cover image The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel

The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel

Dan Sinker. Scribner, $12 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-4516-5514-8

In the lead-up to the most recent Chicago mayoral election, Sinker (founding editor of the magazine Punk Planet) started a parody Twitter account under the name @MayorEmanuel, offering a foul-mouthed play by play written from the perspective of Rahm Emanuel, mayoral candidate and former White House Chief of Staff. What started as a joke took on a life of its own after the account gained thousands of followers. The real Emanuel even admitted to being a fan, and offered a charitable donation to the author if he came forward. Sinker deftly shapes what could have been a series of unrelated obscenities into a narrative with a distinct arc, offering political commentary, science fiction, and character studies that explore Twitter's capabilities for communication and storytelling. Here, he presents his entire @MayorEmanuel Twitter feed, along with comments and context for the tweets that would puzzle non-Chicagoans. Readers who can get past the liberal f-bombs will find themselves laughing until they cry. (Sept.)