Written By: N. Frank Daniels
Publisher: Lulu.com
According to its author and his fans, Futureproof is a revolution in book form. N. Frank Daniels’ self-published novel first appeared on his blog—its website now proclaims that it was too “raw and uncut” for the publishing world—and asks readers to help the author “take this shit to the next level.”
Hype aside, Futureproof fits squarely in the addiction-and-redemption sub-genre. This story is set in the South in the early ’90s when Cobain was king and heroin was the drug of choice. We meet protagonist Luke as a fumbling adolescent, first dipping into pot and sex. His subsequent descent into serious self-destruction is unsurprising, but still harrowing.
Luke has dysfunctional relationships with his friends, his girlfriends and his friends’ girlfriends. He reconciles, breaks off and reconciles again with his family. He uses racial slurs and steals from his dealers when he’s short on cash and dignity.
At last, he decides to redeem himself, presumably to tell (or write) his tale, leaving the reader very relieved.
Luke’s story is often gripping, with some starkly original moments, including a bad mushroom trip on a Civil War movie set. But the endlessly repetitive vignettes of nihilistic partying leave us pining for more insight into Luke’s inner life, as drug-addled as it was. Daniels’ self-declared war on “Big Publishing” has a roguish charm, but a vigorous edit from the literary establishment that he so loathes might have served the story, and his compelling voice, better.
