Further Out Than You Thought

Set against the chaos of the 1992 L.A. riots, a taut and erotically charged literary debut that follows an exotic dancer and her two bohemian compatriots on their search for identity and meaning in life, from an award-winning poet and indie bookshop owner. In the Neverland that is Los Angeles, where make-believe seems possible, three dreamers find themselves on the verge of transformation. Working as a stripper to put herself through graduate school, twenty-five-year-old poet Gwendolyn Griffin, aka Stevie, has grown accustomed to a lifestyle that had once stimulated and excited. Her perpetually stoned singer/songwriter boyfriend Leo, who dresses as an American Revolutionary to sell his music on downtown street corners, seems to be losing his already tenuous grip on reality. And their flamboyant best friend and neighbor, nightclub crooner Count Valiant, is slowly dying of AIDS. When the city explodes after the controversial verdict in the Rodney King trial, the chaos becomes a catalyst for change. Valiant is invigorated, Leo plans a new stunt-walking into east L.A., naked, holding a white flag-and Gwen, discovering she is pregnant, is pulled between the girl she's been and the woman she could become. Coming face-to-face with extreme violence shows her the importance of life, awakening a desperate need for change. But before Gwen can embrace motherhood, she's forced to face the realities she's been avoiding: Can Leo become the father to their child that she needs him to be? Can she leave the Los Angeles club life and start fresh, or will the city's spell prove too seductive? Weaving poetry and sensuality with the grime and edge of the urban underbelly, FURTHER OUT THAN YOU THOUGHT is an extraordinary literary debut and an ode to motherhood, a story of love, friendship, and one woman's quest for redemption.