As a Machine and Parts : Publication Details

Publication date: December 15, 2011
Imprint: Aqueous Books
Trade Paperback
100 pages; 5.5 " x 8.5 "; $14.00
ISBN: 978-0-9847399-2-9
Publisher: Cynthia Reeser

Availability

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Ingram distribution
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Amazon.com

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Press Release (PDF)
Title Information Page (PDF)
Book Cover: Print | Web

About the Author
Caleb J. Ross has been published widely, both online and in print. He is the author of Charactered Pieces: Stories (OW Press), Stranger Will: A Novel (Otherworld Publications) and I Didn’t Mean to Be Kevin: A Novel (Black Coffee Press). Visit his official page at www.calebjross.com.

Book Description
Mitchell, a twenty-something Cougar Cub with a midlife girlfriend named Marsha, wakes each morning, living an ever-broadening line between human and machine. As his literal condition progresses, he loses his capacity for human emotion, and potentially Marsha. As a Machine and Parts is the story of Mitchell’s struggle to discover which assembly line he belongs to. What makes As a Machine and Parts especially unique is the way it integrates illustrative elements to render the story beyond the conventional textual style. As Mitchell morphs from human to machine, the text changes with him, evolving (devolving?) from a handwritten style to a typed style, and ultimately to a schematic diagram. Throughout, the page reflects Mitchell’s change, immersing the reader into the text in ways that traditional storytelling cannot.

Blurbs | Advance Praise

There was once a Marvel comic book called "What if..." and in it Uatu the Watcher, a bald sage-like character with an enormous head spun speculative tales of alternative versions of the Marvel Universe you thought you knew. With As a Machine & Parts Caleb J. Ross continues to stake his claim as his generation's Watcher, which should not be construed as a commentary on his beautiful, yet clearly fake head of hair, but instead as an observation about the scope of his imagination and his ongoing vision of what the world can be, might be and just maybe will be if Ross has anything to say about it.
—Ben Tanzer, author of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine

As a Machine and Parts is equal parts hilarious, absurd and touching. It’s the kind of book that after reading makes you say, ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of that first?’ only to realize you couldn’t have done it so well. Wildly inventive without collapsing under the weight of its own genius, As a Machine and Parts proves that Caleb J. Ross is one of the most exciting young authors writing today.
—Nik Korpon, author of Stay God and Old Ghosts