Seven-year-old David Glum watches as his grandfather is abducted by a legendary herd of elephants. Twenty years later, after failing to sell his novel to a New York publisher, David returns to his parents’ home to focus on growing a beard, a goal he feels sure he can accomplish. Once the beard reaches a respectable girth, uncontrollable things begin happening around him. His mother dies… maybe. His father might really be a man named Gary Wrench. David is sure of only one thing: his family is cursed. It could have something to do with an eternal flame his grandfather stole from a possibly imaginary group of people called the Nefarions. David and Wrench begin a surreal cross-country journey that might have something to do with saving the world. Along the way they pass through a number of absurd towns, meet some disagreeable people, and discover an America that is radically different from the one they thought they knew, a place where nothing can be accepted for what it seems to be. And all the while, the beard grows, gaining strength, leading them toward a distant island that most people think doesn’t exist…
### From the Inside Flap
Completely captivated me; all the various - and extremely strange - characters are surprisingly sympathetic. - **Tony Cole** for MobileRead.com
If Holden Caulfield rented a timeshare in Vegas, only to find out he double-booked with Hunter S. Thompson, and then they both sat down over a buffet of mind-altering drugs and wrote a book, I THINK it might be something like *The Beard*. BEHOLD THE POWER OF FACIAL HAIR! - **Nathaniel Lambert**, co-author of *Sideshow PI: The Devil's Garden* and *It's OK To Be a Zombie*
The story is so wild and unpredictable that the reader learns to let go early on in the book and just enjoy the scenery as the author takes them on a road trip through the world of bizarro. - **William Pauley III**, author of *Doom Magnetic!*
Sure to please any fan of weird fiction. - **Grant Wamack** for *Spontaneous Combustion*
I loved this book. I loved its feel, its pace, and its imagery. - **Lucas Thorn** for *Lateral Obsessions*
It messes with your perspective, sense of time and space, and makes you wonder if you really just read that sentence. - **Jim Gavin**, author of *Hard Boiled Vampire Killers*
It's like eating a creativity sandwich. - **Daniel Clausen**, author of *The Lexical Funk*
### About the Author
Andersen Prunty lives in Dayton, Ohio. He is also the author of The Overwhelming Urge, Zerostrata, Jack and Mr. Grin, Market Adjustment and Other Tales of Avarice, and The Sorrow King. Visit him on the web at www.andersenprunty.com.
Description:
Seven-year-old David Glum watches as his grandfather is abducted by a legendary herd of elephants. Twenty years later, after failing to sell his novel to a New York publisher, David returns to his parents’ home to focus on growing a beard, a goal he feels sure he can accomplish. Once the beard reaches a respectable girth, uncontrollable things begin happening around him. His mother dies… maybe. His father might really be a man named Gary Wrench. David is sure of only one thing: his family is cursed. It could have something to do with an eternal flame his grandfather stole from a possibly imaginary group of people called the Nefarions. David and Wrench begin a surreal cross-country journey that might have something to do with saving the world. Along the way they pass through a number of absurd towns, meet some disagreeable people, and discover an America that is radically different from the one they thought they knew, a place where nothing can be accepted for what it seems to be. And all the while, the beard grows, gaining strength, leading them toward a distant island that most people think doesn’t exist… ### From the Inside Flap Completely captivated me; all the various - and extremely strange - characters are surprisingly sympathetic. - **Tony Cole** for MobileRead.com If Holden Caulfield rented a timeshare in Vegas, only to find out he double-booked with Hunter S. Thompson, and then they both sat down over a buffet of mind-altering drugs and wrote a book, I THINK it might be something like *The Beard*. BEHOLD THE POWER OF FACIAL HAIR! - **Nathaniel Lambert**, co-author of *Sideshow PI: The Devil's Garden* and *It's OK To Be a Zombie* The story is so wild and unpredictable that the reader learns to let go early on in the book and just enjoy the scenery as the author takes them on a road trip through the world of bizarro. - **William Pauley III**, author of *Doom Magnetic!* Sure to please any fan of weird fiction. - **Grant Wamack** for *Spontaneous Combustion* I loved this book. I loved its feel, its pace, and its imagery. - **Lucas Thorn** for *Lateral Obsessions* It messes with your perspective, sense of time and space, and makes you wonder if you really just read that sentence. - **Jim Gavin**, author of *Hard Boiled Vampire Killers* It's like eating a creativity sandwich. - **Daniel Clausen**, author of *The Lexical Funk* ### About the Author Andersen Prunty lives in Dayton, Ohio. He is also the author of The Overwhelming Urge, Zerostrata, Jack and Mr. Grin, Market Adjustment and Other Tales of Avarice, and The Sorrow King. Visit him on the web at www.andersenprunty.com.