Gods of Glenhaven

"Hilarious . . . Statler's wit and charm are on full display."-Christopher Monks, editor of McSweeney's Internet Tendency

"Wickedly sharp."-Alfredo Botello, author of Spin Cycle

"Percy Jackson for adults!"-John Zilcosky, author of Kafka's Travels

From comedy writer and McSweeney's contributor Stephen Statler comes Gods of Glenhaven, a David Sedaris-meets-Tom Perotta, fast-paced, bighearted comedy about love, sex, death, and rock and roll-and everything that happens when our white-knuckle grip on life gets pried open against our will.

When Greek gods sweep into the quaint suburban town of Glenhaven to untangle their messy love lives, the helpless mortals don't stand a chance.

Christian Orr, struggling with work and erectile dysfunction after discovering his wife's infidelity, has just moved into what his daughter Francesca calls the Divorced Dads Apartment Complex. His high-powered attorney ex, Sloan, is jaded and restless, leaving precocious Francesca caught in the crosscurrents of change.

Enter Dionysus-"Dee"-the god of wine, sex, and questionable decisions, who shows up searching for his estranged wife Ari and their teenage son Maron. After three thousand years of Dee's antics, Ari has had enough. She's struck a deal with Zeus to start fresh-as a mortal suburban mom. And what's more normal than falling for a regular guy like Christian? If only Dee would stop tearing through Glenhaven in his quest to win her back.

Drunk on Dee's wine, the residents of Glenhaven form chanting covens in the woods, participate in ecstatic rituals, and experience divine revelations-all while Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" loops faintly in the background of their lives.

Gods of Glenhaven is a hilarious, poignant, and confronting novel about the universal fears and follies of the human condition, and the joy and freedom we can experience by letting go.

"Fans and sufferers of Greek myths, rock 'n' roll, and middle-age crises will take great comfort and joy from this hilarious novel. Stephen Statler's wit and charm are on full display in Gods of Glenhaven." -Chris Monks, editor of McSweeney's Internet Tendency

"A rollicking good time. And not just fun but also serious, asking us what it might mean to be 'heroic' today. I can't recommend this highly enough. Percy Jackson for adults!" -John Zilcosky, author of Kafka's Travels

"A raucous comedy grounded in relatable characters. A hilarious exploration of how we react in the face of absurdity and terror. Stephen Statler has created a joyous, bawdy world in which the question 'Is a dashiki the most appropriate way to cover a permanent erection when you've made an unwise deal with Dionysus?' is absolutely reasonable.

"Statler has managed to weave together the suburban and the supernatural in a wonderful story of an Everyman trying to find meaning at midlife. With a wickedly sharp pen, Statler tells the tale of Christian, a man beset by woes around marriage, parenting, and work. He clings to his polite habits and mores even as the world, and a cast of wonderfully delineated characters, begin to throw supernatural events his way. Statler pushes his protagonist to the brink, asking the question 'What happens when our habits of being in the world no longer work?' Can we turn chaos into joy? Is there room for fulfillment when you've lost everything you thought mattered? Gods of Glenhaven is at once a funny, laugh-out-loud joyride and a thoughtful meditation on what it means to be forced out of our comfort zone into the Dionysian, the absurd, and the unpredictable." -Alfredo Botello, author of Spin Cycle

"Stephen Statler's Gods of Glenhaven has managed to not just open Pandora's box but also create an entirely new structure for those vices to spill forth. Bawdy, intelligent, and hauntingly accurate in its investigation of suburban mores, Statler's illustrated novel takes the best that Greek mythology has to offer and infuses it with modern wisdom and wit. The cast of characters, from Christian and Sloan to Francesca and 'Dee, ' are crafted meticulously with Statler's trademark precision, casting us as a willing chorus to their collective sorrows and triumphs. Quick-paced and accentuated with illustrations by Vasylyna Tumanova, Statler's prose sets a new bar that Dionysus himself would approve of and applaud." -Katie Ziegler, author of The Last of the Cursive Writers

Stephen Statler is a comedy writer whose work has appeared in McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Points in Case, and other magazines. The Breathing Show, a feature film he wrote and directed, was distributed by Film Threat. A screenplay, Big Time, co-authored with Mouncey Ferguson, is currently under option by Gulfstream Pictures. Statler lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two children.

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