The Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox - by Nisi Shawl (Paperback)

About the Book

"In beautifully vivid journal entries, Black poet Mardou Fox chronicles her 1950s and 60s experiences with the Beat Generation--and her adventures in the mysterious, otherworldly realm "over the fence." Characters based on star Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac fight alongside Mardou or battle against her as she challenges racism and sexism to win happiness, freedom, and respect for her work. Are the answers she s seeking shrouded in the mists of magic?"--

Book Synopsis

A long forgotten Beat poet brought back to life in utterly fantastical fashion.

In beautifully vivid journal entries, Black poet Mardou Fox chronicles her 1950s and '60s experiences with the Beat Generation--and her adventures in the mysterious, otherworldly realm "over the fence." Characters based on star Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac fight alongside Mardou or battle against her as she challenges racism and sexism to win happiness, freedom, and respect for her work. Are the answers she's seeking shrouded in the mists of magic? Inspired by the true story of Alene Lee, whose crucial role is often left out of Beat Generation lore.

Review Quotes

"A novel full of art and magic; sex, murder and love, The Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox casts a spell on the reader. Nisi Shawl tells the moving tale of a writer's life, rich with insight and meaning, pain and pleasure. A short book, but not a small book."

--Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women

"Step back, Kerouac! I loved this fabulist reckoning with the legacy of the Beats from the perspective of an overlooked member of their circle: a singular black writer who is no one's muse. Shawl's generous gifts bring 'Marlene Todd, ' a.k.a. 'Mardou Fox, ' to complex vibrancy in a brilliant act of literary comeuppance."

--Alaya Dawn Johnson, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Trouble the Saints

"Shawl
(Everfair)
wows in this alternate history of the Beat generation told through
the diaries of an overlooked Black poet.
... This
concise novel packs a powerful punch."

--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Whether she's writing immersive and
imaginative fiction or tracing the history of a genre, Nisi
Shawl's work is never less than compelling. Her new novel The
Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox combines these aspects of her
work, drawing on the life of Beat poet Alene Lee to tell a story of
literary dynamism and otherworldly visitations."

--Reactor Magazine

About the Author

Nisi Shawl's first novel, Everfair, was
a finalist for the 2016 Nebula Award. In 2009 their Aqueduct story
collection Filter House received the Otherwise Award. They have
published three other short fiction collections--Something More and
More (Aqueduct, 2010), A Primer to Nisi Shawl (Dark Moon Books,
2017), and Talk Like a Man (PM Press, 2019). Shawl is, with Cynthia
Ward, the author of Writing the Other: A Practical Approach
(Aqueduct, 2005), and has edited numerous anthologies, including the
World Fantasy Award-winning New Suns: Speculative Fiction by People
of Color (Solaris, 2019), Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism,
African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler with Rebecca Holden
(Aqueduct, 2013), and Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany
with Bill Campbell (Rosarium, 2015).