American Whiskey Bar - Softcover

Turner, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551520486 ISBN 13: 9781551520483

Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press, Limited, 1999

Synopsis

American Whiskey Bar is a remarkable faux memoir about the un-making of a film—a film which Michael Turner was commissioned to write. However, whether or not this film was ever “made” is debatable. And only one print is said to exist. Nevertheless, American Whiskey Bar, a film seen by only a handful of people, is well on its way to becoming a curious footnote to cinematic history.

American Whiskey Bar, the book, is an attempt to set the record straight—a story of sex, violence, lies, ambition, power, paradox, dreams, and regret. Consider yourself warned.

First published in Canada in 1997, this new edition, which features a foreword by William Gibson (Neuromancer, Pattern Recognition), is the first edition ever available in the U.S.

Praise for American Whiskey Bar:

“Tightly packed . . . the book weaves its way in and out of various levels of reality. . . . There’s a bright, playful mind at work here.”—Toronto Star

“Turner constructs an intense, intelligent, and darkly humorous satire. . . . Too original to be nominated for awards.”—Quill & Quire

“Brilliant . . . a dazzling, dizzying multilayered blend of fact and fiction, of the plausible and the preposterous, of the real and the hyper-real. It is also screamingly funny.”—Globe & Mail

Globe & Mail Notable Book, 1997
Quill & Quire Best Book of 1997
Coolest Canadian Book of the Year, Chapters

Michael Turner lives in Vancouver, where, in addition to books and screenplays, he writes art essays and edits ArsenalAdvance, a literary/visual art imprint. He has won a BC Book Prize for fiction and a Genie Award for Original Song. Recently, he has collaborated with artist Stan Douglas and filmmaker Bruce LaBruce. His novel The Pornographer’s Poem was published this year by Soft Skull.

About this title

From the Publisher:

When the book American Whiskey Bar first released in Canada in 1997, many people were confused, and one likes to think that Michael Turner, the author of more genre twists than perhaps any other canadian writer, was pleased.

Based on a screenplay Michael Turner was commissioned to make, eventually made in to a live tv experiment, denounced and acclaimed by many, American Whiskey Bar is trailed by a long shadow of weirdness.

It’s now 2004. Far from losing momentum, the intrigue and mystery of this faux memoir/screenplay continues to fester. The circle grows wider and ensnares more and more readers. First, Quentin Tarantino, then William Gibson.

The latest victim: Daphne Gottlieb, the San Francisco performance poet and author of Final Girl packs her bags and heads up the coast to spend 10 days touring the I-5 with a man she hardly knows.

What she does know about Michael Turner:

He wrote The Pornographer’s Poem.

Michael Turner once recieved a grant from Viacom which he used to make a porn film set to poetry.

He can be an unreliable narrator.

About the Author:

Born in North Vancouver, Canada, 1962. Fiction and poetry: Company Town (1991), Hard Core Logo (1993), Kingsway (1995), American Whiskey Bar (1997), and The Pornographer's Poem (1999). Awards include the 1999 BC Book Prize for Fiction and a 1996 Genie Award for Music/Original Song; as well, a finalist for the 1991 Dorothy Livesay BC Book Prize for Poetry. Lives in Vancouver, where, in addition to books and screenplays, he writes art essays and edits ArsenalAdvance, a literary/visual art imprint he founded with Arsenal Pulp Press in 1998.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press, Limited
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1551520486
• ISBN 13: 9781551520483
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160