A dark comedy written in rollicking prose, Hog to Hog deals with excessive development in a relatively pristine Midwestern rural area. The spoils of misadventure go to the top polluters, like Dick Columbus, who makes money for the state’s coffers with his Wheeleroo!, an ATV mega event that runs roughshod over the local nature sanctuary. Columbus wins a seat in the state Senate. Bernie Sapp, the novel’s protagonist, lacks political savvy and power and ends up in one of Columbus’s pet projects, the newly constructed prison. With a culture based on plunder and socio-economic injustice, the ordinary man’s American Dream turns into the American Nightmare.
About the Author
JACK SMITH has published fiction in such literary journals as The Southern Review, The Texas Review, North American Review, X-Connect, Happy, In Posse Review, Southern Ocean Review, and B&A: New Fiction. His reviews have appeared in Missouri Review, Texas Review, Georgia Review, Pleiades, X-Connect, RE:AL, and Environment magazine. He also has written a number of articles for Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market and The Writer and co-authored the nonfiction work Killing Me Softly (Monthly Review Press, 2002). He is founder and co-editor of the Green Hills Literary Lantern, an online journal, published by Truman State University.