Paradise Squandered: Official Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Alex Stefansson

(425) 218-9269

alexstefansson@hotmail.com

BLOG: alexstefansson.blogspot.com

Sex, drugs and existential angst

Paradise Squandered, the ambitious debut novel of writer Alex Stefansson, is a raw, powerful portrait of a disaffected generation in an empty, consumer-culture world.

Tacoma, WA – Alex Stefansson grew up angry and cynical in the suburbs of Seattle. Now he taps that experience in his insightful and compelling debut novel about a cynical teenager's naive artistic aspirations, and his pining love for a girl he is too afraid to actually talk to.

Paradise Squandered is a story of what it is like to aimlessly trudge along that strange and uncharted course that is life after high school. Andrew Banks returns home from a long-promised graduation trip to Hawaii and re-enters a bland, suburban landscape of privilege and indifference.

Talented but uninspired, Andrew knows he wants to pursue his art, but he has no idea how. He resigns himself to going through the motions of his own life, until the night he overhears the disturbing truth of his father's death. He instantly decides he has to leave his childhood home forever, and a darkly hilarious odyssey ensues.

Andrew moves to a new city with his best friend, David, who is going to college in the fall and has big plans for his future. Andrew's plans are far less academic. He meets Steven, a highly ambitious artist with questionable motives, and a mysterious and alluring young woman who keeps him coming back to the same coffee shop, day after day. Andrew eventually discovers that some things are actually worth pursuing.

Reviewer Jon Perkins says:
"Stefansson has written a literary masterpiece, this generation's Catcher in the Rye. He has a unique ability to capture the feelings of angst that many young people experience while transitioning to adulthood. The imagery is superb, the characters are real."

Paradise Squandered will appeal to fans of classic American literature as well as readers of modern American novelists such as Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore.

About the author

Alex Stefansson's writing is often influenced by sleep deprivation and too much caffeine. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Tacoma.

Paradise Squandered: A Novel

By Alex Stefansson

On Sale Now * 146 pages (print version) * $9.99 paperback * $4.99 ebook

For more information about Paradise Squandered, or to arrange a book signing or interview, contact Alex Stefansson at (425) 218-9269.

Paradise Squandered is now available on SmashWords.com, Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and CreateSpace.com.

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Butter

I love butter.

Perhaps this is part of the reason I currently weigh twenty-five pounds more than I did when I was eighteen. Maybe. I don't know.

It's not like I've gotten fat, though. I've just dramatically increased in mass. And, well, yeah, I guess some of that additional mass has come in the form of fat.

When I was eighteen, I used to exercise all the time—and this exercise had nothing to do with my health, either. My diet was fairly horrible. But it didn't matter, I still had almost no body fat. For some reason I can't explain, I just always felt compelled to spend my free time snowboarding, or mountain biking, or climbing up stuff, just to see if I could. I took up hang gliding the summer after I graduated from high school. I learned how to surf.

I used to go snowboarding three or four times a week in the winter. I had a season pass to Steven's Pass. I would ride down anything. I dreamed of going pro, of getting sponsored and getting free gear.

I was so sure of myself, of my abilities. I didn't waste time questioning my decisions, or worry that maybe I was wasting my time and energy on frivolous activities. Riding a snowboard off a cliff seemed to have some intrinsic value. And what I was doing at the time always seemed to be the most important thing in the entire world, and nothing could stop me. I was driven. I was focused. I was invincible.

I recently started biking again, and yes, it's mainly for the exercise. I used to go jogging for exercise, but these days my knees hurt pretty bad after running very far on pavement. Every time I go on a long ride, I find myself thinking back to my earlier years, when my joints didn't ever ache, and I never wondered about how many calories I was burning. I find myself pondering just how much my world view has changed over the past decade. I find myself grinning at just how misguided and naive I used to be. And then my thoughts inevitably snap back to just how much my ass hurts—I hate bike seats.

This year, I want to make it up to Steven's Pass one time. This year, I will forego the terrain park, though. Instead, I think I'll concentrate on butter. Mmmm. Butter.

A couple things

Happy New Year everybody!

I've been thinking about a lot of things today. And yeah, I know, everyone's a little more thoughtful and introspective than they usually are on New Years Day. That's not what I'm getting at, though--I woke up this morning without a hangover (weird) and was able to quickly get past all those pesky, optimistic thoughts of self-improvement. :)

I have no resolutions this year.

That isn't to say I have no goals for this year--quite the opposite is true. I think 2013 is going to be the greatest year of my life. Really.

I woke up this morning with a strange feeling of calmness. It was off putting, and for a few minutes I just stayed very still in my bed and stared up at the ceiling thinking about why that might be. Then I tried thinking about all those irrelevant, nagging issues that so frequently seem to find their way into the forefront of my consciousness. I even started thinking about philosophical issues, all those inane epistemological issues I devoted so much time and energy to studying in college--the ones that still drive me crazy no matter how hard I try to convince myself that they are pointless to think about--and I still wasn't even the slightest bit angry.

I even tried thinking about the ongoing philosophical debate over the distinction between stuff and things--this issue always makes me angry; it's so stupid, and yet so complicated.

After that failed to raise my blood pressure, I was pretty sure I had died in my sleep. I checked my pulse, then went into the bathroom to see if I still had a reflection.

So anyway, I guess 2013 is off to a good start.

Trippin'

I was just inspired by a Facebook post to learn about flavor tripping. ... Weird.

According to the aforementioned blog: "Flavor Tripping is a ruthlessly-badass bastion of good taste." ... Indeed.

This NY Times article explains it a little more coherently: A Tiny Fruit That Tricks The Tongue.

Anyone Can Play Guitar

I've been playing the guitar quite a bit the past couple weeks. My callouses are coming back! :)

For a long time now (jeez, it's been about a decade) I've gone through phases of playing a lot for a few weeks or a few months at a time, and then setting my guitar aside and ignoring it until some sort of inspiration inevitably strikes, and I start playing again.

I happened upon a really good blog post on the blog of Tim Ferriss this morning, and it reminded me just how important it was for me to find practice material that I actually enjoyed playing in order to really learn how to play the guitar. For me, that was key. Focusing too much on music theory and compositions I didn't like playing took the fun out of playing the saxophone for me while I was in high school. I've tried to learn from past musical experiences when learning the guitar.

Anyway, Tim's blog has a really good post about learning to play the guitar: How to Finally Play the Guitar: 80/20 Guitar and Minimalist Music. The fret climb exercise he recommends is one of the same exercises recommended to me by a guitar teacher I had for a guitar class at a community college. I remember it really helped me learn to move my fretting hand around the fret board more accurately.

As Tim's post mentions, it's really amazing just how simple most pop songs are. Three or Four chords are all you really need to know to strum along with a lot of popular music.

Speaking of music, there's a song that I can't get out of my head. I heard it on KEXP for the first time a couple months ago. Then I heard it at the bowling alley last week. Now it seems to be for some reason deeply embedded in my brain. It's a catchy tune. And the video is hilarious:

Paperback writer

Paradise Squandered is now available as a paperback. You can purchase it by clicking here. You will be able to find it on Amazon.com as a paperback, and as a Kindle version, by the end of the week.

Thank you everyone for all of your support!

Published

Paradise Squandered, by debut novel, has been published by SmashWords! Check it out, and help support my writing so I can quit my day job! :)

Paradise Squandered can by purchased at Smashwords.com