The lit columnist who came in from the cold...

If you're anywhere near the Manayunk Brewery tonight (in other words, if you can make it up to Manayunk), check out the release party for Daniel Putkowski's new novel, Bonk's Bar, published by the Delaware Valley's own Hawser Press (I think they're based in Media?). Yours truly contributed a cover blurb for the book, just before slipping semi-permanently into obscurity. Think of it as my last book reviewing gasp, at least until Metro, Citypaper or Philly Weekly picks me up (an eventuality of which I am in no way assured). Anyway, here's my blurb:
"With Bonk’s Bar, Daniel Putkowski brings the gritty, gristly northeast Philadelphia netherworld into delightfully vivid life like no author since roman noir grandmaster David Goodis. In less than 300 action-packed pages, Putkowski succeeds where the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation has unceasingly failed: alternately heart-warming and bone-chilling, Bonk’s Bar shows that there’s more to Philadelphia than just cheese steaks, the Rocky franchise, and an astronomical murder rate."
Only the way they print it, it's a little more political correct (read: they axed the "astronomical murder rate" part), and doesn't name-check the GPTMC (which was pointless anyway). But yeah: show up for the party, read the book, etc. Putkowski's apparently the best-selling author in Aruba, or something along those lines--take from that what you will. It's a fun read, at any rate.