Enlisted by megalomaniac publisher Myron Beam, Sibella―junior editor extraordinaire―recounts the trials and tribulations of the San Francisco-based literary darling Hard Rain Publishing all the way from its improbable rise through its seemingly inevitable freefall. The whip smart, wise-cracking, and surprisingly well-read Sibella navigates the mounting eccentricities of the house’s award-winning authors, slices up her oh-so-pretentious colleagues with her razor-sharp wit, and even manages to fish her publisher out of the pub long enough to keep the whole ship afloat, all the while battling her ex-boyfriend’s meteoric success and the feintless infinity of the blank page.
But when her boss acquires the artless and arduous 900-page debut The Adventures of Calypso O’Kelly, their star author Figgy Fontana―possibly, maybe, kinda sorta―dies, and a team of con artists take aim at Myron Beam, it’s up to Sibella, her endlessly outmatched editor in chief, and a former female pornstar―no, really―to return Hard Rain and its hard-boozing, hapless publisher to their former glory.
Part tell all, part mystery, and part coming-of-age novel, Sibella & Sibella is a biting look at the world of publishing from a reluctant witness who pulls no punches with anyone. Least of all herself.
But when her boss acquires the artless and arduous 900-page debut The Adventures of Calypso O’Kelly, their star author Figgy Fontana―possibly, maybe, kinda sorta―dies, and a team of con artists take aim at Myron Beam, it’s up to Sibella, her endlessly outmatched editor in chief, and a former female pornstar―no, really―to return Hard Rain and its hard-boozing, hapless publisher to their former glory.
Part tell all, part mystery, and part coming-of-age novel, Sibella & Sibella is a biting look at the world of publishing from a reluctant witness who pulls no punches with anyone. Least of all herself.
"In the rarified realm of A Confederacy of Dunces and David Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress, Sibella & Sibella is surely the new picaresque―set in the mysterious world of independent publishing, the singular voice of a junior editor is roundly inhabited by Mr. Di Prisco who nimbly plays with form and language, and an industry he clearly both loves and scorns. A remarkable reading experience."
―David Francis, author of Stray Dog Winter and Wedding Bush Road
"Joseph Di Prisco’s fearlessness always impresses me, and his latest novel is no exception. Invoking satire and silliness, bad puns and good ones, hijinks, and hilarity, Sibella & Sibella takes on the absurdity of publishing, narrated through the lens of a young woman working as a junior editor at a San Francisco publishing house. Fortunately for readers, Di Prisco embraces the absurdity, and the result is this wonderfully crafted and bitingly funny critique that never fails to entertain.
―Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade and The Bigness of the World: Stories.
―David Francis, author of Stray Dog Winter and Wedding Bush Road
"Joseph Di Prisco’s fearlessness always impresses me, and his latest novel is no exception. Invoking satire and silliness, bad puns and good ones, hijinks, and hilarity, Sibella & Sibella takes on the absurdity of publishing, narrated through the lens of a young woman working as a junior editor at a San Francisco publishing house. Fortunately for readers, Di Prisco embraces the absurdity, and the result is this wonderfully crafted and bitingly funny critique that never fails to entertain.
―Lori Ostlund, author of After the Parade and The Bigness of the World: Stories.
About the Author
Joseph Di Prisco was born in Brooklyn and lives today in Northern California, with his wife, photographer Patti James. He's the author of the novels All for Now, The Alzhammer, The Confessions of Brother Eli, and Sun City, prize-winning books of poems, and books about childhood and adolescence. His memoirs The Pope of Brooklyn and Subway to California came out from Rare Bird Books. He is the founding chair of the Simpson Family Literary Project, which promotes literacy and literature, writers and writing across the generations.
![The Good Family Fitzgerald [Signed] by Joseph Di Prisco](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-mgusnzjr16/images/stencil/500x659/products/163/1204/9781644280782_FC__57017.1689124693.jpg?c=1 "The Good Family Fitzgerald [Signed] by Joseph Di Prisco")
