Paperback
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A Satirical Comedic Novel In the Spirit of Rabelais
Meet Father Emery Flanagan, Parish Priest at COHA (Church of the Holy Assumption), torn between his intense love of God and his battles with the intrusive demands of the flesh, and frazzled by the insistent needs of his congregation and the pressures of his churchly duties. Increasingly frantic, he records his riotous daily struggles in letters to his Bishop and in his diary. Here he describes his raucous interactions with a cast of characters ranging from his ancient, wrecked Sexton, who keeps him going with toddies and loyal support, and Emily Claypeter, whom he pursues in unrequited love, to his rigid, reactionary co-Pastor, Reverend Johan Wagner, and his idol and teacher, Father Wilder, a.k.a. “the Cuddle King”. Here too he conveys his visions of himself either sitting beside the Heavenly Throne, or falling into the fiery pit of hell. When Eric Purer, the richest man in town, asks Emery to tutor his lovely daughter, Sally, temptations mount. His life begins to crumble like COHA’s foundation, itself, which church engineers tell him is sinking into the ground. He unravels at an ever increasing pace until one night he finds himself standing naked, holding aloft his ten foot, custom made wooden cross, in COHA’s bell tower, high above the town. In this Rabelaisian satire of religious and sexual mores, we follow the struggles of an all-too-human man of the cloth, as he grapples with his inner demons and the hypocrisies of church and community. With incompatible benevolence to devoutness, heavenly delusions, and carnal folly – inevitable reminders of satirists Mark Twain and Lenny Bruce – author Denny Goetz offers-up an unexpected chronicle, ‘penned’ by an artfully blunt priest. “Father Flanagan Laments” is a meticulous new testament in rhythm and delight. —Richard D. Pepperman author of “Illuminations, Memorable Movie Moments”, finalist for 2011 Best Moving Image Book Award Take a large spoon-full of Joseph Heller, mix in a dash of Gogol and some Kerouac and you’ll emerge with something close to Denny Goetz, whose rollicking new novel will introduce a writer who is going to be much better known in the future, along with his creation, the bewildered but memorable, Father Flanagan. —Martin Jackson author of “American History/American Film” and a nostalgic “History of the Bronx” A well-done story told from a unique perspective. —Richard Monaco author of Pulitzer Prize nominated “Parsival or a Knight’s Tale” COVER ART BY SHERAN SEIF
Paperback
Format: 6 x 9 Black & White Paperback, 255 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (Sep 30, 2016)
ISBN10: 1478775947
ISBN13: 9781478775942
Genre: FICTION / Humorous / General
Author Denny Goetz was born in Shanghai to refugee parents from Nazi Germany, and since the age of 10 he has been a resident of NY City. A graduate of CCNY, he has worked in a variety of jobs including as a taxi-driver, a puppeteer, an actor, and a travel agent. He has written a children's play and is working on a memoir of his mother. This is his first published novel. 
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