June 22, 2009

Clancy Martin Comes to Austin

Share: posted by Josh Haney at 12:12 PM

Author Clancy Martin, who spent much of his youth in Texas and studied at UT Austin and Baylor, will present his well-received semi-autobiographical novel, How to Sell, Wednesday, June 24, at Austin's BookPeople. The story follows 16-year-old truant Bobby Clark as he leaves his Canadian homestead to work at the Fort Worth Deluxe Diamond Exchange with his unapologetically amoral brother, Jim. Under Jim's tutelage, Bobby predictably begins indulging his brother's vices, including hawking stolen Rolexes and knock-off jewelry. 

Martin now teaches philosophy (with a few of his courses focusing on ethics, ironically enough) at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and is currently working on a memoir, a second novel, and a new translation of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. While it would seem that Martin has dropped the criminal habits fictionalized in his novel, we strongly recommend that attendees concern themselves only with his literary — not lapidary — wares. 

Look for Thomas Korosec's review of How to Sell in our Summer Books issue, which hits the stands and the Web July 10.

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