Corey Fah Does Social Mobility

Starred review from November 1, 2023
Nothing is as it seems in this bizarre satire of the literary life by London-based author Waidner. When Corey Fah is named the winner of the Award for the Fictionalisation of Social Evils, they're a bit nonplussed. The author attended the online prize announcement wearing a T-shirt and joggers, and is sent to Koszmar Circus, somewhere in the "international capital" where they live, to pick up their trophy. They soon find themself eyeing a UFO: "Circa half a metre tall, it hovered directly in my eyeline. It radiated neon beige, what a concept. I just stood there, one hand on my head, the other on my hip, considering the likelihood." They discover they're not alone: Also present in the circus is a fawn, with "four spider's legs" and "multiple sets of eyes, like that seraph-filtered kitty on Instagram." The deer, which they name Bambi Pavok, follows them home, and Corey soon learns that the UFO was their trophy and the prize committee is annoyed that they didn't retrieve it. Meanwhile, Corey and their long-suffering partner, Drew Szumski, an interpreter, become alarmed when the wormhole-obsessed host of their favorite television series, St Orton Gets to the Bottom of It, has a small meltdown on air. Add to this "a one-toothed rabbit with a white chest, flushed cheeks, and a set of behavioural problems," a possibly time-traveling playwright, and Corey's own ambivalence about their newfound notoriety and you get another gleefully anarchic novel from Waidner, who was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize (the real-life Award for the Fictionalisation of Social Evils, one supposes) for Sterling Karat Gold (2023). This is a deeply funny and unrelentingly bizarre look at the vagaries of literary success, and although Waidner loads it with their trademark absurdity, it's still grounded by the author's straight-faced (but lively) prose. It's beginning to look like there's nothing the immensely talented Waidner can't do. Another smart, entertaining dispatch from Waidner's bizarro world.

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December 4, 2023
Astrophysics and a mysterious literary prize propel the darkly funny and very strange latest from Waidner (Sterling Karat Gold). Corey Fah has won the 2024 Fictionalisation of Social Evils award in their unnamed city, known only as the “international capital,” where the language is inflected with Czech and Polish terms (their flat is in the Sociální Estate, and their partner’s name is Drew Szumski) and a “swampy part of town” is called Florida Rot. Unfortunately, Corey is unable to collect the prize money without the trophy, a hovering “neon beige” object they failed to obtain after the ceremony. Later, Drew tries to help find the trophy, and ends up going through a wormhole into an alternate reality consisting of a scene from a sexed-up Disney movie. When Drew returns, they convince Corey, who’s still desperate for the money, to go on the bizarre TV talk show St Orton Gets to the Bottom of It. Sean, the host, claims to have time-traveled from the 1960s, and he invites guests who believe they have found a wormhole. After it turns out Sean might know something about the trophy, Corey’s madcap and peculiar search grows increasingly thrilling. Waidner’s queer Kafkaesque romp is great fun. Agents: Katie Cacouris and Tracy Bohan, Wylie Agency.

January 1, 2024
Writer Corey Fah is living with their partner, Drew, when their most recent work wins the delightfully titled Fictionalization of Social Evils literary prize. However, there is a slight problem. The trophy, containing the prize money, is hard to capture. So Corey may not be able to claim it or the much-vaunted social capital that the trophy provides. Corey's reality is a surreal, off-kilter world of bizarre time loops, through which one Bambi Pavok, an eight-legged hybrid of the cartoon deer, is Corey's dedicated if violent and odd companion. While completely off-the-wall in many respects, the Kathy Acker-like absurdity of Waidner's scenarios is, also like Acker's fiction, full of fascinating explorations regarding love, the value of dedicating oneself to both art and relationships, and the absurd difficulty of improving one's social standing in an economically stratified world. Particularly superb in its portrayal of the personal connection many feel with celebrities, this is a short, delightful, and singular novel from one of the most profoundly different writers around, a worthy follow-up to Waidner's prize-winning Sterling Karat Gold (2021).

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