Florida Hustle

by Paul Wilborn

Overview

In 1980s Florida, an aspiring filmmaker, obsessed with a B-movie scream queen, flees his family's Palm Beach mansion, teams up with an aging con man and his ambitious girlfriend and heads to a film set in the Everglades, only to find himself mired in a swamp of competing cons and hustles.

"An irrepressible Florida frolic" Kirkus - starred review

"Masterfully crafted and wickedly funny, Paul Wilborn's delightfully dark, comic adventure glitters with witty dialogue and crisp, clever prose. Wilborn's tale of offbeat outsiders in search, in flight, and in love is an acerbic, delicious treat featuring the magnificent swampland of Florida in all its quirky glory." - Natalie Symons, author of Lies In Bone

"Steeped in 1980s film and horror culture and basking in Palm Beach's neon glow, Paul Wilborn's rollicking ride of a novel - Florida Hustle - is fully immersive, wildly entertaining and as authentic as it gets." - Steph Post, author of Miraculum, Lightwood, Walk in the Fire, Holding Smoke and A Tree Born Crooked

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781940300481
Publisher:	St Petersburg Press
Publication date:	02/21/2022
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

A native of Tampa, Paul Wilborn collected multiple awards from the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors during a journalism career that included stints at the Tampa Tribune, The St. Petersburg Times and the Associated Press in Los Angeles. He won the Green Eyeshade Award from the Atlanta Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the South's top writing prize. Based on a selection of his writing, Wilborn was chosen for the Paul Hansel Award, Florida's top journalism prize. He was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.His plays have been produced at Stageworks, Off-Center Theater, Radio Theater Project and University of Michigan.A pianist and singer, he has led several bands including Paul Wilborn and the Pop Tarts and Blue Roses. He produced the long-running American Songbook Series at American Stage.In the 1980s, Wilborn was a founding member of Ybor City's Artists and Writers Group, which created multiple themed art and music events in the Tampa's historic district.Cigar City: Tales From a 1980s Creative Ghetto is Wilborn's debut short story collection. The book won the Gold Medal for Fiction in the 2019 Florida Book Awards. He recently completed Trickle Down, a novel set in South Florida.Wilborn is executive director of the Palladium Theater at St. Petersburg College and lives in Saint Petersburg with his wife, the film actor Eugenie Bondurant.

Editorial Reviews

06/27/2022

Set in 1982, Wilborn’s diverting debut novel finds musician Alex Donnelly increasingly concerned about the mental state of his 17-year-old son, Michael, an aspiring filmmaker. Six months earlier, Michael discovered the body of his mother, her wrists slit, in a bathroom at the family’s Palm Beach, Fla., mansion. Michael’s obsession with gory slasher movies particularly worries Alex. Michael views his latest horror film idea as the perfect vehicle for a scream queen he has the hots for, Dawn Karston. But when Dawn gets his cartoonish storyboards, along with a note reading “THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD REALLY DIE!,” she interprets it as a threat and backs out of a movie shoot near the Donnellys’ house. To avoid going into a residential therapeutic facility, Michael runs away from home and hooks up with an aging con man and his on-the-make companion. The tone shifts from the mildly farcical to the creepy and sad as Michael gets closer to his object of desire. This one’s for fans of Wilborn’s story collection, Cigar City: Tales from a 1980s Creative Ghetto. Agent: Chris Calhoun, Chris Calhoun Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"An irrepressible Florida frolic" Kirkus - starred review

From the Publisher