2016/04/05 - Bucky F*cking Dent

Duchovny and Anderson: The Literary Files
By ALEXANDRA ALTER  

There must be something about solving paranormal mysteries that sparks literary inspiration.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, a.k.a agents Mulder and Scully from the Fox television show “The X-Files,” have each published novels recently, and both just signed deals for new books. Ms. Anderson’s first science fiction novel, “A Vision of Fire,” written with Jeff Rovin, was released last fall. Now she is writing a self-help book for women with the activist Jennifer Nadel, which Atria Books will publish next March.

Mr. Duchovny’s surreal debut novel, “Holy Cow,” came out in February, and he just sold a second novel to Farrar, Straus & Giroux. The plot of “Holy Cow,” which features a talking cow, a cranky pig and a tech-savvy turkey seeking to escape the slaughterhouse, was as far-fetched as an episode of “The X-Files.”

Mr. Duchovny’s next novel is decidedly more sober. Set in Brooklyn during the summer of 1978, the story centers on a struggling writer named Ted Fullilove, who learns that his estranged father, a retired advertising executive, is dying of cancer. The novel’s other hero is Bucky Dent, the light-hitting Yankees shortstop who famously — and surprisingly — hit a three-run home run in a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox in 1978, turning his name into an expletive for many New Englanders. The book is scheduled to come out in winter 2016.

Mr. Duchovny majored in English at Princeton and wrote his thesis on the novels of Samuel Beckett, but says he feels more kinship with James Joyce. “He’s very austere, and I like fooling around with words,” he said in an interview with The New York Times magazine in January. “I guess I’m more Joycean, although that’ll sound really pretentious.” His lyricism isn’t limited to the page, apparently. He’s releasing a folk-rock album, “Hell or Highwater,” this spring.

In addition to their parallel writing careers, Mr. Duchovny and Ms. Anderson are teaming up to fight supernatural crime again on a new season of “The X-Files,” which is returning to Fox after a 13-year hiatus.

Though X-Files fans may suspect some kind of shadowy publishing-world conspiracy behind the timing of the Mulder/Scully books, it appears to be pure coincidence. In the interview in January, Mr. Duchovny acknowledged that he had not yet read his co-star’s science fiction novel.

“We just had breakfast a few days ago,” he said, “and she didn’t even mention that she had one.”

Nytimes.com

Photo
David Duchovny
David DuchovnyCredit Tim Palen
There must be something about solving paranormal mysteries that sparks literary inspiration.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, a.k.a agents Mulder and Scully from the Fox television show “The X-Files,” have each published novels recently, and both just signed deals for new books. Ms. Anderson’s first science fiction novel, “A Vision of Fire,” written with Jeff Rovin, was released last fall. Now she is writing a self-help book for women with the activist Jennifer Nadel, which Atria Books will publish next March.

Mr. Duchovny’s surreal debut novel, “Holy Cow,” came out in February, and he just sold a second novel to Farrar, Straus & Giroux. The plot of “Holy Cow,” which features a talking cow, a cranky pig and a tech-savvy turkey seeking to escape the slaughterhouse, was as far-fetched as an episode of “The X-Files.”

Mr. Duchovny’s next novel is decidedly more sober. Set in Brooklyn during the summer of 1978, the story centers on a struggling writer named Ted Fullilove, who learns that his estranged father, a retired advertising executive, is dying of cancer. The novel’s other hero is Bucky Dent, the light-hitting Yankees shortstop who famously — and surprisingly — hit a three-run home run in a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox in 1978, turning his name into an expletive for many New Englanders. The book is scheduled to come out in winter 2016.

Mr. Duchovny majored in English at Princeton and wrote his thesis on the novels of Samuel Beckett, but says he feels more kinship with James Joyce. “He’s very austere, and I like fooling around with words,” he said in an interview with The New York Times magazine in January. “I guess I’m more Joycean, although that’ll sound really pretentious.” His lyricism isn’t limited to the page, apparently. He’s releasing a folk-rock album, “Hell or Highwater,” this spring.

In addition to their parallel writing careers, Mr. Duchovny and Ms. Anderson are teaming up to fight supernatural crime again on a new season of “The X-Files,” which is returning to Fox after a 13-year hiatus.

Though X-Files fans may suspect some kind of shadowy publishing-world conspiracy behind the timing of the Mulder/Scully books, it appears to be pure coincidence. In the interview in January, Mr. Duchovny acknowledged that he had not yet read his co-star’s science fiction novel.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/duchovny-and-anderson-the-literary-files/?_r=0

This is really great! I'm glad David.

