Max Barry
Max Barry (also Maxx Barry; born 18 March 1973) is a contemporary Australian author. He says about himself that he "put an extra X in his name for Syrup because he thought it was a funny joke about marketing and failed to realize everyone would assume he was a pretentious asshole." [1] He commands a cult following for his blog and his "funny and clever" [2] books.
Barry is also the creator of NationStates (a game created to help advertise Jennifer Government) and is the owner of the website Tales of Corporate Oppression. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and daughter and worked as a marketer for Hewlett-Packard before he became a novelist.
In early 2004 Barry converted his web site to a weblog and began regularly posting to it. In the November 2004 issue of the magazine Fast Company the novel Company was ranked at number 8 on a list of the top 100 “people, ideas, and trends that will change how we work and live in 2005.” [3] Barry has recently finished writing the screenplay for Syrup, which was optioned by Fortress Entertainment. Universal Pictures has acquired screen rights to Company, which will be adapted by Steve Pink. Jennifer Government has also been optioned by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section 8 Films. - Wikipedia
Comments
Have any of you guys heard about this novel or short piece Max is working on at his website. It's called 'Machine Man', and it looks like he's going to be writing a page a day, for people to download and follow the progress on.
I read Company and thought it was great. I tried to get my dad to read it because he works in HR and I thought he would like it. Very funny book. I will get around to reading Syrup soon. And I have visited his website before.
I signed up for the Machine Man feed. The opening snippet is already comical and kinda creepy, what with the dismemberment and all.
Also, the Max Barry intensive at the Cult is honestly some of the best money I've ever spent on a writing class.
I read Syrup (loved it) a while ago and reading Company at the moment.
Machine Man sounds very interesting, but to be honest I probably wouldn't be bothered with downloading a page and reading it everyday. Not my thing, gimme a book.
Ive read Syrup and really liked it, JenniferGovernment wasnt as good but still enjoyable and I finally got a copy of company.
And Im with Rosie, give me a freakin book.
I am saddened to see that Kerouac isn't in the list. Is he too sentimental? I guess because I'm an old man (57 in a couple days) that Kerouac really appeals to me. If you ever want to see a life altering video on you tube just search Kerouac-On the Road-Steve Allen. It Kerouac reading the last couple paragraphs of On the Road as Allen tickles the ivories. Unusual yet sublime.