by Writing Workshops Staff
A year ago
Congratulations to Workshop Alum Edward Belfar on the publication of his novel, A Very Innocent Man, a darkly comic novel that, as with all good satire, may not be so absurd after all. Published by Flexible Press in 2023, Edward's new book takes a satirical look at contemporary American life through the eyes of a doctor whose greed and desire for fame cause him to fall afoul of the law.
Below is our brief interview where we catch up with Edward:
WW: Can you tell us a bit about your work (influences, interests, etc.) and what you're working on now?
EB: My recent satirical novel, A Very Innocent Man, has been likened to the work of John Kennedy Toole and Chuck Palahniuk. Other writers whom I view as having influenced my fiction include, to name just a few, Mikhail Bulgakov, Evelyn Waugh, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor. I am currently working on revising some older, unpublished short stories.
I have been toying with some ideas for another novel. Ideally, I would like to have a draft close to completion within the next year or so and have it published within five years.
WW: Can you tell us a bit about your class experience with Writing Workshops?
EB: I took Caitlin Kunkel's Comedy Writing for Non-Comedians, and I found the class was engaging and very informative. I learned some techniques that I think can be useful to me in expanding my comedy-writing repertoire.
About A Very Innocent Man
Life's going great for Dr. Robert Rosen. He has a New York City medical practice, his dreams of TV fame as "Dr. Sober-Up" are coming true, and he's making big bucks selling opioid prescriptions for cash. What could go wrong? Quite a lot, as it turns out, for the not-so-good doctor soon finds himself on the wrong side of both the law and the Russian mobsters with whom he has partnered in his illlicit side business. When his house of cards collapses, he tries to reinvent himself as a self-help guru, but his path toward redemption is anything but smooth. In the spirit of John Kennedy Toole and Chuck Palahniuk, a Very Innocent Man is a darkly comic novel that, as with all good satire, may not be so absurd after all.
Edward Belfar’s collection of short stories, Wanderers, was published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press in 2012. One of the stories in the collection was chosen as the winning entry in the Sports Literature Association 2008 fiction competition, while another was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His fiction and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Shenandoah, The Baltimore Review, Potpourri, Confrontation, Natural Bridge, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and Tampa Review. As a reader for The Plentitudes, he reviews both fiction and nonfiction submissions. He earned his BA in history and MA in creative writing at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his PhD in literature at Temple University. He lives with his wife in Maryland, where he works as a writer and editor. He can be reached through his website.
