Books by Bud Smith
Teenager
by Bud Smith
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • Two teenagers, in love and insane, journey across the United States in this Bonnie and Clyde–like adventure, pursuing a warped American dream, where Elvis is still king and the corn dog is the “backbone of this great country.”
“There is a typo on page 14. Other than that, this book is perfect.” —Bill Callahan
“He told her he was a one-woman man and she was it for him. Teal said that was good because he was it for her. It and It. Both of them were It.”
Kody Rawlee Green is stuck in juvie. Tella “Teal Cartwheels” Carticelli is packing her bags for Rome--on the orders of her parents, who want her as far from Kody as possible. But teenage love is too strong a force for the obstacles of reality. And the highway beckons.
Leaving their abusive pasts behind them in Jersey, Kody and Teal set off on a cross-country road trip equal parts self-destruction and self-discovery, making their way, one stolen car at a time, toward bigger, wider, bluer skies. Along the road, of course, there’s time to stop at Graceland, classic diners, a fairgrounds that smells of “pony shit and kettle corn," and time for run-ins with outsize personalities like the reincarnated Grand Canyon tour guide Dead Bob and the spurious Montana rancher Bill Gold. On their heels, all the while, is Teal’s brother, Neil Carticelli, who’s abandoned his post in the navy to rescue the sister he left behind. But does she really need saving?
These all too American tropes find new expression in Bud Smith’s own freewheeling prose—and in Rae Buleri’s original illustrations—filling Teenager with humor, poetry, and a joy that’s palpable in every unforgettable sentence.
A VINTAGE ORIGINAL
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Teenager
by Bud Smith
Teenager is a love story for people who don't feel love. Kody loves Tella Carticelli. He has been released from a home for wayward youth, after his threat to blow up the high school with a fertilizer bomb. He is on his way to see Tella Carticelli’s parents because they are about to put her on an airplane to Italy, and he might never see her again. Kody has a gun in his pocket and he is climbing down from his lookout on the water tower to go and pay the Carticellis a visit before it's too late. Violence erupts in the cozy house. Afterwards, Kody drives a stolen car, Teal sitting despondently in the passenger seat. Finally she says, “Why’d you have to kill my mom?” Kody has an easy explanation for that, he says, “She loved your dad as much as I love you.” Tella nods, understanding it one of a million different ways. They go off in search of a long gone America. The police and Teal's brother in pursuit. Kody had considered the consequences, and is fine with all of them. Jail. Death. Hell. Time with Tella Carticelli, no matter how limited, was all he cared about.
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F 250
by Bud Smith
Lee Casey plays guitar in a noise band called Ottermeat, about to leave NJ, to try and make it in Los Angeles. For now, he’s squatting in a collapsing house, working as a stone mason, driving a jacked up pickup truck that he crashes into everything. As a close friend Ods in his sleep, Lee falls into a three-way relationship with two college girls, June Doom and K Neon. F250 is a novel equal parts about growing up, and being torn apart. "Bud Smith is Nick Hornby if you strapped him to a Tesla coil and launched him into a Sun made of Poetry." --Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and some for the Day
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Double Bird
by Bud Smith
A man finds a seashell and it tells him to do things, some bad, some good ... An adjunct professor decides he doesn't want to teach at the community college anymore, he begins a journey into the underworld, his dog at his side ... A giant eagle egg is found lying on the lawn, it shakes and continues to grow larger, and larger ... Let's out go on a date with someone who has little tiny tigers in their blood ... Let's make love to a severed head ... A man is crushed with a car and asks a personal favor of the driver, he wants to run some errands around town before he dies--cash this check at the bank, pick up stamps at the post office, go with you on your job interview ... Double Bird. Vivd. Odd. Hurtful. Unloved. Wet with dew. Out of its mind with joy.
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The House of Vlad Press No Frills Sampler #1
by Bud Smith, Sam Pink, Brian Alan Ellis, Noah Cicero, Rebekah Morgan, Justin Grimbol, Homeless xoxo
House of Vlad Press present a cheap Petri dish of tasty outsider lit courtesy of Sam Pink, Bud Smith, Noah Cicero, Brian Alan Ellis, Rebekah Morgan, Justin Grimbol, and Homeless!
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