The Last Furies

Description

ISBN: 978-1-997880-05-9 (second edition)

196 p.p.

Genre: Fiction (sub genre; conceptual, theatrical, art history)

Cover art by: Heather Ross

This softcover version contains some recycled materials (reused materials that are diverted from the landfill). Covers have folding flaps. There are patterned end-papers. Each book is numbered. The book also contains vellum pages, a tear-out postcard and coloured pages to differentiate an inner screenplay.

SYNOPSIS: In this lyrical and speculative mosaic novel, enter the fractured worlds of an actress, playwright, and immortal poet, whose legend and influence create an energetic web, equal parts love triangle and haunted house of mirrors. At the bated edge of dream and revelation, spanning New York, Mexico, and a twilight Bardo realm, each of the characters—Viola, Evie and Arturo—undertake metamorphic journeys through the interior hinterlands of the psyche, in their quest for home and spiritual reckoning. Mythology, pop culture, cinema, theater, and sorcery dwell in the multi-chambered heart of the mutable narrative, which includes Joan of Arc, a teenage suicide cult, the Arcana of the Tarot, vaudeville remixes, shamanic alchemy, and a mystical radio whose bandwidth covers all of time, space and history.

About the author: Originally from Brooklyn, NY, John is an award-winning novelist, poet, performer, playwright, and screenwriter. He has lived in the high-desert grunge-wonderland of Taos, New Mexico since 2001. He is the author of four novels; Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale; Raking the Dust; Nocturne Variations; and No Man’s Brooklyn.

He has also authored a collection of stories called Freeze Tag, two poetry collections (Arclight and Moonglow on Mercy Street) and a fable (The Jackdaw and the Doll, illustrated by Izumi Yokoyama). He also adapted classic fables, which were paired with the vintage illustrations of artist, Paul Bransom, for the collection: Once Upon a Time, Classic Fables Reimagined.

His fiction and poetry has appeared in 3:AM magazine, nthposition, the Tishman Review, Paris Lit Up, Kansas City Voices, Yuan Yang, and numerous other publications.

His produced, full-length plays include: LOBSTERS ON ICE, ADAGIO FOR STRAYS, ZEITGEIST, U.S.A., and WEREWOLVES DON’T WALTZ.

The Bride, a chamber film that he wrote and directed, debuted in May of 2024, and was an Official Selection of the Berlin Indie Film Festival and the Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival.

What others are saying: John Biscello’s astonishing work, The Last Furies, is a vaudeville routine wrapped around a radio drama, tucked into a theater piece, bound by a screenplay, drawn into a rich and sprawling novel… – Louis Greenstein, author of The Song of Life and Mr. Boardwalk

What others are saying: The Last Furies invites you on a hallucinogenic trip, where immortal archetypes whirl through shifting masks in a dreamscape that is equally out of time and of our time. But don’t be fooled by the illusion of fragmentation: all is interconnected in this magical, unforgettable, and fearless fusion of experimental mediums—a feat only possible thanks to the storied and wild mind of John Biscello. – Johanna DeBiase, Author of Mama & the Hungry Hole and Gestation