ISBN: 979-8-950930-16-4
My Name Was Don: An Absurdist Comedy Novella by Gary Marks
Novella. Author: Gary Marks
2016
Genre: Absurdist literary fiction
Sub-Genre: Experimental comedy
When Don’s inner and outer realities merge, every plan fails and the stakes keep rising. Only Katie can save him. But Katie… isn’t real.
Read My Name Was Don:
When Don's Inner and Outer Realities Merge
As for the title: no, Don did not change his name. It's the other thing.... So then how can he write a book... from there?
Don, the narrator of this absurd comedy, is literally illiterate, at least when it comes to reading people. Everything he does turns into an unmitigated disaster.
He names his dog Whoosh because of how fast it chases cars. His girlfriend Katie, the love of his life, isn't real. His manipulative ex-wife Windi has a new boyfriend, a bodybuilder named Z who is in no mood to joke around. And the small-town mayor is just smart enough to blackmail people trying to blackmail her, including Don.
Don loves Whoosh as the dog hobbles toward old age, and he loves his daughter Elsa, who says nothing in the book but means everything to him. In the end he comes up with a plan to save his family of three and make everything right, but as usual, it's the wrong plan.
He's writing the book from whatever perspective he gains after being saved from death, or life... we may never know which. The title of the book does not make things any easier to figure out.
Published Alongside Shelby's Time
My Name Was Don was published in 2016 alongside Shelby's Time, the two forming a loose pair of voice-driven absurdist comedies written back-to-back, each narrated by a man whose grip on reality is powerful and sure. It's just not our reality.
A Terrible Writer Writing a Book
Don is a terrible writer, yet he narrates the book we're reading. His characters -- Whoosh the dog, Katie, Windi, and her new boyfriend, Z -- all orbit Don's world. Or more accurately, he orbits theirs. Staying in orbit is a hard thing to do.
The beginning of his narration sets us up for what's to come: "My job was like figuratively killing me."