English Department Hosts Reading for Dr. Farkas' Three New Books

     Topeka, Kan. – The Washburn University English Department will host a Reading with Dr. Andrew Farkas at 4 p.m. Sept. 17 in the Carole Chapel, on the Washburn University campus. Farkas, associate professor of creative writing at Washburn University, is celebrating publishing three of his most recent books – “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?,” “The Ancient Mysteries of Las Vegas” and “Movies Are Fine for a Bright Boy Like You.” The Washburn community and public are invited to hear Farkas read excerpts from his books and enjoy some light refreshments.

      Farkas has published four books previously, numerous short stories and essays and is an editor for the journal “Always Crashing.” He has been sharing his enjoyment of writing with Washburn University students since 2017.

       “I have always looked for writing communities because, in the end, writing itself is a solitary activity,” said Farkas. “I therefore see writing and teaching interacting through my enthusiasm for the artform, sure, but also through the creation of a classroom community that students can look forward to when they've completed the work they're doing by themselves.”

About the Books

        “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?: Stories” is published by Alternating Current Press. It has been said of Farkas’ stories that they “eff the ineffable.” In “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?,” Farkas continues effing away by plumbing the depths of identity, questioning how we define the self, and yanking the rug out from under our comfort zones. Whether through an existentially terrifying brochure for a paradise island vacation, an insurance salesman who refuses to believe he’s actually Napoleon, a dead man who finds death superior to life or an overcrowded bar that possibly signifies the end of the world, Farkas investigates in these stories that elusive idea of who we think we are. Follow a detective seeking someone confoundingly indescribable, a salvager befriending sentient warehouses, a motorist proving that you should never ask for directions and the first person (or maybe three) circumnavigate the globe in Farkas’ whirlwind of witticisms, bewildering entropy and stifling indecision. Yeah, sure, the Oracle of Delphi may’ve said, “Know Thyself.” But in “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?: Stories,” Farkas counters with: “Nice maxim. Now how’s about you show us how.” Anyone interested can purchase “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been” here.

        “The Ancient Mysteries of Las Vegas” is a play published by KERNPUNKT Press. Throughout the course of “The Ancient Mysteries of Las Vegas,” Farkas asks the reader to question whether the events of each act happened in some form at some time to the protagonists, Arty and Auggie, or if those events were dreams of a sort, or, by the third act, if those events are being used by Arty to cover up some deeply private shame and regret. After all, in the first act, Arty and Auggie, two twentysomethings who appear to be trapped in an apartment, imagine a surreal road trip to Las Vegas. But are they dreaming, or are they actually on their way? In the second act, Arty and Auggie, two forty-something gangsters on the lam in Las Vegas, hide out in a hotel room where they interact with an animatronic boss who keeps promising to bring them a job. Fueled by paranoia thanks to the television, Auggie isn’t even certain when they became gangsters, or how. Instead, Auggie thinks there's some kind of setup going on. Arty's not so sure. In the third act, Arty is a very old man, likely in an assisted living facility in Nevada, who thinks he’s in a play. Arty, somehow in his twenties again, is in the audience of the play. Except how could he be in the audience when we learn that he probably died when he and Arty went in search of a legendary place that does not exist (like Atlantis) called Las Vegas? Dealing with memory, fantasy, conspiracist thinking, and friendship, Andrew Farkas' debut play shows that what happens in Vegas may not stay in Vegas. And what happens when all that surreality bleeds out? “The Ancient Mysteries of Las Vegas” is available to purchase here.

         “Movies Are Fine for a Bright Boy Like You: Fictions,” is published by Whisk(e)y Tit. In the short fiction collection “Movies Are Fine for a Bright Boy Like You,” Farkas explores the unseen lives of stock characters, - security guards in “Watching the Night” and the two guys who carry a pane of glass across the street during chase sequences in “Mythos of the Glaziers” - examines cinematic conventions, - absurd swashbuckling set pieces in “Conditional Vengeance” and the fact that pictures taking place in other countries are full of characters who speak English with bad accents in “[Foreign] Accents” - deconstructs film genres, - the thriller in “A Suitcase of Money Out on the Edge of Town” and creature features in “Our Inner Kaiju” - while, along the way, lovingly making fun of almost everything having to do with movies - extras in “A Real Nobody” and purposefully schlocky B-grade horror films in “Continuity.” So, grab some snacks and get ready to yuck it up with the rest of the peanut gallery as Farkas celebrates the joyfully, wondrously synthetic history of the movies. “Movies Are Fine for a Bright Boy Like You: Fictions” can be found for purchase here.

         Farkas shared what inspired his new books, “’Movies Are Fine for a Bright Boy Like You’ comes from the fact that I'm a cinephile who simultaneously loves films and also from the fact that I have no problem making fun of things I love. “Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been?,” being stories about identity, comes from the fact that I'm extremely interested in how we define ourselves and how those definitions more often than not come from fictional sources. “The Ancient Mysteries of Las Vegas” is influenced by our conspiracy theory culture that constantly posits a secret explanation for everything, even though I am highly skeptical that such an explanation is even possible.

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