Now releasing: Famous Potatoes by Joe Cottonwood
Joe Cottonwood is back, but this one isn’t for kids. Check out Famous Potatoes:
“An engaging picaresque novel of a young man on the run. A warm, well-told story of a likable character with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” —Publisher’s Weekly
Willy Middlebrook is a nice boy from the suburbs, a Vietnam vet, a college drop-out majoring in Human Kindness. Framed for the murder of a cop, Willy goes on the lam from the law, crisscrossing America while encountering the people of the humble cafes and dusty bars, underground: “They have rough brown skin and soft wrinkled eyes. They are round and they are usually dirty. They are hard because they have to be, but if you warm them they get soft and you can make them sweet.” Famous Potatoes is a road novel with a touch of noir, a tall tale that has been called “exuberant, funny, and humane.”
“Like the smudged chrome of a truck-stop diner, Famous Potatoes is an element of a new American realism, and Cottonwood has made it an engaging trip.” —Chicago Tribune
The year is 1971. Back in those days only bad people got tattoos; long distance calls cost a small fortune; and an IBM 360 computer with a few hundred kilobytes was enough to run a bank.
“Cottonwood [has] charm–wry, loping, never cute. And, even more crucial, there is Willy’s (and Cottonwood’s) genuine people-liking, which makes Willy’s complications seem less dire; the troubled travels become a nice excuse to meet more interesting folks. Laid-back–but not too much–and attractive.” —Kirkus
As a young man, Joe Cottonwood used to hitchhike everywhere. Many of the encounters in Famous Potatoes are based on actual events from those times.
“Blessed with that wonderfully extravagant and original talent for telling tall tales, Joe Cottonwood weaves a whopper that catches you up and rockets you overland as Willy hitches himself on to one crazy adventure after another. . . Willy ‘Crusoe’ Middlebrook, anonymous fugitive, naive suburbanite, sexual suicide, husband on the run from Philadelphia and St. Louis to the sky-high Rockies of Idaho . . . ” —Black Swan
“Philadelphia may never be the same again.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer
This podcast is rated deep R for bad language and occasional scenes of funky sex. And a lot of joy.
Author’s note: I wrote this novel forty years ago as a cockeyed love letter to the USA. I was a young man without children. Now I am a grandfather. A few of the passages, as I review them now, could make a grandfather blush. Nevertheless I have resisted the impulse to censor any youthful excess. I’ve also let stand the passages that would now be deemed Politically Incorrect. They are an accurate rendition of the times (1971).
Five episodes are in the default feed. That gets updated as Joe adds them. But beware: he has a tendency to load up more than one episode at a time. So if you want to avoid the games your podcatcher might play when it sees — and ignores — multiple episodes a day, take a custom feed. You pick how often episodes are released, and you’ll never miss one.
March 29th, 2010 at 12:33 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Podiobooks.com and Jeanette Marsh, thefarmproject. thefarmproject said: Serialized Audiobk: Now releasing: Famous Potatoes by Joe Cottonwood: Joe Cottonwood is back, but this one isn’t f… http://bit.ly/aDRs0V [...]
March 29th, 2010 at 7:15 am
great start
March 30th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Welcome back, Joe!
March 30th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
It’s great to be back. I’m having so much fun with this one. And I’ve got Susan Walker! Wait’ll you hear her in episode four. She’s fantastic.
April 28th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Hey, Joe! Great story. Sorry I missed this one til today. Haven’t got to episode four yet, but looking forward to it.
Susan is doing a fabulous job. Hi, Susan! This is great.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Hi Gail. Susan has many roles, all handled superbly. In episode 10 she has a marvelous rant in the role of Billie. And for the hillbilly roles, she was born to it – in North Carolina.
May 16th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Another great yarn from Joe Cottonwood. You can’t help but fall in love with the characters thanks to the amazing narration and well developed story.
May 23rd, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Joe, this was one warped little travelogue! You’ve presented another heartwarming yet laugh-out-loud quirky tale. I just hope you’ve been back to Philadelphia since Willie’s somewhat harrowing visit. We clean up pretty well. This read was great fun. Thanks for presenting your work in this format.
May 25th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I hear Philly’s changed a lot. I lived there 1970-71. A friend of mine read the Philadelphia section and said it made him homesick. Go figure. In the original print version, I used an epigraph from Ernest Hemingway: “Some other places were not so good but maybe we were not so good when we were in them.” I think that applies to me when I was in Philly. Anyway, glad you liked it, Jane. And hey – Chris – thanks.
July 11th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
I listened to the first episode of this on a whim – it was one of the top rated books – I greatly enjoyed it – I especially liked the analyzing of the suicide note – very funny. Nicely done.
September 13th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Thank you Joe for this book. For me it was not as enjoyable as your other books.
October 23rd, 2010 at 6:27 am
Hi, Joe! It’s so great that you came back with a new book. I found it very different from your others, but I came to love it, just like all your books!
October 24th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I’m working on a new one now which will be more in my usual style.
July 25th, 2011 at 5:54 am
Last night I saw a car with Famous Potatoes emblazoned across the bottom of the tag. Naturally I thought of this book.
November 7th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Joe, this story is so different from all your others. Sex, drugs and blue grass. I think I like your kids books better but this was a good story too. Just a different side of Joe Cottonwood. Love the music as usual. So many times I kept waiting and waiting for Willy to do the right thing. What a wild ride!