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Books by Greenfield McKenna
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An obscure, Iowa-based writer, Greenfield McKenna (1928-1989) had and has a small but loyal following for his work. Though he is no longer with us, his legacy of literature lives on. McKenna's grace, poetry, and bizarre sense of humor enliven the nine books with which he gifted his captive audience. Our first acquisition at Idle Valley Press was his entire catalogue, long out of print. We hope you enjoy his work as much as we do.
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Click each cover for more detail
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In Town Tonight... by Greenfield McKenna
An elegiac, largely autobiographical look at a grizzled Beat poet, exiled for decades in the American heartland, who returns to San Francisco to reunite with old friends and enemies, and rekindle lost loves. Greenfield McKenna's final novel. |
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Couldn't Say No if I Tried by Greenfield McKenna
In an odd — and by most critical accounts, unsuccessful — reversal on his previous novel, Assuage the Guilt, Greenfield McKenna takes the first-person perspective of a "sympathetic" serial rapist and attempts in vain to portray his death as a merciless tragedy. This is the novel for completists only. |
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Assuage the Guilt by Greenfield McKenna
In San Francisco, a rape victim seeks revenge on her assaulters when the police refuse to help. Although the victim does have her revenge, the guilt that haunts her is far more powerful than the horrific violations of that night... |
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Flesh-Peddler by Greenfield McKenna
The least successful prostitute of all time considers a career change but finds it more difficult than expected in a small town plagued with prejudice and stagflation. Will she resort to the offer made by her pimp, to become a ruthless assassin just to make ends meet? |
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Regal Laugh by Greenfield McKenna
Taking place in a strange hybrid of Victorian England, the modern American Midwest, and a dystopian future where machines rule mankind, an idiot-manchild has a timebomb strapped to his body and is subjected to the will of a sociopathic drug dealer. Will the manchild overcome the circumstances of his radiation-soaked birth in order to get rid of the bomb and free himself of the dealer's tyranny? |
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West to Heatherborough by Greenfield McKenna
Often called "the awkward, ghost-story version of On the Road" (© The Guardian, 1974), West to Heatherborough tells the story of two lovers traveling through the countryside of war-torn England, seeking safety in an ancient family home abandoned in the 1920s. When they arrive, the lovers discover they were safer among the landmines and soldiers. |
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Fat Her by Greenfield McKenna
A wounded, discharged Vietnam vet travels across the United States to find the lover he left behind. Along the way, he reunites with the alcoholic father who abandoned him in childhood. Together, father and son travel and discover the sacrifices families must make to endure as the veteran seeks his bride. |
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Valiant Interest by Greenfield McKenna
In a strange world that seems like ours but clearly isn't, a second civil war has broken out as a result of the African-American civil rights movement. Soldiers occupy a tiny town in a neutral state, using it as an outpost. When they're attacked by a team of rebels, all hell breaks loose — and reveals the racism locked in the hearts of even the most even-tempered, pro-equality citizens. |
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Rain Upon My Skin by Greenfield McKenna
In the mid-1950s, a Midwestern farmboy hitches to San Francisco and discovers the early Beat movement. Entranced by the rawness and fluidity of the poetry — and the beauty of one poetess — he begins to write his own poems and finds himself a laughing stock. Angered by the hypocrisy of supposed "free spirits" mocking expressions of natural emotion, the young man hatches a plot to make each poet rue the day they laughed at him. |
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