One of the things Poughkeepsie could be famous for, if Poughkeepsie were famous, is abandoned factory buildings. Over the years, even over the centuries, there have been all kinds of manufacturing and industry, going all the way back to when dead whales were dragged up the Hudson River and cut up, processed, had their oil extracted, and maybe kibbled, for all I know. The whale-processing business was carried out seventy-five miles up the river from New York Harbor, because that way it was considered less likely that pirates would show up…and…steal the whales? It doesn’t make sense to me, but they teach this in school. Various other products came from Poughkeepsie, such as decks of cards, underwear, and beer, and when any of the companies that made them moved or shut down, they’d just leave the factory to fall apart.
– Daniel Pinkwater, CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE, pp.53-54
i’m currently reading “crazy in poughkeepsie” to my family at bedtime and i’m so excited that my hometown of sheboygan made it in to the guru’s journeys. this made my day. thank you.
Tachyon [is] known for their eclectic published works and always choose quality over quantity.
SF Book Reviews
Celebrate the year’s end with our newest Tacky-Pack, curated by the Tacky Rhino himself. In these 2022 Tachyon books, now 22% off, you’ll discover everything from the impossible to the improbable: a decades long government conspiracy, a queernormative medical mystery; a lovesick robot at the edge of revolution; two not-so-good old boys dealing out Texan style justice; one not-quite-human girl having a not-quite breakdown; and much, much more.
As we get ready to ring in the new year (and engage in whatever holiday traditions you like best), celebrate with any or all of Tachyon’s 2022 titles, now at 22% off!
THE EMPEROR’S SOUL: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Brandon Sanderson When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life with an impossible task: to create a new soul for an emperor in fewer than one hundred days. This special edition of the Hugo-Award winning novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL features the deleted prologue “The Imperial Fool,” which alludes to Sanderson’s bestselling Mistborn series; prologue commentary; and an original introduction from the publisher.
NEOM by Lavie Tidhar Today, Neom is a utopian dream—a megacity of the future yet to be built in the Saudi desert. In this deeply imaginative novel from the award-winning universe of CENTRAL STATION, far-future Neom is already old. Sentient machines roam the desert searching for purpose, works of art can be more deadly than weapons, and the spark of a long-overdue revolution is in the wind.
THE BRUISING OF QILWA by Naseem Jamnia In this intricate debut fantasy introducing a queernormative Persian-inspired world, a nonbinary refugee practitioner of blood magic discovers a strange disease that causes political rifts in their new homeland. Persian-American author Naseem Jamnia has crafted a gripping narrative with a moving, nuanced exploration of immigration, gender, healing, and family.
THE UNBALANCINGby R. B. Lemberg In this first full-length novel from the acclaimed Birdverse, new love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home. THE UNBALANCING is a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds rooted in the mystical cosmology, neurodiversity, and queerness that infuses Lemberg’s lyrical prose.
BORN FOR TROUBLE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HAP AND LEONARD by Joe R. Lansdale In Edgar Award winner Joe R. Lansdale’s newest Hap and Leonard story collection, the boys are back, with more righteous ass-kickings, highly improbable adventures, and disastrous fishing trips. These never before collected tales showcase the popular not-so dynamic duo as a little bit older, but not a whole lot wiser—Hap and Leonard were truly born for trouble.
THE EXTRACTIONIST by Kimberly Unger In her breakout technothriller, virtual reality expert Kimberly Unger (NUCLEATION) has created the iconic, badass, nerdy heroine that you desperately need: Eliza McKay. McKay is disgraced underground hacker who is just trying to take back her career one dangerous job at a time. But when her latest contract throws her into the middle of a corporate power struggle, she finds herself fighting for her life.
BOYS, BEASTS & MENby Sam J. Miller Queer infatuation, inevitable heartbreak, and satisfying revenge seamlessly intertwine in Sam J. Miller (Blackfish City, The Art of Starving)’s long-awaited debut short story collection. Whether innocent, guilty, or not even human, the beings in Miller’s gorgeously-crafted worlds can destroy you—yet leave you longing for them even more.
CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE by Daniel Pinkwater The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot, The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.
51 by Patick O’Leary In his long-awaited newest novel, Patrick O’Leary (The Gift) deftly navigates the invisible currents of secrets and forgiveness, while upending one of the best-kept secrets in American history: the strange events at Area 51. Gripping, profound, and utterly unique, 51 is sure to please fans of fans of smart paranormal nostalgia, such as the X-Files, Old Man’s War, and Stranger Things.
The author and sometimes illustrator of over 80 (and counting) wildly popular books, Daniel Pinkwater is also an occasional commentator on National Public Radio’s All Thing Considered and appears regularly on Weekend Edition Saturday. His acclaimed books (many illustrated by him) include The Terrible Roar (1970), Blue Moose (1975), Lizard Music (1976), The Big Orange Splot (1977), The Wuggie Norple Story (1980), The Snarkout Boys series (The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death [1982] an The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror [1984]), Young Adult Novel (1982), Fish Whistle (1989), Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights (1991), The Education of Robert Nifkin (1999), Irving and Muktuk stories (Bad Bears Go Visiting [2000], Two Bad Bears (2002), Bad Bears in the Big City [2005], Bad Bears and a Bunny [2006], and Bad Bear Detectives [2007]), The Werewolf Club series (The Magic Pretzel [2001], The Lunchroom of Doom [2001], Meets Dorkula [2002], Meets the Hound of the Basketballs [2002], and Meets Oliver Twit [2005]), Bushman LivesMrs. Noodlekugel series (Mrs. Noodlekugel [2012], Mrs. Noodlekugel and Four Blind Mice [2013], and Mrs. Noodlekugel and Drooly the Bear [2015]), Bear and Bunny (2015), ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL (2020), Vampires of Blinsh (2020), and CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE (2022). In 1989, Pinkwater along with artist Tony Auth produced the syndicated strip Norb for 52 weeks. The praised cartoon was collected by MU Press in 1992.
Pinkwater’s frequent NPR appearances include reviewing children’s books on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, “random” phone calls to Car Talk, and in the early 2000s, co-hosting (with Charity Nebbe) Chinwag Theater. In the early 1990s, he voiced a series of humorous Ford radio advertisements. Pinkwater has also contributed to New York Times Magazine, OMNI, Wondertime, and numerous other outlets.
All of us at Tachyon wish Daniel, everybody’s favorite lovable curmudgeon, a happy birthday. May it be full of snark, fun, and games! Lots of snark.
Pinkwater’s in on a great secret: if you want to communicate wisdom to young readers, first make them smile. Or giggle. Or run wild in Poughkeepsie, as the case may be.
This is my first ever Daniel Pinkwater and it won’t be my last as I want to go through their backlist. For all these reasons I am giving CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE 5 big fat stars.
Library Journal enjoys Kimberly Unger’s forthcoming technothriller THE EXTRACTIONIST. Though not available until July, THE EXTRACTIONIST can be pre-ordered from your favorite bookseller or directly from Tachyon.
VERDICT Unger (NUCLEATION), a game designer and VR programmer by day, delivers an edge-of-your-seat technothriller with a refreshingly relatable protagonist. While some might find this too jargon-heavy for comfort, cyberpunk fans will love Unger’s scientific knowledge and creativity.
The forthcoming THE BRUISING OF QILWA by Samuel R. Delany Fellowship recipient Naseem Jamnia impressed Louis Skye of WWAC.Though not available until August, THE BRUISING OF QILWA can be pre-ordered from your favorite bookseller or directly from Tachyon.
ReadingTHE BRUISING OF QILWAwas an incredible experience. I didn’t know world-building in a fantasy story could feel so seamless. That scenes around medical magic could make sense to me and increase my enjoyment of the story is still blowing my mind. The queerness in this book is so natural—no explanations, no phobias, just queer people living their lives. The politics and world-building feel relatable even if I’m not Persian. When people from marginalized groups talk about creating stories based on their lived experience, this is what they mean. Jamnia brings all the various intersections of their life into The Bruising of Qilwa and the book is so much more significant because of it. This story has set the bar for fantasy fiction so high now.
