Goldenland Past Dark

Smith’s debut showcases a cornucopia of memorably weird personalities in a handful of vivid moments. Dr. Schoenberg’s shabby little traveling show includes Webern Bell, a 15-year-old, four-foot-tall humpbacked clown; Brunhilde, a bearded lady who still mourns the destruction of Dresden; and Nepenthe, a lizard-skinned beauty who may be an heiress. As the novel opens, they are in a bright yellow Cadillac, fleeing from a vengeful gypsy through a rainy night. Unfortunately, before anything hinted at or described in that opener is resolved, most of these painstakingly actualized characters leave or die. Soon all that’s left are Webern’s elaborate dreams of ever-more-intricate performances and memories of his warped childhood. All of this is utterly fantastic and wonderful, and it takes quite some time to realize that no actual story is developing. Readers who get deeply into the characters and visuals may find they don’t even mind the lack of structure or resolution. Agent: Joy Tutela, the David Black Literary Agency. (Mar.)