Troll

“A bravura writing performance.”

– The Vancouver Sun

“An impressive feat that shows us, unflatteringly, our present and future.”

The British Columbia Review

The radicalized, the alienated, the angry, and the aberrant lingering in the darkest corners of the Internet and the one grifter who would unite them all in the pursuit of fame…

When aspiring actor Peter Riley is given the assignment in his drama class to perform in a YouTube-style video, he creates the character of ‘Petrol Riley,’ a satire of a politically extreme right-wing conspiracy theorist. Peter is soon surprised to learn that the video he has uploaded has gone unexpectedly viral, with thousands of viewers misinterpreting his satirical performance as genuine.

Seeing this as his path toward fame, Peter commits to portraying the hatemongering character of Petrol full-time, building a devout and rabid fanbase of online supporters that only grow more loyal and dedicated the more hateful Petrol’s rhetoric becomes.

What starts as a harmless piece of ironic performance art quickly boils into offline violence as Peter finds himself unable to relinquish the fame and notoriety that he has found as the Internet’s newest and most controversial content creator.

Striking and timely, Troll offers a meditation and authentic, subversive, and cutting critique on digital modernity, the alienation of late-capitalism, political discourse, and the strange, fascinating, and oftentimes ugly world that was late 2010s online discourse.

Troll was released in April of 2023 by way of Now Or Never Publishing.

Reviews and Press Coverage

The Vancouver Sun

The British Columbia Review

Broken Pencil

That Shakespearean Rag

The Williams Lake Tribune

Just Joshing Podcast

All About Canadian Books with crystal fletcher

Troll on Goodreads

Troll has also been featured by Quill & QuireAll Lit Up, 49th Shelf, BC BookWorld, the Globe and Mail, the Hamilton Review of Books, and the Giller Prize’s Craving CanLit list.

Recent interview I did on Crystal Fletcher’s YouTube show ‘All About Canadian Books’

Purchase a Copy

Troll can be ordered directly from the publishers.

Or from:

Amazon Canada

Amazon America

Barnes and Noble

As well as many other physical and online distributors and storefronts.

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