About The Clown's Graveyard

The Clown’s Graveyard is a tale of myths, lies, and advertising in a data-driven world. The story follows two friends on a desperate journey from the heart of Silicon Valley to the legendary place where old clowns go to die.

Andy Hunter is the powerful and charismatic founder of Integrated Consciousness, a company selling better lifestyles through technology. About to release Integrated Consciousness 2.0, the ultimate realization of his vision, Andy finds himself inexplicably haunted by a myth his long-departed mother once told him: the tale of the Clown’s Graveyard, the legendary place where old clowns go to die. Plagued by sleepless nights, his nerves stretched to the breaking point, he senses that the only person who can help him is Lou Black, the long-estranged best friend from his idyllic Indiana childhood.

Lou, shrewd where Andy is naïve, had always yearned to share his friend’s innocent wonder in the unexpected and unexplained. Once a consummate showman in the spirit of P.T. Barnum, now a broken man, Lou sees that Andy’s soul has been corrupted by the sterile rationality and market-driven truths on which he has built a commercial empire. Andy’s only hope of salvation is to destroy Integrated Consciousness, and in so doing, to recover the faith in the absurd that had once been central to his character.

To this end, Andy and Lou stage a series of hoaxes and public spectacles that seem to defy reason. By undermining the rationality upon which Integrated Consciousness depends, they hope to spark the spontaneous popular mythmaking that is the antithesis of the industrial-media-marketing complex. Their comrades in arms include a disillusioned psychochemist, a waitress, a laboratory chimp named Joe Bananas, and a fabricated alien civilization that may be real after all. Meanwhile, Andy has to wrestle with a few myths and realities of his own: he’s not sure he can trust Lou, he’s still scarred and perplexed by his mother’s untimely disappearance years ago, and he doesn’t know what to think about the increasingly surreal and terrifying events that have begun to occur wherever he goes. As he learns, tampering with the fabric of reality is not for the weak of heart.

One of the most original and memorable novels to be written in English since the Canterbury Tales, The Clown’s Graveyard is destined to change the course of American civilization.

What they're saying about The Clown's Graveyard:

"It was difficult to see myself supporting your material in a way that I would want and you would deserve. ... Also, the original conceit of the novel just didn't unfold in the way I had hoped it would."
—Bill C.

"I hope I'm wrong about the marketability of the book and that you'll find someone who will respond to it with positive enthusiasm."
—Phyllis W.

"However, I am not coming up with a clear vision for selling this book and therefore don't think I would be the right agent for you."
—Gail H.

"It is indeed dark and quirky, but ultimately a bit more commercial than I like."
—Elizabeth S.

"I am sorry to say I never really believed in the book at some fundamental level."
—Eric S.

"In short, even on its own orthodox [sic] terms I don't think 'it works.'"
—Gerry H.

On with the show.

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