This disturbing, powerful debut novel ushers readers into the nasty, brutish world of adolescent bullies—lords of the schoolyard. Set in 1970s suburbia, the novel explores the troubled friendship between two antisocial teenagers, Tommy and Johnny, who devote themselves entirely to tormenting their teachers and fellow high school students. Told in the first person, from the perspective of Tommy, the narrative generates great emotional and psychological intimacy. Read the review.
06/12/2018
10/18/2017
08/12/2017
Lords of the Schoolyard is available for pre-order
There are very few books written from the point of view of the bullies themselves. Why should we care? Well, Tommy and Johnny, the narrators in "Lords of the Schoolyard," are just kids too, after all, and they are capable of becoming decent adults. What’s more, some of them, perhaps unrepentant, do manage to get into positions of power when they grow up (in fact, we seem to have one in the White House at the moment), so it makes sense to try to understand where they are coming from.
Purchase "Lords of the Schoolyard," from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble or Small Press Distribution.
07/01/2017
04/01/2017
Coming Soon - Lords of the Schoolyard
Lords of the Schoolyard (Sagging Meniscus Press, Sept. 15 2017)
Stark, brutal, at times darkly humorous, and written in a powerfully pared-down style purged of any ostentation, Hamilton’s story is told from the point of view of one such antisocial bully. The effect of identification with a character so blithely inconsiderate of his own cruelty is exquisitely uncomfortable, even shocking, and captures with unforgettable force the anomie and amoralism of the adolescent mind, as well as the fundamental, sorrowful human innocence that lies beneath it. This harrowing immersion into the inner reality of a little boy who chooses victimization over victimhood casts an all-too-timely light on contemporary society in 2017.
Pre-order at Amazon.com
04/01/2015
The Chintz Age:Tales of Love and Loss for a New New York
The Chintz Age, a top 10 Small Press Fiction Bestseller, a LEO Weekly 2015 Must Read Book, and a New York Public Library Recommended Read, can be purchased online from: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and from Small Press Distributors.
The book is also available at Barnes & Noble locations in NYC.
In seven stories and a novella, Ed Hamilton takes on this clash of cultures between the old and the new, as his characters are forced to confront their own obsolescence in the face of this rapidly surging capitalist juggernaut. Ranging over the whole panorama of New York neighborhoods—from the East Village to Hell’s Kitchen, and from the Bowery to Washington Heights—Hamilton weaves a spellbinding web of urban mythology. Punks, hippies, beatniks, squatters, junkies, derelicts, and anarchists—the entire pantheon of urban demigods—gambol through a grungy subterranean Elysium of dive bars, cheap diners, flophouses, and shooting galleries, searching for meaning and a place to make their stand. Click to order!
If you would like to receive a review copy of Chintz Age: Tales of Love and Loss for a New New York (November 2015 Červená Barva Press) drop an email to [email protected]. The author is available for literary events, interviews and to speak to book groups.
Read an excerpt from "A Bowery Romance".
“A Bowery Romance” is taken from the longest story in the book, an 80-page novella entitled “The Retro-Seventies Manhattan Dream Apartment.” It’s a story about the cutthroat competition for living space in New York City, which is why I thought it appropriate to begin with a tour of the lowest rung of rental accommodations, the infamous SROs, or single resident occupancy hotels, of The Bowery, New York’s skid row.
As may be evident from the ending of the excerpt, the story is about to take a somewhat surreal turn. Having failed to consummate their affair in the flophouse, Mike and Brandy are headed uptown, way uptown to Washington Heights, to try their luck in Mike’s sumptuous Rent Stabilized Apartment, a space which occupies a full floor in a large tenement building, and for which Mike—who has lived in the space since childhood, maintaining the retro decor—pays next to nothing in rent. As gradually becomes apparent, Brandy has picked up Mike as part of a scheme to improve her housing conditions: she intends to steal Mike’s apartment.
Watch the trailer