More than a decade after a local man started writing a book in college, he dusted off the novel of absurd comedy to see the words finally make it to the printed page. The first challenge was finding some way to get the text off an old floppy disk that had been stashed away.
Michael Parker, who lives in his hometown of Guilderland with his wife and three daughters, started the book in 1996 and continued working on it for another three years, in between completing academic assignments at St. Bonaventure University. Parker earned his master’s in English from the university and then taught for a year before transitioning to working at the Times Union. He tried getting his book published through standard avenues, but was met with several rejection letters.
“I had done the traditional route, printed out copies, sent it out to literary agents and a couple of publishing firms and had a stack of 40 to 50 rejection letters,” Parker said.
There was one agent who showed some interest, but ultimately decided against taking on Parker. Shortly after, he started working full-time in a newsroom and found writing as a hobby difficult after spending the day writing professionally.
“It can be a grueling process, and it is easy to get discouraged, and that is probably the most difficult thing any writer faces, especially going to the traditional route,” he said.
For 14 years, the completed book sat dormant on a floppy disk as Parker continued his career and started a family with his wife, Angelica Gonzalez-Parker. In 2004, he transitioned to working in the communications office at the University of Albany, and now holds the title of associate director of communications.
What pushed Parker to refocus on getting his book printed wasn’t a black and white reason, but rather “50 Shades of Grey.” His writing is vastly different from author Erika Leonard, known by her pen name E.L. James, but the surprise success she had skirting traditional publishing routes was an inspiration.
Leonard’s was also successful despite mixed critical reviews.
“I thought, well, I don’t want to compare my quality of work to her quality of work, but I thought there must be some kind of market,” Parker said. “I dusted off the disk and I found a computer with a disk drive and I started to dust off a story.”
Parker describes what his book ended up being as “part hero’s journey, part satire and 100 percent absurdist.” The title of the book even prepares readers to expect an absurdist tone: “Flabius Flaximus and the Superstars of Antarctica: An epic tragedy told in four acts, or thirteen chapters (and one director’s cut chapter of absolutely no narrative value, but magnificent fromage).”
There are four story lines in the book that get mashed together at the end “for no reason whatsoever,” Parker said. The main hero of the book is a James Bond-inspired spy, Flabius, and his sidekick, Biffus. The first-person narrative is inspired from the book “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner.
The tone is set before readers even hit the preface with the table of contents, or “Table of Noncontents” (the chapter titles failing to make the cut), and the “Table of Continents.”
Parker self-published the book, and it’s available through the traditional routes on Amazon.com, with the Kindle e-book edition likely costing less than buying a morning coffee.
“Most people that have read it laughed, and that was what my goal was,” he said. “Even if I only sell 20 copies between now and the end of eternity … it is out there now. I can now say that I am an author because I have a book. If it turns out to be successful, that would be wonderful, but the act of publishing can certainly be gratifying in itself.”
He said his goal growing up was to write the great American novel, and he remembers writing his first story in kindergarten. Finding time to write can be difficult, he said, but lately he’s had more time to devote to his hobby.
“There have certainly been periods where life interrupts things, such as getting married and having children,” he said, “but I have been fortunate that recently I have had the opportunity to rediscover my writing and opportunities have been available for me to write.”
He has no doubt this won’t be the final adventure for Flabius because he has plenty of ideas for more but has yet to write them down. For now, he’s happy with the absurd mark he’s left on the literary world.