2006 Project QueerLit Finalist
In a post-apocalyptic America, 17 year old Joshua My Hero lives out a humdrum existence, struggling to find truth and sense in a Christian-fundamentalist trailer park. But his psychic powers and sexual tastes leave him an outsider of his community, and forced to commit patricide in a final and desperate struggle for self-defence against his father’s rage, Joshua escapes into a wasted planet, armed only with an oracular penis, the patronage of an ancient earth spirit sent to rid the planet of all of its ills, and the wisdom of the Tao Teh Ching…
Tristram Burden’s short stories, poetry and articles on contemporary occultism and self-transformation have appeared internationally in a variety of journals and anthologies. This is his debut novel, a finalist in the 2006 Project: Queerlit contest. He currently resides in Bath, England where he’s recording his first album and writing a TV series in-between working on his second novel.
Praise
“A brilliant fusion of William Burroughs and H.P. Lovecraft set in the post-apocalyptic wilderness of Mad Max…” —Ashé Journal
“My Hero is a Jungian tale that combines mythology, science fiction, and eroticism to create a brilliant hybrid unlike anything I’ve read before. Original, exciting, and transcendent. A bloody great read! Very unique.” —Douglas Ferguson author of The Forgotten Ones
“The novel reads like poetry which places the book into quite a unique category and as I turned the pages I found myself reveling in the beauty of the English language. In fact, the eroticism of the novel is so beautifully depicted that I was reminded of some of the great erotic novels that were written during Victorian England and were circulated discreetly so that the authors did not risk conviction on “pornographic” charges… It is a different kind of gay literature that must be experienced as no amount of discussion can ever do My Hero justice.” —Amos Lesson
