Author Description

<p><b> Steve Cannon's cult classic novel returns to print</b></p><p>Despite decades of notoriety as one of the "filthiest books in the world," Steve Cannon's first and only piece of longform fiction, <i>Groove, Bang and Jive Around</i>, has hardly been read since first being published in 1969. In the words of American poet Ishmael Reed, Cannon's debut work inspired a generation by breaking with staid literary modernism. Its publication "signaled a resurfacing of the irreverent, underground trickster tradition of Black orature." This erotic farce follows Annette, a teenage runaway, from the outhouse of a New Orleans juke joint to the psychedelic paradise of Oo-bla-dee--an idyllic country possibly founded by Dizzy Gillespie--by way of bacchanalian voodoo ritual. As Ophelia Press, its original publisher, wrote, <i>Groove, Bang and Jive Around</i> is an absolute necessity "for everyone who wants to know where and how the action takes place in Sex and Soul."<br><b>Steve Cannon</b> (1935-2019) moved to New York City in 1962 and joined the Umbra Workshop. He worked with and was a mentor to many artists and writers. In 1990 he founded the magazine and gallery A Gathering of the Tribes in New York City's East Village.</p>