42

M. Thomas Cooper

Set in Portland, Oregon, 42 follows George Olson as his life is thrown into chaos and his mind into a possible state of psychosis. When accusations of murder lead George to examine the forces at work in his life, he becomes lost amid paranoia, coincidences, and a strange reality. In a plot that quickly escalates from a mundane existence to accusations of arson and murder, George's very life depends on him making sense of the answers that are hidden everywhere. Can a number really lead him to the truth, or is it all in George's mind?

Looking down at Portland, Oregon, from his office in the Black Box building, George tries to make sense of a string of disappearances, strange disasters, and the recurrence of the number forty–two. In a plot that escalates from a mundane existence to arson and murder, George's very existence depends on him making sense of the answers that are hidden everywhere.

For more information: ooligan.42@pdx.edu

ISBN: 978-1-932010-24-4
6" x 9", softcover
352 pages
$16.95

About the Author

M. Thomas Cooper

M. Thomas Cooper was raised in Portland, Oregon, and is inspired by local authors and culture. He has written for several Pacific Northwest publications. He prefers to bicycle and hasn't owned a car in years because he finds that being outside opens him up to more experiences, “especially,” he says, “if you are quiet and pay attention.” Reading the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Haruki Murakami, Aldous Huxley, and Cees Nooteboom, Cooper finds the inspiration that guides him today.

A prolific playwright, Cooper has presented his plays at the Ashland 10–Minute Play Festival, Theatre in the Grove, and Portland State University. In 2004, his play Godot was adapted to film and produced by Greg Kerr Productions, a Portland Film Company. In 2005, his play Rising was a finalist for a Seattle company's Northwest Playwright Award. Recently, Cooper's play Tongue, Tied was accepted into the Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the oldest and most prestigious new play festivals in the country. Cooper has also been actively involved in Wordstock, Portland's preeminent literary festival, since its inception. 42 is his first novel.

Praise

[T]his unvonventional thriller reads more like Kobo Abe or even Thomas Pynchon…The book is a meandering, infuriating, and ultimately wonderful journey that lands its main character—as well as its readers—on strange shores of mind and spirit, all shaped from iterations of the mysterious number forty-two. Highly recommended for adventurous readers willing to expand the boundaries of genre fiction.
— Elliot Swanson, Booklist

Video

Author M Thomas Cooper speaks about the process of writing his novel, 42, and seeing it through to publication with Ooligan Press.