What They Did to Princess Paragon: A Novel

The relentlessly irreverent author of Fag Hag and Closet Case is back with a new novel that asks the burning question: Is the world ready for its first lesbian superhero? Brian Parrish, a brash gay cartoonist, is charged with updating the image of Princess Paragon, a creaky and virtuous heroine whose market share is expressed in decimals. His solution: change her hairdo, streamline her Spandex, and haul her out of the closet. It's a blockbuster idea sure to make Brian famous and attract a whole new readership. But for one devoted fan, it's an abomination. Jerome T. Kornacker worships the princess; his bedroom is her shrine. And for Jerome, the only way to save her from sapphic scandal is to put an end to Brian Parrish's career. With this in mind, he stalks Brian at a Chicago comic-book convention, where the cartoonist is scheduled to unveil his princess-cum-dyke. But when the outraged fan confronts his quarry, the result is an odd alliance that neither could have predicted - and that plunks their heroine into a creative Mixmaster. As if Jerome weren't enough to deal with, Brian also must contend with an editor who has her own plans for a politically correct princess; a lover who's absent without leave; and Jerome's mother, a malaprop-spouting demoness in peach. And only when it's too late does Brian understand what he's really done to Princess Paragon. Abounding in high camp, low farce, ferocious wit, and a perversely insistent morality, What They Did to Princess Paragon further establishes Robert Rodi as one of the most blistering and brilliant satirists of his day.