Bland Books | Blinking at the Idiot Sky by Stephen Donnelly

287 Pages | Sample Chapter

Stephen Donnelly’s new novel ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ is a look inside the hearts and minds of violent and disturbed people. The seven main characters in the story are balancing between the edge of psychoses and the ordinary; they live in an accelerated culture that is threatening to leave them behind. It is a grim but, at times, beautiful look at what happens when people find and prize even the slightest trace of dignity and nobility in themselves.

Teenaged Auggie Nash is already tired of the way his life has progressed: his parents are dead, his best friend, John, is a middle aged ex-preacher who now sells marijuana for a living; and Auggie is in the middle of developing a habit himself. Donnie, a mutual friend, informs Auggie that the drug company where he works is looking for volunteers to test a new DNA longevity pill and, against the wishes of Donnie’s girlfriend, they all agree to take part. This choice leads them to a world that they never would have lived to see and introduces them to characters that they could never have imagined.

‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ paints stark landscapes populated with real people who are willing to bleed real blood for what little they believe in. Given the power of the crystalline writing it reads as though the author values this sentiment. In language that is, at times, both colloquial and elegant it is an original and fascinating read.

Click here to listen to a radio interview with author Stephen Donnelly on WLEZ in Jackson, MS


287 Pages \| Sample Chapter Stephen Donnelly’s new novel ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ is a look inside the hearts and minds of violent and disturbed people. The seven main characters in the story are balancing between the edge of psychoses and the ordinary; they live in an accelerated culture that is threatening to leave them behind. It is a grim but, at times, beautiful look at what happens when people find and prize even the slightest trace of dignity and nobility in themselves. Teenaged Auggie Nash is already tired of the way his life has progressed: his parents are dead, his best friend, John, is a middle aged ex-preacher who now sells marijuana for a living; and Auggie is in the middle of developing a habit himself. Donnie, a mutual friend, informs Auggie that the drug company where he works is looking for volunteers to test a new DNA longevity pill and, against the wishes of Donnie’s girlfriend, they all agree to take part. This choice leads them to a world that they never would have lived to see and introduces them to characters that they could never have imagined. ‘Blinking at the Idiot Sky’ paints stark landscapes populated with real people who are willing to bleed real blood for what little they believe in. Given the power of the crystalline writing it reads as though the author values this sentiment. In language that is, at times, both colloquial and elegant it is an original and fascinating read. Click here to listen to a radio interview with author Stephen Donnelly on WLEZ in Jackson, MS