Waste Meat and Nonsense Songs
James Norton
Nadir Press

"Waste Meat and Nonsense Songs" is a new sort of literary animal. Every generation has had its brilliant, unharnessed creators, running wild over the established order, and it's safe to say this generation's daring fallen angels of creativity will be almost exclusively cyber-writers like author James Norton.

At 24, Norton has done what many would say is impossible: he has written two wildly popular and artistically-praised books that have remained largely undiscovered by the lazy, decaying, enfranchised literary criticism establishment. His most recent novel, the enchanting "Waste Meat and Nonsense Songs," comes directly on the heels of his first, wildly successful effort, "Undergrads".

Excerpt "I think that if I were the spiritual manifestation of Christ on Earth, I would get very tired of being invoked..." More ›

Norton's work is a spellbinding tour through a world on the edge of a millenial collapse. Though he is a relatively new author, the book is refreshingly clear of many of the hallmarks of inexperience. His characters are rich and full, and not at all just cardboard-cutouts with little bits of his own personality attached. Similarly, the plot is brilliantly tangled, not confusing, and the funny bits are legitimately amusing and not "pathetic jests made by an author desperately searching for a way out of his own garbled writing style," as some deranged reviewers may have inaccurately suggested.

What might be most impressive about Norton's work is its focus. While many might deride the work as "short," it is clear that Norton's plan was, all along, to make a work that would quickly overwhelm the reader, slaying them with the force of his single, dominant theme. This theme, subtly camoflauged by a jungle of scintillating description and crystal-clear dialogue, is clearly very important to the work, even if it isn't immediately obvious to some readers.

It feels only slightly awkward to proclaim the obvious: James Norton is a young man who has far exceeded any expectations for an artist of his generation. The searing poetry of "Waste Meat and Nonsense Songs" is, undoubtedly, just a prelude of things to come from this bright new author. Not since "Ulysses" has there been a book that we all have as much of a moral duty to read.

Disclosure: The writer is also the author.