reading from

Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk

published by Soft Skull Press

Gabe is a teenage Jehovah's Witness convinced God will kill him at Armageddon for masturbating. But Gabe's not alone: there's Peter, who writes swear words in the margins of his papers; Jin, the Korean kid who subsists on Ho Hos and Doritos; and Camille, who follows Gabe around, trying to be his girlfriend. There's also Gabe's mom, who sleeps sixteen hours a day, and his dad, an elder who decides the fate of sinners (like the married couple who confesses to accidentally having anal sex). There's Brother Miller, an elder with a Napoleon complex, who accompanies Gabe from door to door, encouraging him to knock with confidence, and Sister Feeney, who looks forward to the day she can move into a Spanish-style house after its owner dies at the end of the world. Luckily for Gabe, there is Uncle Jeff, who used to tour with Santana and now gives Gabe the only valuable girl advice he ever receives. It's hard when school days are spent dodging questions about your weird religion and weekends mean preaching house to house. Life looks dreary until Gabe falls for Camille's beautiful older sister and begins to see her as the answer to his frustrations.

"An absorbing and poignant exploration of the dilemmas facing a youth growing up within a conservative religious community--where even the mildest sexual thoughts could land you among the post-Armageddon forever-damned. Where there's not even much point to aspiring to a career, since church elders expect the world to end any day now."

--C.D. Payne, author of Youth In Revolt

"Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk is astonishing and hilarious, evoking shades of John Kennedy Toole and C.D. Payne. Tony DuShane's got a sharp, new voice that's sure to be noticed; I have no doubt he'll garner fans fast."

--Katie Crouch, author of Girls in Trucks and Men and Dogs

"Darkly funny and authentically kinky, Tony DuShane's first novel is a surprisingly sweet coming-of-age story told through the eyes of a horny, Jehovah-battered, Watchtower-wielding, door-to-door proselytizer. I may never answer my doorbell again."

--Mark Haskell Smith, author of Moist; Delicious; and Salty.

"I'll never slam the door on a Watchtower hopeful again without thinking of Tony DuShane's hilarious, original coming-of-age novel. Addictive, informative, heartbreaking, and utterly satisfying."

--Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander and Paint It Black

"Tony DuShane's highly original novel lives at the fecund corner of religion and sex. Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk captures the ache of an adolescent heart drunk on a combustible cocktail of Jesus, hormones, and visions of escape. You'll pull for this most sympathetic hero and hope he finds a god of his own."

--Seth Greenland, author of Shining City and The Bones