The Rome of Fall

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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During the tenth month of the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, as foretold in the book of Garth, the gods unleashed a plague upon Rome. Not a plague of frogs, or lice, or locusts—those would have been fine. The Coosa River did not run red with blood—that would have been okay, too. No, the gods were not messing around that October, and they blighted our fair town with a pestilence of heel, toe, do-se-dos that seemingly afflicted everyone in school but Jackson and me. Like a zit, Dixie Dancehall & Taxidermy materialized overnight, filling the void of Main Street cruising with, perhaps, the worse recreational activity in the history of human recreation: Country. Line. Dancing.

The Rome of Fall

Julius Caesar

* And, we might as well be honest, Brinks wants to be a lot more than friends with her.

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

* Given the general rock music vibe that permeates this novel, I figure I should stick with music terminology whenever I can.

The Rome of Fall

THE ROME OF fALL

“Okay, maybe I wasted some of my life, but people do still talk about our band. If we'd followed up with a bunch of shitty albums, no one would care anymore. But we didn't, and they do. Not doing anything for the last twenty years wasn't the worst career move.”

The Rome of Fall

N.B.: I won a copy of this book from the author in a giveaway on Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub and just wanted to take the opportunity to say thanks to both! You should probably also check out the post about the book on the site, it's a good one.