With the help of the fine folks at GOODREADS, we’re giving away a copy of the legendary Daniel Pinkwater’s new middle-grade adventure CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE.
The Pinkwaterverse is a place of delight and camaraderie, wordplay and weirdness, magic and epic sojourns. Each Pinkwater novel is a novelty and unmistakably part of his vast literary legacy. CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE is a trip to whale heaven, an afterlife that we can all aspire to.
—Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother
The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot; The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a gentle middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.
CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE is a ludicrous romp reminiscent of the Muppets! This is a book that will make you laugh, grin, and maybe look for more whimsy in your own world.
—Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger
Mick is a good kid, but maybe he can use just a little guidance. But it’s unclear who will be guiding whom, because Mick’s brother came home from Tibet with the self-proclaimed Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel and his dog Lhasa―and then promptly settled both of them in Mick’s bedroom.
(The thing about this kind of guru is that he doesn’t seem to know exactly what he’s trying to do. He sure does seem to be hungry, though.)
Anyway, Mick agrees to something like a quest, roaming the suburbs with the oddest group of misfits: Lumpo and Lhasa; graffiti-fanatic Verne; and Verne’s unusual friend Molly. Molly is a Dwergish girl―don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet―and she seems to be going off the rails a bit.
Along the way, the gang will get invited to a rollicking ghost party, consult a very strange little king, and actually discover the truth about Heaven. Or a version of the truth anyway, because in a Daniel Pinkwater tale, the truth is never the slightest bit like what you’re expecting.
Mick returns home from summer camp to find ‘a little old man’ named Guru Lumpu Smythe-Finkel occupying his bedroom in Pinkwater’s (ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL) jovial novel. Though Mick’s older brother Maurice brought Lumpu and his dog Lhasa home from his trip to the Himalayas, the guru takes Mick on as his apprentice. During their daily hikes, Lumpu—who insists that destiny led him to Poughkeepsie, N.Y.—teaches Mick to appreciate the innate oddness of his hometown. The pair are joined by Vern, Mick’s environmental activist friend from summer camp, and Molly, a new arrival from the Catskill Mountains who describes herself as ‘crazy… I’m not myself.’ After encountering a ghost whale named Luna, the group embarks on a quest to guide the cetacean to her final resting place at the “whaley pearly gates.” . . . . This caper offers comical adventure, and Renier’s b&w illustrations exude classic comic strip aesthetics, admirably complementing Pinkwater’s straightforwardly told absurdist humor.
The legendary writer Daniel Pinkwater and popular artist Aaron Reiner will be participating in a pair of celebratory virtual events for the release of their new book CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE.
ISBN: Print ISBN: 9781-61696-374-2, Digital ISBN: 978-1-61696-375-0
Published: June 2022
Available Format(s): Hardcover and Digital
CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE is a ludicrous romp reminiscent of the Muppets! This is a book that will make you laugh, grin, and maybe look for more whimsy in your own world.
—Beth Cato, author of The Clockwork Dagger
The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot; The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a gentle middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.
Mick is a good kid, but maybe he can use just a little guidance. But it’s unclear who will be guiding whom, because Mick’s brother came home from Tibet with the self-proclaimed Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel and his dog Lhasa―and then promptly settled both of them in Mick’s bedroom.
(The thing about this kind of guru is that he doesn’t seem to know exactly what he’s trying to do. He sure does seem to be hungry, though.)
Anyway, Mick agrees to something like a quest, roaming the suburbs with the oddest group of misfits: Lumpo and Lhasa; graffiti-fanatic Verne; and Verne’s unusual friend Molly. Molly is a Dwergish girl―don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet―and she seems to be going off the rails a bit. But she knows that she is definitely not Verne’s girlfriend.
Along the way, the gang will get invited to a rollicking ghost party, consult a very strange little king, and actually discover the truth about Heaven. Or a version of the truth anyway, because in a Daniel Pinkwater tale, the truth is never the slightest bit like what you’re expecting.
Opening the pages of CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE was like buying a ticket back to the all the weirdness and wonder of being a kid. I’m pretty sure we passed the Phantom Tollbooth during the road trip!
