POLLY!--a boy-meets-girl fantasy satire

[sgoldin]

On one level, my book Polly! is a simple boy-meets-girl story--except the girl is a lot more than she appears to be (aren't they all?) and the boy gets a lot more than he bargained for.

But on another level it's a fantasy journey of discovery. What will you discover? Well, among other things: why snowmen can't dance; the Three Laws of Thermodynamics; a previously unknown Marx Brothers movie; and the secret of the universe. Oh, and the recipe for the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Here's a blurb I'm very proud to have received:

All hands on Decalogue! A protagonist readers will find it easy to identify and empathize with, a classic journey story told with wit, wisdom and deceptive ease, and the most interesting guest star ever--what's not to like, here? Perhaps writers who attempt a book like Polly! wanna crack or two across the face for their audacity (to parrot conventional wisdom)--but not if they can manage to pull it off this entertainingly.

--Spider Robinson, co-author of Variable Star by Robert A. Heinlein and Spider Robinson

I hope you'll find it enjoyable. Keep reading,

Stephen Goldin

[sgoldin]

I’m excited and proud to announce the reissue of my recently expanded satirical novel, Polly! In one sense, it’s a simple boy-meets-girl story—except, of course, it isn’t.

Herodotus Shapiro has had an unbelievably bad week. His wife left him. The IRS is after him for thousands of dollars. His home/bookstore burned down. On his way to take refuge at his brother's place, he got a speeding ticket. And now his car has broken down in the middle of the desert in front of a large mansion. What more can go wrong?

But now his world takes a turn for the weird. The mansion has a snowman on the front lawn--in the desert, in July. The house, which is bigger on the inside than on the outside, is owned by Polly, the most preternaturally beautiful young woman he's ever met. Polly is an acrobat, a gourmet chef, a psychologist, an international financial consultant, a physicist and a woman of who-knows how many other incredible talents. She has an unbelievable library, an art collection of all the world's great masterpieces, and a print of a previously unknown Marx Brothers film. Her toilet paper is actually silk.

And she seems to have some mysterious plans for him....

One GoodReds reviewer called the book “blasphemous ... highly offensive.” Several others gave it 5-star ratings. Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Spider Robinson said this:

All hands on Decalogue! A protagonist readers will find it easy to identify and empathize with, a classic journey story told with wit, wisdom and deceptive ease, and the most interesting guest star ever--what's not to like, here? Perhaps writers who attempt a book like Polly! wanna crack or two across the face for their audacity (to parrot conventional wisdom)--but not if they can manage to pull it off this entertainingly.

So ... ya pays yer money and ya takes yer choice.

The book is available in both paperback and multiple ebook formats. There’s a special holiday weekend deal on the ebook version. Buy the book from the Smashwords page and enter coupon code AV74C (not case-sensitive) and you’ll get it at half price. But hurry; the coupon expires Sunday, Dec. 26. Whichever edition you prefer, I hope you’ll give the book a try.

Happy holidays, and pleasant reading!

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[sgoldin]

The blog Great Books Under $5 has just given my novel Polly! a wonderful review. I'm particularly flattered by the final paragraph:

Polly is the kind of book aspiring writers should read just to study the craft. Goldin’s writing is fastidious. And he seemingly has the gift (Would that be a theological term?) of calling on everything he knows from the silly to the profound to create a story that starts out being entertaining and winds up being interesting, even thought-provoking.

Isn't it time you made Polly's acquaintance?

[sgoldin]

Polly! has scored another great review, this time from the Flying with Red Haircrow blog. All this praise is starting to go to my head.

[sgoldin]

Polly! just got a great review from Frida Fantastic, who says, "Polly! is a quirky contemporary fantasy with a hopeful message... The story is comparable to the Frank Capra film It’s a Wonderful Life, but it speaks to non-religious skeptics and has a weirdness that makes it more interesting." See the complete review here.

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[sgoldin]

While the print-on-demand edition retains the same blue cover, the ebook edition of Polly! has a sexy new cover. Still the same, delightful Polly inside!

[sgoldin]

Although the story takes place in July, Polly! offers a strange and wonderful message of hope for the holidays.

[sgoldin]

"Things are only hopeless when you lose all hope."--Polly

[sgoldin]

"Cats are living proof God was only joking when he said you should have no other gods before him."--Polly

[sgoldin]

"The contract [for life] ain't got 'sense' in it anywhere. Or 'fair,' for that matter. Not even in the fine print. I read it all."--Polly

[sgoldin]

"This is where I impart to you the great secret of the universe. All the wisdom of the ancients boiled down to a single word: balance. Stay in balance and the world's your oyster. Assuming you like oysters, that is, otherwise the whole metaphor's worthless."--Polly

[sgoldin]

Entropy is the constant tendency of the universe to run down, as expressed by the Three Laws of Thermodynamics. I could bore you with the fancy equations, but in layman's terms the First Law is, "You can't get something for nothing." The Second Law is, "It's gonna get worse before it gets better." And the Third Law is, "Who says it's gonna get better?"--Polly

[sgoldin]

"Think of all the horrible things that are blamed on God--wars, famines, diseases, tsunamis. Lawyers have a particularly dim view of him. If something unforeseen happens that's bad, it's an 'act of God.' But do they ever give him credit for anything good?"--Polly

[jhempel24]

I really can't wait to get into this book.

[sgoldin]

Thanks, Joe. I hope you won't be disappointed, and that you'll enjoy Polly at least as much as you did Jade Darcy in [promotion edited out - MODERATOR] your recent review in Top of the Heap.