Primaland

Primaland is a metaphysical vaudeville freak show; part absurd comedy, part political espionage thriller, part mythological fable,and part beat philosophy fever-dream, set in a place that all of us know exists, but few have seldom seen.We begin with a mysterious traveler referred to only as The Stranger, who takes to the road in search of a mythical place called Primaland but instead becomes the unwitting savior of a character who ?resembles Bob Dylan after a fortnight of amphetamines,? and is thus shanghaiedinto a series of events that are never within his control: standing in as an ?assassination dummy? for a ?high-rankinggovernment official? by the name of Malick; robbing a bankwith a family of redneck criminals (aptly named The Crooks); murder; and spying, in a clandestine operation to overthrow the government. Along the way, The Stranger mixes paths with a variety of gleefully mad, sometimes despicable, but alwayscolorful characters, among them: Keller, the Chief of Police (who moonlights--forgive the pun--as a werewolf); Malabar, a P.T. Barnum-esque showman who operates a menagerieof mythological figures in a remote mansion known as the Festival of Others; The Sponge, whose touch can instill one with visions they might wish they had never had; and, last but not least, the physical embodiment of chance, itself?Mr. Kint.Primaland is a place you will want to travel through, as well, if it's something new and invigorating that you're seeking to find. Only one piece of advice: the revelations are not only to be found at story's end, but all along the road itself.Daniel R. Nelson is the author of 'Primaland', published 2003 under ISBN 9780974169200 and ISBN 097416920X.