Hollow Kingdom
S.T.,
a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with
his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (those
idiots), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®.
Then
Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to feel like
something isn't quite right. His most tried-and-true remedies--from
beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but
dim-witted dog, Dennis--fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T.
is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into
a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he
discovers that the neighbors are devouring each other and the local
wildlife is abuzz with rumors of dangerous new predators roaming
Seattle. Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one
determined to save it is a foul-mouthed crow whose knowledge of the
world around him comes from his TV-watching education.
Hollow Kingdom
is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the
apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow
can become a hero.
Reviews
"Hollow Kingdom is a nature book for our own age,
an exuberant, glittering, hard-hitting mashup of Dawn of the Dead and
The Incredible Journey. It's an adventure lit by strange myths,
brand-names, television and smartphone screens, a fable with teeth and
claws about animals making new lives amongst the ruins of humanity. It's
transformative, poignant, and funny as hell. S.T. the irrepressible,
cursing crow is my new favourite apocalyptic hero."―Helen Macdonald, New York Times bestselling author of H Is for Hawk
"A
plucky hero, a boisterous tale, startling prose and eerie events
combine for a thoroughly enjoyable account of the end of the world as we
know it. The Secret Life of Pets meets The Walking Dead."―Karen Joy Fowler, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
"I
love this book so much! I wanted to set it on fire while hugging it. I
wanted to hasten the apocalypse just to see how my own pets fare in a
more humane world without humans. Kira Jane Buxton's voice is fresh,
like a newly dug grave, but so joyful and honest you'll laugh out loud,
and then check to make sure you haven't lost an eyeball. Hollow Kingdom is a wildly original debut and a paean to my favorite city."―Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
"Hollow Kingdom
offers a bird's-eye view of the apocalypse we all want and
need-especially when the bird in question is a plucky, Cheeto-loving
domesticated crow . . . With infinite heart and humor, Kira Jane
Buxton's fine-feathered narrator guides us through richly imagined
animal realms while braving the terrifying collapse of the human world. A
dazzling, wholly original debut, revealing the great paradox of
humanity's fatal flaws and resilient spirit."―Mona Awad, author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and Bunny
"Everything you're hearing about Kira Jane Buxton's Hollow Kingdom--that
it's wildly original and inventive, funny and profane--is wonderfully
true. But even better, this book is timely, smart, movingly written, and
beautifully concluded."―Laurie Frankel, author of This is How It Always Is and member of the Seattle7 Writers
"What
a surprising, funny, terrifying, marvelous, wholly original novel!
Buxton combines a vivid horror show (think zombies and the gruesome,
bloody extinction of man) with a touching love story between the
unlikeliest of BFFs: a crow, a hound, and a man who's had a tough go of
things on Tinder, and that was before his eyeball fell out. With humor
and a style that brings to mind Tom Robbins and Karen Russell, Buxton's
debut is heartwarming and heart stopping, hilarious and tragic."―Amy Poeppel, author of Limelight and Small Admissions
"A hilariously exuberant and heart-bursting fable for our times, Hollow Kingdom
reminds us that creativity and determination (and a whole lot of love)
can go a long way toward saving the world. When Mr. Rogers said to look
for the helpers, who knew that might mean a salty-mouthed crow and a
faithful bloodhound?"―Jennie Shortridge, bestselling author of Love Water Memory and member of the Seattle7 Writers
"If
you've ever thought that humans were the ones in charge, Kira Jane
Buxton's groundbreaking novel will have you thinking otherwise. Full of
unforgettable humor, insight and beauty, Hollow Kingdom enriches
our human experience by inhabiting the minds (and bellies!) of our
non-human animal companions and reminding us that we're not alone here
on this earth."―Ruth Ozeki, nationally bestselling author of A Tale for the Time Being
"Hollow Kingdom is a grown-up's Watership Down
for our times -- or the end of them. Kira Jane Buxton has created a
crow so full of personality you won't even miss the company of humans,
who are devolving at hyper-speed rates into something sub-literate and
grotesque. But Buxton shows there's humor in our plight and strength in
tenderness, and she portrays the intelligence and astounding beauty of
the natural world in a completely fresh way. This book is a triumphant
feat of imagination, and it had me believing that the bonds we've formed
with our pets might help them save us after all. I'll never look at a
corvid the same way again."―Zoe Zolbrod, author of The Telling and Currency and former editor at The Rumpus
"Wow. Hilarious or horrifying? Sassy or wise? Hollow Kingdom
is a surprise and a marvel: a razor sharp and satisfying warning about
the coming apocalypse, told by one of the most engaging narrators I have
met in a long time. Good fiction makes you think. It turns you upside
down and makes you realize that you recognize the world from that
vantage point. Hollow Kingdom is that good fiction, and so much more."―Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, author of Shadow Child
In this stunning follow-up to Hollow Kingdom, the animal kingdom's "favorite apocalyptic hero"is back with a renewed sense of hope for humanity, ready to take on a world ravaged by a viral pandemic (Helen Macdonald).
Once upon an apocalypse, there lived an obscenely handsome American crow named S.T. . . .
When
the world last checked-in with its favorite Cheeto addict, the planet
had been overrun by flesh-hungry beasts, and nature had started
re-claiming her territory from humankind. S.T., the intrepid crow,
alongside his bloodhound-bestie Dennis, had set about saving pets that
had become trapped in their homes after humanity went the way of the
dodo.
That is, dear reader, until S.T. stumbled upon something
so rare—and so precious—that he vowed to do everything in his power to
safeguard what could, quite literally, be humanity's last hope for
survival. But in a wild world plagued by prejudiced animals,
feather-raising environments, new threats so terrifying they make
zombies look like baby bunnies, and a horrendous dearth of cheesy
snacks, what's a crow to do?
Why, wing it on another
big-hearted, death-defying adventure, that's what! Joined by a fabulous
new cast of animal characters, S.T. faces many new challenges plus his
biggest one yet: parenthood.
Kira
Jane Buxton
Kira
Jane Buxton's writing has appeared in The New York Times,
NewYorker.com, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, Huffington Post, and more. She
calls the tropical utopia of Seattle home and spends her time with three
cats, a dog, two crows, a charm of hummingbirds, and a husband.
http://www.kirajanebuxton.com
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