The author and sometimes illustrator of over 80 (and counting) wildly popular books, Daniel Pinkwater is also an occasional commentator on National Public Radio’s All Thing Considered and appears regularly on Weekend Edition Saturday. His acclaimed books (many illustrated by him) include The Terrible Roar (1970), Blue Moose (1975), Lizard Music (1976), The Big Orange Splot (1977), The Wuggie Norple Story (1980), The Snarkout Boys series (The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death [1982] and The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror [1984]), Young Adult Novel (1982), Fish Whistle (1989), Chicago Days, Hoboken Nights (1991), The Education of Robert Nifkin (1999), Irving and Muktuk stories (Bad Bears Go Visiting [2000], Two Bad Bears (2002), Bad Bears in the Big City [2005], Bad Bears and a Bunny [2006], and Bad Bear Detectives [2007]), The Werewolf Club series (The Magic Pretzel [2001], The Lunchroom of Doom [2001], Meets Dorkula [2002], Meets the Hound of the Basketballs [2002], and Meets Oliver Twit [2005]), Bushman Lives (2012), Mrs. Noodlekugel series (Mrs. Noodlekugel [2012], Mrs. Noodlekugel and Four Blind Mice [2013], and Mrs. Noodlekugel and Drooly the Bear [2015]), Bear and Bunny (2015), ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL (2020), Vampires of Blinsh (2020), and coming this June, CRAZY IN POUGHKEEPSIE. In 1989, Pinkwater along with artist Tony Auth produced the syndicated strip Norb for 52 weeks. The praised cartoon was collected by MU Press in 1992.
Pinkwater’s frequent NPR appearances include reviewing children’s books on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, “random” phone calls to Car Talk, and in the early 2000s, co-hosting (with Charity Nebbe) Chinwag Theater. In the early 1990s, he voiced a series of humorous Ford radio advertisements. Pinkwater has also contributed to New York Times Magazine, OMNI, Wondertime, and numerous other outlets.
Cover by Aaron Renier Design by Elizabeth Story
He lives in upstate New York with his wife and frequent collaborator, writer/artist Jill Pinkwater,
All of us at Tachyon wish Daniel, everybody’s favorite lovable curmudgeon, a happy birthday. May it be full of snark, fun, and games! Lots of snark.
ISBN: Print ISBN: 9781-61696-374-2, Digital ISBN: 978-1-61696-375-0
Published: June 2022
Available Format(s): Hardcover and Digital
Pinkwater is the uniquest. And so are his books. Each uniquer than the last . . . A delight in oddness. A magic that’s not like anyone else’s.
—Neil Gaiman
The inimitable Daniel Pinkwater (The Big Orange Splot; The Hoboken Chicken Emergency) brings his zany wit and wisdom to a gentle middle-grade adventure following a kid’s off-the-beaten-path journey, featuring an unfocused spiritual guide, a not-quite-dwarf, a graffiti “artist,” a ghost whale, and mystical shenanigans galore.
Mick is a good kid, but maybe he can use just a little guidance. But it’s unclear who will be guiding whom, because Mick’s brother came home from Tibet with the self-proclaimed Guru Lumpo Smythe-Finkel and his dog Lhasa―and then promptly settled both of them in Mick’s bedroom.
(The thing about this kind of guru is that he doesn’t seem to know exactly what he’s trying to do. He sure does seem to be hungry, though.)
Anyway, Mick agrees to something like a quest, roaming the suburbs with the oddest group of misfits: Lumpo and Lhasa; graffiti-fanatic Verne; and Verne’s unusual friend Molly. Molly is a Dwergish girl―don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet―and she seems to be going off the rails a bit. But she knows that she is definitely not Verne’s girlfriend.
Along the way, the gang will get invited to a rollicking ghost party, consult a very strange little king, and actually discover the truth about Heaven. Or a version of the truth anyway, because in a Daniel Pinkwater tale, the truth is never the slightest bit like what you’re expecting.
Daniel Pinkwater is so obviously the funniest writer of children’s books that he should be made a Living National Treasure.
