Room IV · The Abdication
Lord Atlas
A romp through the American zeitgeist.
Read the openingChapter 1 · Do You Trust Me, Suzy?
Lord Atlas is a romp through the American zeitgeist: billionaires on superyachts, libertarian religion, militia men playing soldier, prison inmates playing football for charity, a former Navy SEAL who picks up Leviathan expecting whales, a scientist who longs to see the Green Flash, a yellow Lab named Diego, and a satirist’s daughter who discovers that the joke she wrote thirty years ago has somehow become the national nightmare.
Think Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving, and Tom Robbins meeting the contemporary American satire of Dennard Dayle—a joyride through American absurdity that ends in tragedy, where money becomes theology, politics becomes theater, and everybody seems to have forgotten the difference between freedom and getting whatever the hell you want.
The people in Lord Atlas are relentlessly themselves: Carson with his dry patience, books, a dog, and contempt for bullshit; Suzanne with her appetite for provocation; Garrick with the magnificent self-seriousness of a man who mistakes satire for scripture.
For readers who want to go further
Inside the Novel
These pieces explore the characters, the story, and its ending. Each opens with a spoiler notice and a choice to continue.
About Lord Atlas
The story, its people, and its consequences.
Let Readers Argue
Carson, Suzanne, Garrick, and Laura—and the arguments they leave with readers.
Move Over. I’ll Drive.
Carson and Laura, responsibility, and the decision to act.
The Ten Consequences of Lord Atlas
From Suzanne’s birthday gift to the final temptation.
“She Had Everything She Desired and Nothing She Ever Hoped For”
Suzanne’s bargain and the temptation that survives Garrick.