Beloved humorist Jack Handey (SNL’s Deep Thoughts, The New Yorker), has written his first novel. Entitled The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure, the lean 240-page book is set for release on July 16th. Here’s the official summary:
Are you a fan of books in which famous tourist destinations are repurposed as unlivable hellholes for no particular reason? Read on! Jack Handey’s first novel is an exotic tale with laugh-out-loud twists and unforgettable characters. A reliably unreliable narrator and his friend, some guy named Don, need to get out of town. They have a taste for adventure, so they pay visit to a relic of bygone days-a travel agent-and discover an old treasure map. She might have been a witch, by the way. Our heroes soon embark on a quest for the Golden Monkey, which takes them into the mysterious and stinky foreign land of Honolulu. There, they meet untold dangers, confront strange natives, kill and eat Turtle People, kill some other things and people, eat another thing, and discover the ruins of ancient civilizations. As our narrator says, “The ruins were impressive. But like so many civilizations, they forgot the rule that might have saved them: Don’t let vines grow all over you.â€
Handey was one of SNL’s most prominent writers during his 1985-1993 stint on the show. He briefly returned for the 1995-96 and 2001-02 seasons, and since then, he’s been developing movie projects and regularly contributing to The New Yorker’s Shouts & Murmurs column. While The Stench of Honolulu is his first novel, he’s previously released collections of his “Deep Thoughts†segments from SNL, and he put out a book of comic essays, What I’d Say to the Martians: And Other Veiled Threats, in 2008. A novel from Handey is definitely something to look forward to as he’s one of the funniest writers ever. (via)