy Queen; and his motley crew makes the move from off-off-off- Broadway to off-Broadway--but to get there involves a silly subplot related to raising funds. Despite a cavalier attitude to sexuality, there's much here to amuse anyone, regardless of orientation: the perfect crossover formula that's worked so well for Busch on stage. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Well-known as the author of the play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom , Busch displays the same outrageous imagination and wacky humor in his first novel, a semi-autobiographical version of his life as actor and playwright. In this labyrinthine farcical melodrama about a young man and his kookie theatrical buddies, 30-ish performance artist Julian Young thinks he's missed his shot at the big time, until, while temping at a Wall Street law firm, he dreams up the drag vehicle that will establish his reputation. Quickly enlisting a bizarre group of misfits, he plans to stage his work at the Golgotha performance space in Manhattan's East Village. But he is opposed by Kiko, the evil Japanese performance artist who rules the scene, and her wicked aging drag-queen friend, Thirteen. Also menacing his success is Julian's married middle-aged lover, whose dark past and shady financial deals threaten to land the entire theatrical troupe in jail. Backstage romance makes up much of the drama, and humor is liberally provided by Julian's reflections on life in the theater. Busch is a natural storyteller and he spins a highly amusing--and at times highly erotic--tale, but his lack of experience as a novelist leads to a slowish start, mixed intentions (this is half memoir, half farce) and a terribly rushed conclusion. Still, it's lots of fun, particularly to anyone who's ever seen Busch tread the boards.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140243917
• ISBN 13: 9780140243918
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304