Hank Fitzpatrick's life is what you might expect from a man-child stumbling his way through and beyond adolescence in the late 1980s in small town Indiana: hypersexual, drunk, stoned, prone to fits of spontaneous masturbation, occasionally Catholic, and accidentally well-intentioned. His life is in perpetual conflict as he confuses sex for love, heartache for passion, desperation for honesty, and abuse for affection. Caught in the crossfire of raging hormones, bad decisions, and family tragedy, Hank is just a boy not yet ready to be a man. And like many boys growing up, Hank is desperate to impress his father. The impossibly perfect patriarch of the family, John Fitzpatrick decides at age forty-two he wants to have a vasectomy reversal. Is Hank ready to be a brother again at age seventeen? What about his mother's narcotics and gimlet-soaked uterus? A child will come of this, but not without consequences. Laura is Hank's first true love. From their stolen nights together as high-school sweethearts to their final encounter as twentysomething adults, they never figure out how to stop hurting one another. Beth, the girl who loves Hank unconditionally, can only wait for so long before longing turns to regret. But everything will be okay as long as Hank's best friend Hatch is there to help him exorcise his demons with a half-gallon of bourbon and a bottle of cough syrup. Exotic Music of the Belly Dancer is more than just a tribute to the last uninhibited pre-9/11, pre-Facebook generation. It's a comedy. It's a tragedy. It's a love story. It's a subversive yet empathetic, warts-and-all portrait rooted in real life that kids will read behind their parents' backs. And if somewhere along the way we can all share in the redemptive power of a belly dancer's love...well, that's okay, too.

Exotic Music of the Belly Dancer

Literature & Fiction

Sweany, Brian

Genre Fiction

The Writer's Coffee Shop

"No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten." ―Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hank Fitzpatrick's life is what you might expect from a manchild stumbling his way from his teens to his thirties in small town Indiana: hypersexual, drunk, stoned, prone to fits of spontaneous masturbation, occasionally Catholic, and accidentally well-intentioned. Caught in the crossfire of raging hormones, bad decisions and family tragedy, Hank is just a boy not yet ready to be a man. BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE is a roman à clef rooted in Brian Sweany's own tragicomic life, from his childhood growing up in southern Indiana to his early adult years working in New York publishing. And if that's not your thing, you can at least stay for the 80s music, or else the cameos by Johnny Depp, Woody Harrelson, and Kool and the Gang.

Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride: A Novel

Humor & Satire

Rare Bird Books, A Barnacle Book

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Books by Sweany, Brian