PAUL A. TOTH

Paul A. Toth lived in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Denver before returning to his home state of Michigan a decade ago.  He has published nearly 150 stories and three novels, Fizz (Bleak House Books, 2003) and Fishnet (Bleak House Books, 2005) and Finale (Raw Dog Screaming, 2009). All three novels have been translated into Russian and published by Centrepolygraph Books. 

Toth's short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best American Mystery Stories. He received honorable mention in the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror 17th Annual Collection, edited by Ellen Datlow.

Toth also works in multimedia with credits including Drunken Boat and Iowa Review Online. His weekly podcast, TothWorld, receives thousands of downloads.

Toth describes his writing as “a hybrid of literary and popular traditions, disregarding genre distinctions to portray characters whose inner lives collide with the external world.”  He agrees with Tom Jackson’s description of his work as being “just like a cubist painting.”

FINALE

When Jonathan Thomas receives a threatening letter apparently sent by an ex-girlfriend, he pursues the sender but finds himself unraveling another mystery he would have better left unsolved. Finale  tells the story of this wanderer's journey to a faultline deep within himself. 

The chapter numbering descends from eight to zero as Jonathan travels from his most recent lover to last, finally reaching zero when he leaps into the fissure that divides himself.  Between lovers, internal "earthquake" chapters rise in potency from 1.0 to 8.0.  These brief, surreal sections become more hallucinatory as Jonathan steps closer to the faultline.

The lovers include: Mary Whitcomb, a Zelda Fitzgerald double now selling endangered turtle eggs; Azal, who forces Jonathan to visit her father's grave wearing the dead man's clothes; Kerrie, ex-speedfreak and comic book junky; Marnie, a future soccer mom whose seductive and very white mother has deemed herself an honorary African; Chartrise, a psychic waiting with bad tidings; Caitlin, on the way to nunhood; and Holly, who invites Jonathan and the other lovers to his "funeral."

Will the funeral startle Jonathan out of self-deception, or lead to knowledge he never should have gained?

Rights available: English ex. North America (Raw Dog Screaming, publication 2009). World translation rights ex. Russia (Centrepolygraph)

PRAISE FOR PAUL A. TOTH'S BOOKS

FIZZ

"A passionately original voyage through the complex labyrinth of the human mind, Fizz is a tale readers will not soon forget, nor should they, because in the sea of cookie cutter fiction out there, where empty hype often outweighs talent, Paul A. Toth is the real deal, and Fizz is a ride no one should miss." - Greg F. Gifune, author of Heretics, Night Work & more

“Toth is a unique, startling new voice in American literature. Part Bukowski, part Hemingway, part Freud, and, well, part Toth, every sentence in Fizz is packed with a fantastic punch. Certainly, Paul A. Toth is a talent to watch.” - Felicia C. Sullivan, Editor, Small Spiral Notebook

FISHNET

“A marvelous, funny, skewed and wise ride of a read.” - Robert Gray, Writer & Bookseller, Publishers Marketplace

“Toth is a smart writer with a natural gift for dialogue and creative introspection. Fishnet will make you smile, laugh, feel and think. Ultimately it will leave you hopeful.” - Charlie Stella, author of Cheapskates and many more

“In a novel of magic and heartache, Toth creates characters you feel, a story you see and a world you believe. Tragic and redemptive, this is a tale of love in all its beautiful ugliness and of the  people who worship at its altar. I highly recommend this fantastic read with characters that really speak to you.” - Chris Ringler, Flint Journal

"It's astounding how much pathos Toth packs into this strange, short novel...Toth slips in devastating sentences, the kind you hope to never hear about your own relationship." - TimeOut-Chicago

"An imaginative and stirring book! Paul A. Toth's Fishnet is like stepping into a Salvador Dali painting, a world where its inhabitants slip into other realities to escape the painful or treadmill-like existences their lives have become. Sheila and Maurice Melnick know they've both grown numb in their marriage and that they cannot save each other, yet they will not walk away. Toth takes us deep into these characters' broken, vulnerable hearts to discover what still lives within and between them." - Susan Henderson, Managing Editor, Night Train

“This book should be read with a deliciously slow savor as the words and images invoked by Paul A. Toth set back the hands of time to a time more experimental when experimental was not a bad word. Really, he’s that good.” - C.B Smith, Mad Hatters Review

FINALE

"A whipsmart coming-of-age story that comes a bit too late for our hero, Finale is both satirical and sincere; psychologically astute and certifiably insane. Paul Toth puts on the page the kind of story the Coen Brothers put on film. Someone get them a copy." - Jonathan Messinger, Time-Out Chicago

"Simply put, if someone had to give Finale a one-word review that begins with the letter “F”, many would probably say “Formidable” because it seems numerous writers will attempt to compose a great American novel and never produce anything with as much artistic astonishment as Toth has done with Finale."  - Tony R. Rodriguez, East Bay Literary Examiner

"Paul A. Toth’s novel Finale concludes in a surrealist declension, in the sense of both the grammar and plot, which collides with all the fractal possibility and random order of a Jackson Pollock painting....Dramatic? Yes. Entertaining? In its entirety."  -  Cynthia Reeser, Prick of the Spindle

"With Finale, Paul Toth has written a poetic, humorous, moving and elegiac novel about the feral intricacies of relationships and the search for a sustainable identity. He is a veteran storyteller and stylist and it shows."
- D. Harlan Wilson, author of Blankety-Blank

"Finale is a shaman's mix, both a metaphor and a road novel, and a truly funny book as only existential angst can be funny. Call Finale a Quixote for the new millennium, and strap in for the ride." - Rusty Barnes, Editor, Night Train Magazine

"Imagine a Coen Brothers movie with its black humor, irreverent dialogue, and unromantic view of love. And now cast Nicholas Cage as its deadpan narrator with a razor wit, aimed most especially at himself. Send that character on a search back in time, through his failed relationships, and you have Paul A. Toth's illuminating Finale." - Susan Henderson, author of The Ruby Cup