Corwin Ericson's debut novel, Swell, is a raucous tale of irascible skippers, sea gum dealers, Nordic witches and whale-herding bear grooms. Orange Whippey just can't catch a break: an amiable bum, he avoids neither work nor mayhem as he stumbles upon international intrigue right in the heart of hardscrabble Down East. Pressed into service as bagman to a Korean smuggling ring, Whippey is trapped in the crossfire of warring factions when he is suspected of stealing the "sampo," a gift of supernatural import. Ericson's storytelling style is strongly reminiscent of Tom Robbins, but there is also a splash of Douglas Adams, for Whippey, like Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is a man to whom outrageous and frequently unfortunate things happen.
Like an amusement park ride, the plot is full of highs and lows and unforeseen twists. Though the finale is a bit of a letdown, all in all, it's still worth the price of a ticket. Ericson's talent lies in his ability to teeter on the edge of the absurd without getting bogged down in the ridiculous. When not delving into cryptic Lapland mythos, he does his best to deconstruct all things New England to hilarious effect. His melding of Down East lore with Finnish legend--a less discordant mix than you'd expect--will have the reader of undisciplined curiosity running to Wikipedia, but the wise will just sit back and enjoy the long, strange trip. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher