In Donald Lipscomb’s fantastically daring first novel, a young, hip, aspiring writer, also named Donald Lipscomb, infiltrates the world of the “straights” by doing the “day job thing” just long enough to gather material for his audacious novel. He plans to eventually expose the business world as the “homogenized, materialistic, conformist lie that it really is”. His login password, reminding him of his mission each day, is “mutilatethenorm”. Along the way, he learns a great deal about corporate operations and office politics, even managing to teach the “square” office a thing or two about poetry and “seizing the moment”.
The plot thickens, however, when he witnesses a murder while staying late in the office typing his draft. He ponders over whether to blow his cover as an Art Kid and tell the police … or go along with the “corporate bullshit” cover-up and get even deeper into this straight world. He eventually does the right thing and notifies the authorities but he pays the price for honesty when the Word document containing the draft of his pending work is subsequently discovered. He not only loses his job and recent promotion, he also loses two years worth of irreplaceable imagination when this document is destroyed. In a heart warming final scene, as Lipscomb is walking out the company lobby, a “square” manager who initially couldn’t “get” what the main character was all about, puts his arm around Lipscomb and says, “The ball was indeed in your court … and whether this company knows it or not … you scored a big one, son.” His novel and plans for fame ruined, Lipscomb nevertheless leaves wondering who taught who during his tenure in the straight world.
A GLOWING REVIEW FROM THE BALTIMORE SUN:
Lipscomb’s novel is astute and formidable, especially considering it’s his first published work. The wit is wry and sophisticated; the office sex scenes are tender and tastefully rendered. Even more impressively, Into this Straight World’s language lifts and transcends; his prose has the power to inspire and elevate us further into the Cosmos. His use of analogy and observation simply soars; his alliteration does dazzling back flips on the page right before your eyes. Over all, his work left me on the edge of my seat … begging for more.
Into this Straight World should be required reading … a truly brilliant work of art, a firm, steadfast ship of creativity sailing amidst the sea of dried up vomit that passes for literature in early Twenty-first Century American culture.