Fast Eddie, King of the Bees

"Fast Eddie is a down-and-out and underground fable. It's a tight close-up, mile-a-minute monkey-cam, filled with more wordplays and puns than an Eminem rap." --Arthur Nersesian, author of The Fuck-Up

"A lively and imaginative 21st-century parody of the Victorian novel of the foundling in search of his true parents, complete with comically elaborate twists and turns of plot, broad social satire, and a rich cast of characters. Fast Eddie's a lot of fun." --Robert Coover

A selection of the Akashic Urban Surreal Series.

An abandoned child hustles on the streets of a dystopic, near-future Boston in the aftermath of the Great Devaluation--squatters have turned the tunnel system into an underground hive known as Dig City. In an elaborate search for his unknown parents, Eddie narrates through several levels of deception: street performer, pickpocket, adoptee, casino employee, and finally commander of the subterranean revolution. Fast Eddie is a convoluted Oedipal adventure blending low-brow scenarios with high-art diction, reminiscent of Robert Coover, John Hawkes, and Edmund White.

With the publication of Fast Eddie, Akashic Books launches the Akashic Urban Surreal series. Inspired by the shifting social boundaries in underground classics such as O'Toole's Confederacy of Dunces and Nersesian's Manhattan Loverboy--and echoing the achievements in imagination of magic realism--this series invites readers to glimpse worlds that are similar to their own, but with margins and rules that evolve . . . and devolve.