The Epiphany Machine

(Hardback)

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Description

'Everyone else knows the truth about you, now you can know it, too.' That's the promise of Adam Lyon's epiphany machine, or at least the headline of an original promotional flyer he uses in the 1960s. At that point, Adam is already hosting regular salon nights in his tiny New York City apartment, where his guests can offer up their forearms to his junky old contraption and receive important, personal revelations in the form of a tattoo.

Reviews

This is a wildly charming, morally serious bildungsroman with the rare potential to change the way readers think. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hilarious. [A] razor-sharp alternate history...Gerrard's novel emphasizes just how desperately people want confirmation of their place in the world.The Washington Post

An affecting exploration of fate and the clash of our private and public selves...ambitiously wrestling in the muck of big questions. A pleasurably speculative yarn about family and ethics. Kirkus Reviews

With pitch-black humor worthy of Kafka, Gerrards second novel encourages us to pose this burning question: What are we hiding from ourselves.O, The Oprah Magazine

This weirdly compelling tale feels like a creepy 'Twilight Zone' episode.Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Whereas so much of what is called 'kafkaesque' doesnt deserve that distinction, Gerrard earns it.LitHub.com

Simply tremendous. An extraordinary book, full of wisdom and surprise, ingenious and original.Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

With equal parts satire, mystery, and vaudevillian comedy, David Burr Gerrard has written a masterpiece.Alexander Weinstein, author of Children of the New World

Gerrard joins his own wry humor with the joyful essence of Melville. The result is hysterical, delightful, and determinedand truly, an epiphany of a modern novel.Kristopher Jansma, author of The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards and Why We Came to the City

Throw David Foster Wallace, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Mitchell in a blender and you will have something of a taste of the blood and guts of his work, and then drink deep!Scott Cheshire, author of High as the Horses Bridles

Engrossing and inventive...A deeply compelling read by a terrific young writer.Ben Marcus,author ofThe Flame Alphabet

Author Bio

David Burr Gerrard received an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. His first novel, Short Century, was published by Rare Bird Books, and his work has appeared in The Awl, The LA Review of Books, BOMB, Guernica, and other publications. He teaches fiction writing at Manhattanville College, the 92nd Street Y, and the Sackett Street Writers' Workshop.