I remember David talking about Bucky Dent and at that time he had wanted it to be a film I think.

I write sports romance themed books, so it stands to reason that I enjoy watching sports movies.  The other day, while reading a recap of the latest deals in the book world, I noticed the film rights had been optioned for a baseball book (due to be released in 2016) based on the 1978 playoffs between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.  The book, written by actor David Duchovny–yeah, I’m talking about Fox Mulder/Hank Moody here–is titled BUCKY F*CKING DENT. (Does anyone else think they’ll have to change that title for the movie??)

Here’s the low down from Duchovny’s web site:

An estranged father and son come together over their love for baseball during the 1978 season when the Father is convinced the Boston Red Sox will finally win the World Series.
Set in 1978 – TED FULLAKER (mid 30’s) is now a struggling writer, a.k.a. a long-haired somewhat famous peanut vendor. Ted finds out that his estranged dad, MARTY, has lung cancer via a call from the hospital. Having not spoken in a few years, Marty (a die-hard Red Sox fan), who is also a failed writer, tells Ted (a die-hard Yankees fan) he wants to write a book about his life before it ends. More importantly, Marty tells Ted that he feels this is the Red Sox’s year and as long as they’re up, he plans ‘not to die until the Red Sox win the pennant.

Ted and Marty head off on a road trip to Boston but can’t find the stadium and end up listening to the game in the car… where Bucky Dent hits the game winning home run for the Yankees, demoralizing Marty and Ted. Years later, Ted now married, visits Marty’s grave with the book that Marty started and Ted finished (now published), and a number of newspapers declaring the Red Sox finally winners of the World Series in 2004 for real.

Here’s the thing, I totally remember this game.  It was in the afternoon and I recall running in the door from school to watch.   As a Red Sox fan, I can tell you, I was devastated by that hit.  Devastated. I can see where Duchovny got the title.

The premise of the book/movie sounds interesting.  Duchovny holds a literature degree from Princeton and a Master’s in the subject for Yale, so he obviously has some writing chops.  Moneyball was a great book that I don’t think carried over well on the big screen, but that’s probably just me.

Romancingheock.com

David Duchovny directing a baseball movie? Baseball on the Big Screen - Romancing the Jock http://t.co/JaGe9tyAun

— Tracy Solheim (@TracyKSolheim) April 21, 2015

Is this a rumor or true?

* Maria * wrote:Is this a rumor or true?

I believe it is. But we await confirmation by the David.

He's been working on this for quite some time but I dont think he has a deal for the movie yet.

thanks

Thanks sir.

Bucky F&%@ing Dent: A Novel Hardcover – April 5, 2016
by David Duchovny (Author)

Ted Fullilove, aka Mr. Peanut, is not like other Ivy League grads. He shares an apartment with Goldberg, his beloved battery-operated fish, sleeps on a bed littered with yellow legal pads penned with what he hopes will be the next great American novel, and spends the waning malaise-filled days of the Carter administration at Yankee Stadium, waxing poetic while slinging peanuts to pay the rent.

When Ted hears the news that his estranged father, Marty, is dying of lung cancer, he immediately moves back into his childhood home, where a whirlwind of revelations ensues. The browbeating absentee father of his youth is living to make up for lost time, but his health dips drastically whenever his beloved Red Sox lose. And so, with help from a crew of neighborhood old-timers and the lovely Mariana--Marty's Nuyorican grief counselor--Ted orchestrates the illusion of a Sox winning streak, enabling Marty and the Red Sox to reverse the Curse of the Bambino and cruise their way to World Series victory. Well, sort of.

David Duchovny's richly drawn Bucky F&%@ing Dent is a story of the bond between fathers and sons, Yankee fans and the Fenway faithful, and grapples with the urgent need to find our story in an age of irony and artifice. Culminating in that fateful moment in October of '78 when the meek Bucky Dent hit his way into baseball history with the unlikeliest of home runs, this tragicomic novel demonstrates that life truly belongs to the losers--that the long shots are the ones worth betting on.

Bucky F&%@ing is a singular tale that brims with the hilarity, poignance, and profound solitude of modern life.


Details

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (April 5, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0374110425
ISBN-13: 978-0374110420

Amazon.com

us.macmillan.com

Thanks

In UHQ

thanks

I was lucky enough to get this ARC today and I am ridiculously giddy over it. @davidduchovny #davidduchovny pic.twitter.com/zn3rYkEty0

— Rayna (@MomsNotAll) 1 outubro 2015

Thanks