The inherent danger with a politically grounded novel is the potential to read the book as an author’s manifesto. There is a desire for the reader to take a Rhetorical Critic’s stance on the text and interpret every politically-backed statement as the author’s personal belief. And with this danger comes the potential to polarize audiences. Joey Goebel’s third novel, Commonwealth, is weighed by this dynamic, however he has the storytelling chops to move beyond treatise territory and deliver a great story, helped, not hindered, by the political setting.
Commonwealth follows the …

The great Kentucky author Joey Goebel wrote The Anomalies and the widely acclaimed Torture the Artist. He also is getting his career off the ground now in Europe, especially in the German-speaking countries*; hell! He even has planned two appearances in the lands where I hail from this fall… so, reason enough to ask a question or two to Mr. Goebel (by e-mail).

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ML: Joey, I know it’s been a while, but do you remember anything bizarre, or worth-telling in any way, what happened to you when you heard MacAdam/Cage actually …