Darrin Doyle
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THE BEAST IN AISLE 34: A Novel
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Sandy Kurtz has problems. He's got a baby on the way, his wife doesn't love him, and he's struggling to find passion or purpose at his big-box retail job. And, once a month, he turns into a werewolf.
In Darrin Doyle's deft hands, Sandy's story is a tall tale for our times, an absurd and darkly comedic take on toxic masculinity, small-town America, and the terror of not knowing who you are—or who you're capable of becoming.
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“THE BEAST IN AISLE 34 is wonderfully weird, hilarious and full of a manic energy that clutched me in its claws and wouldn't let go. You'll want to binge-read this one, even while you don't want it to end!”
–Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will
THE BIG BABY CRIME SPREE AND OTHER DELUSIONS: stories
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These five stories take us into the delusional minds of characters who are living on the edge (of society, of sanity, of presentability). Ultimately, their needs and desires feel surprisingly, disconcertingly familiar, but we’re confronted in each case with an otherness of perspective that remains unsettling and reminds us of the ordinary distances between people and the difficulty of understanding even ourselves.
“The dark humor and pathos of these highly imaginative stories reminded me of the brilliant films of David Lynch. If Lynch wrote short fiction, it would doubtless lurk in the same neighborhood as Darrin Doyle’s.”
Christine Sneed, author of The Virginity of Famous Men
SCOUNDRELS AMONG US: Stories
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A man appears suspended in the air above a major American city. A foul-mouthed posse of machete-wielding scoundrels wreak havoc on a small-town mayor. A second-rate boxer starts a torrid affair with the wife of the Invisible Man—who just might be watching (and enjoying) all the freakiness.
Darrin Doyle’s latest collection of short stories is an electrifying look at men behaving badly—or just being weird. Hilarious, madly inventive, and compellingly readable, this unforgettable collection will leave the reader dazzled, delirious—and begging for more.
“This collection is a revelation: formally and thematically adventurous and wide-ranging, playful, scabrously funny, weird in the best ways.”
Michael Griffith, author of Trophy and Bibliophilia
THE DARK WILL END THE DARK: Stories
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Stunning and visceral in its emotional impact, The Dark Will End The Dark collects 14 stories by veteran author Darrin Doyle.
Deftly mixing realism and fabulism, bleakness and hope, sparkling dialogue and unforgettable characters, these literary Midwestern Gothic tales remain in the reader’s mind long after the last page is turned.
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“In the manner of George Saunders, Doyle uses his smart, light language to lift readers above the darkness of shame and humiliation that brings so many of his characters to their knees.”
Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of Once Upon a River
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THE GIRL WHO ATE KALAMAZOO: A Novel
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In this charming novel, Darrin Doyle paints a captivating portrait of the all-American family—if the all-American family’s youngest child ate an entire city in Michigan with a smile, that is. Doyle has a flare for writing about family dysfunction with a twist. With a unique blend of realism and fantasy, The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo is the moving story of the hauntingly beautiful Audrey Mapes, who began her illustrious “career” by downing crayons by the carton only to graduate to eating an entire city one bite at a time.
With vivid, acerbic wit, Doyle details the life of the world’s most gifted “eatist” through the eyes of Audrey’s sister, McKenna. Through her eyes, we see the real tragedy of the Mapes story is not the destruction of a city, but rather, the quiet disintegration of a family who just didn’t quite know how to love.
“In creating this girl who can and will eat everything, Darrin Doyle has created a way to talk about the things that matter most to us. It’s an incredible, riotous, beautifully written, sneakily profound novel. I don’t know of another book like it; I would be jealous of it if I weren’t so busy being amazed.”
Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England
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REVENGE OF THE TEACHER'S PET: A Love Story
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Fifty-year-old science teacher Dale Portwit believes that the peak of his life has come and gone. A failed suicide, a food fetishist, so isolated that the Best Man at his wedding is a framed photograph of his former mailman, Mr. Portwit resolves to live entirely for the moment, to speak his mind at each turn no matter what the consequences. He sets his sights upon Mary Ann Tucker, Elkhart Elementary’s plump, accommodating third-grade teacher. Their whirlwind courtship leads to wedding bands, a house in the suburbs, and an indulgent sex life—so why aren’t they happy? Perhaps a little revenge is just what this marriage needs.
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Decidedly odd, yet also oddly moving, Revenge of the Teacher’s Pet is a skillful mix of comedy, poignancy, love, memory, obesity, top-ten lists, fish, and murder.
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“[This] is the kind of quirky, subversively off-center novel that page by page accumulates what becomes a sustained inner hilarity. It’s a story that requires perfect tonal pitch, and Darrin Doyle, in this his first novel, makes that look easy.”
Stuart Dybek, author of The Coast of Chicago
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